The morning ATM was pelvic clock, where, you move your pelvis left and right, forward and back while you're lying on your back. I did this in my training 14 years ago, but as I did it now I noticed three things: One, it's important your legs are balanced, standing over your feet, so that you don't have any unnecessary strain as you move. Two, even though I could feel more and more of my pelvis as I rolled it, at first I thought the new sensations were pain. They weren't pain, they were just unfamiliar. Three, my pelvis is LOWER than I thought. 14 years ago I hadn't been rolling my pelvis, I'd been rolling my lower back!
Unfortunately as I stood up I didn't have the amazing sensation I had lying down. Practicing wasn't great either. In fact, it seemed like it had gotten worse since yesterday. Some of my revelations were fading now and I had to make an effort to remind myself how I had been so loose and open.
I approached my lesson with some dread. I wouldn't be able to show off, would I? I'd reverted.
As it turned out, I hardly played at all. Alan was determined to wake up my hand to a skeletal feeling. He had me playing flat on the black keys with the bottom part of my fingers. He was showing me where the hand stands up in its arch position. He was getting my wrists to realize they no longer had to bear the weight.
At the end of the lesson I walked out of the room and something amazing happened. I floated along, across the floor and up the stairs. There was no strain, no pushing on my legs to get up the stairs, no twinge of irritation in my right knee. It felt effortless. I walked along through the rain towards town feeling something I haven't felt...ever? I felt "normal."
That might mean that the piano lesson itself consolidated what I learned in the morning ATM. Something about what I'd had to do deliberately at the piano helped me make sense of the increased sensation I'd gotten earlier on the floor. That's a nice reason to play the piano.
Our world class pianist got some real finesse today. She watches more lessons than anyone and is so attentive during her own. There's never a sense that she "knows it already." She treats everything Alan tells her like it's new, and she always gets better even when you think she can't!
Our organist is struggling with the idea of "grasping" at the piano. He doesn't seem quite to know what he's listening for. To his credit, he totally gets the concept of this work as being about "learning" rather than simply playing. He's willing to go to the unknown, and even if he can't make sense of it all yet, it's making a difference.
Our host got her lesson last, and it added some very controlled and elegant legato to a bubbly Scarlatti, all managed by hands that were deliberate and working through the bones.
The lessons all continue to get more and more interesting, and the players are getting more and more interested!