Publisher's Synopsis
About the book... If you want to discover something new, you have to read a really old book! O. V. Maeckel published his method to an organic piano play in Germany in 1938. The book holds the essence of piano playing - how to get to a fully relaxed and masterful play. I want you to discover it for yourself and be transformed just as it transformed me and so many others already. The original book was lost and forgotten until it was recently exhumed and reprinted by my piano master, Professor Gregor Weichert, in Germany in 2015. That is how I got to it. O. V. Maeckel had dedicated his life to figuring out how the masters of his time and prior actually played the piano. He was driven partly out of despair as he kept failing to advance his play to a true virtuous level. After enlisting with disciples of Chopin and Franz Liszt, he realized that those masters of his time were simply unable to explain or teach how to play although they excelled in unimaginable ways. He finally succeeded after decades of painful and detailed analysis, just a few years prior to his death. So what is Maeckel's E=MC2? If you force me to sum up his work of life in one formula, let me say this: Everyone knows you play the piano by pressing on the keys to create a tone. Maeckel reversed the thought. In his basic play mode 'the normal tone', you must avoid any active pressure on the keys altogether. The tone is generated by withdrawing the fingers instead. How is this possible? Read the book. If you carefully follow the method, your hands, wrists and the entire you will be relaxed and enlightened. Guaranteed. You will learn to play how Franz Liszt and Mozart likely played - without effort, just like the masters of our time. As I worked through the book on a plane and practiced the free standing exercises (no piano needed), it totally clicked. I had suffered from a 'heavy arm'. Now, I am cured. The same thing happened first to Maeckel himself, and then to all of his students, no exceptions. My play has become much more relaxed, not only in my hands and wrists, but also in my arms, back and neck. As a result, my perception and listening to music changed. As I keep studying the book and keep working as instructed, I continue to make fabulous progress. Thus, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any worries or problems with piano playing, and even to those who think they don't. After reading this book, your mind, hands and ears will be freed like never before. That is why I went through the trouble of translating the original book and distilling the method down to its very core for you. Please forgive me that I sometimes view Maeckel's work from the perspectives of a neurosurgeon and anatomist, as this is who I am. If you are a superstar at the piano already, at least you will understand why playing the piano is so easy for you. Have fun!
