The habitual slowing of one’s tempo to prepare for a leap
A common side effect of some piano method books is that students get glued to the keys. In the process of trying to make reading more accessible, many method books leave jumps and changes of position until later. This can create a fear or reluctance with hand leaps across the keyboard.
When students with leap phobia attempt these moves they will often be accompanied by an exaggerated ritenuto immediately preceding the movement. The presence of leap apprehension in some students but not others can most of the time be explained by the student’s leap technique. Staying too close to the keys and using the wrong focal points are common reasons why these leaps go astray.
Symptoms
Prescriptions
Bull’s Eye
In lesson
This antidote is designed to refine students’ focal point technique. Similarly to when kicking a ball, we want our students to look where they’re going, not at the hand as it is moving. For some students this comes naturally, but others may need a little nudge.
Place a marker of some kind (counter, sticky tab, eraser) on the key that your student will be leaping to. Make sure she knows which finger is landing on the marked key. Ask her to practice the leap, playing only the notes immediately before and after it. Instruct her to look directly at the marked key and keep her focus there until she has landed. Once this movement becomes more confident, ask her to practice the whole section in which the leap occurs, or about a bar (measure) either side of the movement.
At home
This exercise is easily transferred directly to home practice. Give or loan your student whatever marker you used in the lesson and instruct her to repeat the same process, first practicing just the leap in isolation, and then the full section. When she plays the complete piece through she can take the marker away, but she should still imagine it and direct her attention toward it just before the leap.
Crash Landing
In lesson
Some students with leap phobia are simply afraid of making a “mistake”. Many students perceive correct pitch to be the most important element of piano playing, at the expense of everything else. When preparing for a leap with this mindset, they will of course slow down to be sure they don’t play a wrong note.
To get over this hurdle we need to remove the element of pitch from the equation altogether. Ask your student to play her piece as normal up to the leap but then ‘Crash Land’ directly after the leap by flopping her hand down in roughly the right region of the keyboard. If your student is maintaining too much control over this movement, take her away from the piano and practice flopping her arms heavily down by her sides.
Continue the ‘Crash Landing’ exercise until your leap phobic student is really letting her arm fall heavily into the keys after the change in position. Once she is moving freely, ask her to return to the music as written, keeping the same feeling of flopping into the keys.
At home
During her practice time, your student should start by lifting and flopping her arms down by her sides before sitting at the piano. She should first practice her ‘Crash Landing’ leap and then the note-accurate leap, before playing the piece from the beginning. Write these four steps out on her music so she doesn’t forget (or download sheets with these steps at www.pianophysician.com/bonus).
Related Diagnoses
Finger Fascination