It was a harmonious streaming with thumbs swinging; arms floating; and scale contouring that fed well-shaped Romantic era phrases.

It played out as follows:

The A minor scale was parceled out by thumb shift “swings” in rhythms; Rolling motions into a 4-otave spread ensued.

And then a diversion to a D Major arpeggio emphasized the same “swing” throughs from thumb to thumb to prevent impact and obtrusive accents.

The thumb is a nemesis for most students, having its frozen, isolated, annoying effect during transit unless freed of its propensity to interrupt and intrude.

That’s why specific focus on relaxing the thumb and LIGHTENING its effect, took up a good deal of lesson time, though it was worth the effort.

Finally, the layered learning approach to technique in small increments improved the student’s phrasing once she settled into playing the Chopin Waltz.