The Magic Touch for Piano Playing. The Method was Created by a Concert Virtuoso Pianist

When Professor Lionel Bowman, having reached his career peak in his late thirties, found that he was unable to play the piano, due to tendonitis, and other muscular hand and arm problems, he literally had to re plan his attack, to continue to play the piano.

Many people have experienced great difficulty during their piano playing careers, professional or amateur, due to similar injuries, and fortunately, some, like Professor Bowman, decided to deal with the solution head on.

It is very common for problems like tendonitis to occur, given one's position relative to the keyboard, when one is playing over a wide range of notes. If you happen to have small hands, the problem can be greatly exacerbated further.

However, given the problems that Mr Bowman experienced, he decided to study the anatomy of the hand, arm, and fingers, and create a system that would allow him to play again.

He never imagined the result would be so transformational, not only allowing him to continue playing, but to actually do so with greater ease, no pain, and an improved tonal performance to boot.

He subsequently taught his method to his students, who have all reported great success with it as well. This is The Magic Touch .

Whilst this topic is a complex one, the technique, once learned, is able to be applied to any piece of music, and assist the pianist to achieve a depth of tonal quality and comfort at the piano, that they may not have imagined possible.

One way to achieve this is to use markings on the score so that the pianist can accurately place his body in the right place, to be as close to right angles as possible when in front of the keyboard.

Let me explain further...

The hips need to be loose, as when a pianist is playing across the keyboard, his or her relative body position changes, so that if you are playiong towards the high notes, you may be leaning in at an angle, and not be at right angles to the keyboard.

This will cause straine tendons as well as the muscles of the arm and wrist.

One way to overcome this problem, is to ensure that you are as loose as possible at your hips and as you 'move around' the keyboard, you can lean forwards, backwards, or left and right.

It is best to mark your music score with the letters SR for 'sit right' and SL for 'sit left". You weill notice that at times, you may need to lean forwards or backwards, to get the right posture of the hand on the keys, depending on your position, This can be noted as SF for 'sit forwards' or SB for 'sit back"

Much of the Therapeutic Techniques for Pianists , is about learning about, and developing strength in the fingers, and adopting the correct hand and body postures for correct playing. When the body is relaxed, as wel as correctly placed at te piano, and in form (strength and so on), the pianist will be able to cope better with more complex works, such as the Rachmaninov Concerto Number 3 and the like, as well as manage a better over all tonal sound. In addtion, a further benefit is that even pianist with 'small hands' will be able to cope better, and reduce their succeptability to tendonitis, and other injuries. These techniques have been proven by Lionel Bowman and his students over the years.

Ever since I started relaxing, listening and putting my fingers so very consciously upon the keys, directed by the most logical thinking I have encountered in all my years of playing the piano, I am pleased with what I hear. Professor Bowman has shown me how to achieve this in what seems a micro-second compared with the many years spent with other teachers. True, I have learned a lot from them, but no-one has ever made me think so hard about what I am doing as Professor Bowman did.

I am now working on the early A minor and D major Schubert sonatas and am finding my ability to produce beautiful sounding chords with the Bowman technique a natural and easy venture. I no longer suffer any burning or tiredness when I play. Another significant element is that I can now memorise the music much faster.

I can no longer tolerate mediocrity in performance and I will always sit at the piano with a passion to create the ideal sound.

BILL ALEXANDER

Just as Professor Bowman himself is a very special person, so is this a very special book - a reflection of years of experience and expertise. And just as he derives the greatest pleasure from helping others, so will the readers of this book, piano teachers and students, be helped and gain new insights, into themselves, as well as into the art and craft of piano playing.

PROFESSOR CAROLINE VAN NIEKERK

Professor Lionel Bowman's unique and stimulating piano method has influenced the playing of many students and prominent musicians. Through this book, a larger number of aspiring pianists will now have the privilege of learning from this great master.

PROFESSOR ELLA FOURIE

Ella Fourie and Caroline van Niekerk were both pupils of Lionel Bowman, and are now professors at the University of Pretoria, where seven of the music Department staff members are ex-Bowman pupils.