The Alan Fraser Piano Institute

The Art of Piano Somatics

A MORE FUNCTIONAL TECHNIQUE

Arm weight is an integral part of piano technique – but the hand stands, walks and runs best on key when the anti-gravity function is present. When the fingers carry the arm so well it feels weightless, the hand becomes flexible and powerful, the fingers agile, skilful, and uniquely expressive. When the torso “makes peace with gravity” as well, there’s a new depth of artistry, a more profound music-making.

VISIT AN INSTITUTE TO

    • expand your range of tonal colour

    • deepen your musical expression

    • increase speed & reduce stiffness

    • solve other technical challenges

    • heal an injury

ALAN FRASER: SYNTHESIZING THE WORK OF

to create a new school of modern-day piano technique.

FIVE BOOKS ON PIANO TECHNIQUE

INCORPORATING DIVERSE APPROACHES:

INSTITUTE BROCHURE

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    • Print copies of the brochure will be sent upon request.

MORE BACKGROUND...

Institute Info



The Alan Fraser Piano Institute takes place in several European countries through the winter,
and in North America over the summer months.

Participants said

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    "Alan showed me how to develop more power, more colour, more expression than I thought possible. Now I can simply do things at the piano I previously only dreamed of."

    John Tittmann, M.Mus SUNY Potsdam
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    "This teaching is truly revolutionary; this one week changed my sound and changed my life! I am now playing consistently pain-free for the first time in years."

    Aurelien Boccard, doctoral student in piano, University of Kansas
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    "These lessons will sustain you for a lifetime. We worked, laughed, bonded and came away with a whole new world of physicality and sound."

    Sue Hammond, pianist, author and creator of "Beethoven Lives Upstairs"
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    "Alan took the strengths of the Russian school and used them to give me real strength. His work with the whole body made my fingers spring into new life, as if by magic."

    Irina Saygina, pianist and teacher, Portland, Oregon
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    "My teaching has been totally transformed. As I try out ideas from the Institute with my young pupils, their hands are waking up and starting to run and dance on the keyboard in a totally new way."

    Christine Olson, pianist and teacher, Northampton, MA
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    "I've never seen a more nurturing teacher. He offers all the knowledge, caring, encouragement, support and dedication a student needs to reach a new high in his or her playing."

    Christina Biron, Smith Institute Graduate

Meet the team

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    Creator

    of the Institute

    Alan Fraser Institute General Director

    Forging a new approach to piano technique since the 1970's, Alan Fraser is still researching these questions in depth, bringing new material and insights to the Institute each successive year.

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    For my

    students as well

    Christine Olson Onsite Coordinator, U Mass

    It was Christine's influence that first brought the Alan Fraser Piano Institute into being. She came down to New York City for a lesson with Alan in 2009, they got to talking, and the first institute at Smith College in 2011 was the result. Christine does a stellar job of coordinating every detail of the Smith College Institute, and maintains a thriving teaching practice at her home studio on Forbes Avenue in Northampton through the year. She is an Alexander Technique teacher who gets excited at the multiple possibilities for "cross-fertilization" between Alexander, Feldenkrais Method and Alan's Craft of Piano Method. She finds her teaching has not so much improved as transformed her students' playing since she began working with Alan.

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    À la recherche

    du son perdu

    Yveline Ciazynski Director of Operations, France

    Yveline first discovered Alan Fraser in 2010, and quickly came to believe that his teaching represents an "epistemological rupture" with previous schools. She has translated two of his books (Honing the Pianist Self-Image and All Thumbs) into French, and her indefatigable efforts to spread Alan Fraser's teaching in France have led to editions of his institute springing up in Paris and numerous other local centers throughout the country.

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    Suzuki

    rocks

    Nila Ledesma Onsite Coordinator, Salt Lake City

    Nila first attended an Alan Fraser Institute in 2011, and has been using the approach to transform her Suzuki teaching. She finds the two systems dovetail well, and she is happy to offer her students this further refinement of the Suzuki wisdom. Nila is onsite coordinator for the Salt Lake City Institute which is actually held at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, a half an hour north of Salt Lake.

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    Arches

    reign supreme

    Kathryn Southworth-Lundahl Onsite Coordinator, Concord New Hampshire

    Kathy is Dean of Students and Faculty at the Concord Community Music School, and has an active career accompanying, teaching, and playing the organ in church on Sunday mornings. She has been attending the Alan Fraser Institute since 2012, and immediately noticed the impact Alan Fraser's teaching had on her own playing. She was quick to arrange for him to open a branch of the Institute in Concord, New Hampshire.

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    die ganze Selbst

    klingt besser

    Michael Klatte Onsite Coordinator, Eitorf, Germany

    Michael is a Feldenkrais practitioner and pianist who teaches at the Eitorf Music School, a half hour east of Cologne in Germany. He has translated Honing the Pianistic Self-Image into German, and plans to begin translating All Thumbs in the near future.

Institute Photo Galleries

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Smith College

Our flagship institute established in 2011

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Germany

Institutes in Hamm, Eitorf, Heidelberg, Stuttgart, Vussem and more...

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Salt Lake City

Alan Fraser has held an Institute here every year since 2011.

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Netherlands

The Institute in Overveen, annually since 2013.

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Concord, New Hampshire

Annually since 2013 at the Concord Community Music School

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France

Vive la France, et vive l'Institut de piano Alan Fraser en France!

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