Charles Rosen (God of music critics) has an interesting article in a recent New York Review of Books which is about "Learning to Play the Piano". He starts out with a conversation he had with a great pianist -- I think it was Dinu Lipatti -- who said that he hadn't tucked his thumb under, doing scales, in 35 years. The rest of the article is about all the weird fads that have prevented/"assisted" piano students down through the years.
yours, Peter T.
P.S. Do any of you experts know of a set of pictures or diagrams that show how Django Reinhardt chorded, given his supposed limitations? Pure thread creep, but I was thinking about my stupid fingers today, and the thought crept into my mind. How about him for an inspiration for all of us 10-fingered types? (not to mention Paul Wittgenstein -- one sits and listens to him with complete awe)....