Ways of the hand - BookWyrm

Hardcover, 139 pages

English language

Published 2001 by MIT Press.

ISBN:: 978-0-262-19467-9
OCLC Number:: 47643893

"Ways of the Hand tells the story of how David Sudnow learned to improvise jazz on the piano. Because he had been trained as an ethnographer and social psychologist, Sudnow was attentive to what he experienced in ways that other novice pianists are not. The result, first published in 1978 and now considered by many to be a classic, was arguably the finest and most detailed account of skill development ever published.".

"Looking back after more than twenty years, Sudnow was struck by the extent to which he had allowed his academic background to shape the book's language. He realized that he could now do a much better job of describing his experiences in a way that would not require facility with formal social science and philosophical discourse. The result is a revised version of the book that carries the same intellectual energy as the original but is accessible …

"Ways of the Hand tells the story of how David Sudnow learned to improvise jazz on the piano. Because he had been trained as an ethnographer and social psychologist, Sudnow was attentive to what he experienced in ways that other novice pianists are not. The result, first published in 1978 and now considered by many to be a classic, was arguably the finest and most detailed account of skill development ever published.".

"Looking back after more than twenty years, Sudnow was struck by the extent to which he had allowed his academic background to shape the book's language. He realized that he could now do a much better job of describing his experiences in a way that would not require facility with formal social science and philosophical discourse. The result is a revised version of the book that carries the same intellectual energy as the original but is accessible to a much wider audience."--BOOK JACKET.

7 editions

simulo reviewed Ways of the hand by David Sudnow

None

3 stars

A great example of how to describe embodied knowledge and self-observation as well as a document of how hard it is to do, particularly in text. I think, it would like to be a 3 hour youtube video essay (A format not around at the time of writing).

If I remember correctly, it is also praised to ethnomethodologists as serving both as document and instruction. I would be surprised if many ethnomethodologists actually tested this claim and tried to become uniquely adequate jazz pianists by using this book, though I think it can certainly help a learner (particularly one that is interested in Ethnomethodology!)

rmzetti

rated it

Feb. 28, 2022

Subjects

Improvisation (Music)
Hand
Jazz -- Instruction and study
Phenomenology