I am a self-taught piano player. When I started piano I had the benefit of being able to read music , and I have always observed fingerings… so my technique isn’t totally out of whack.
I recently had the opportunity to get a lesson from an accredited teacher. I was expecting some direction on the physical side and I got it. She wanted stool lowered, arms/chest in a more open position, etc. She also had some strong ideas on how you move to a note, strike it and “bounce” away to the next.
I just wondered if others felt that focusing on this could make a big difference. I have 30 years of bad habits to overcome!
Everybody’s different. This means teachers can either say “whatever works” and teach you the way that works for you, assuming they know what that is, or they can teach you what has worked for a whole pile of reasonably successful musicians (assuming they know what that is; chances are all they’re teaching you is what’s worked for them). There’s also a strong element in music teaching of “I had to practice all this shit when I started, so I’m making every student do it now”.
So, she may be teaching you a particular way to move from one note to another so that two years from now, you can move with blinding speed in the middle of something complex. Or, it may literally be because it looks cool.
It’s astonishing to me how much the tone quality of the playing is affected by how the weight of the the arm is added to the note.
The other major factor is the ergonomic quality of your posture - it’s amazing how just a sleight change of position can make the difference between ‘My wrist is killing me!!’ and ‘I could play all day like this.’
I would ask what you are trying to get out of your lessons. If you were starting from scratch, then it would be worth working on your positioning because certain postures seem to work. If you are trying to get some advice on playing stylistically, then it may not be worth spending the time to do it a different way from what you are accustomed to doing.
I know pianists argue (as the good Ministre) just did that such things matter, but I’ve heard it argued that the mechanism of the piano takes away any role for “touch”, unlike, say the violin. But the only thing musicians like as much as playing music is arguing about playing music!
ETA - the Ministre’s point about pain avoidance, however, is worth listening to
Some motivation to properly learn some pieces by being accountable to a teacher. I tend to just play for myself and not practice enough, so the difficult pieces never get better.
Also, even when I try to really learn a piece I find I hit a wall and can’t get better, sometimes even getting worse after practicing for a couple of weeks.
