I bring my hands to the piano and let the fingers rest upon the keys. I send the piano away from me mentally, scarcely more than a suggestion.There is a spatial response, an enlarged space between me and the piano, a lengthening and widening in my back. I begin to play, and ala Robert Pace, Mary Douglas, Marta Abraham (three great teachers of the piano, the first recently passed, the latter two quite alive) I draw the music from the keys. I curl my fingers back toward me from my back! while still sending the piano away. There is forward and away, away and forward, out and in, in and out, an omnidirectional awareness. It is exalting, enlarging, life giving.

You think I claim too much for touch. I think you claim too little. Try the above on another consenting human being and you will both be enlarged by it, blessed by awareness. Try it at the piano. You need no proficiency whatsoever to begin.

Play a note. Hear. Stop. Play it again, or a chord, and now, send the piano away from you in the attitude of non-doing. Hear. Stop. What do you notice? Now still sending the piano away, play the note again, drawing the music from the keys, curling the fingers back toward you, little more than a whisper of it, and now still more. Stop. Note what has changed. Touch can be awakened; it can be enlivened by your awareness. Think what you’ve been missing and awaken your sweet  touch along these lines.Your Steinway’s going to love you for it, your love-mate too, but that’s another story.