A unique feature is Sándor’s firsthand insight into playing Bartók’s percussive, asymmetrical music. He demonstrates how Bartók’s folk-derived rhythms and dissonant clusters demand non-traditional motions (e.g., flat-fingered attacks, arm clusters). The book includes exercises derived from Bartók’s Mikrokosmos and Sándor’s own etudes.
Overview
Published in 1981, On Piano Playing: Motion, Sound, and Expression is a seminal pedagogical work by Hungarian-American pianist György Sándor (1912–2005), a direct student of Béla Bartók. Unlike many technique books rooted in 19th-century finger-centric methods, Sándor’s approach is biomechanical and holistic. He argues that effortless, expressive playing arises from understanding the body’s natural leverage and weight, not from forced finger independence or static hand positions. on piano playing by gyorgy sandor
Some critics find the prose dense and the diagrams rudimentary compared to modern video resources. However, pianists praise its injury-preventive approach—Sándor was among the first to explicitly address repetitive strain injuries (e.g., tendinitis) by eliminating wasted motion. Today, the book remains a staple for advanced students and teachers seeking a physiological, non-dogmatic alternative to Czerny or Hanon. A unique feature is Sándor’s firsthand insight into