10/18/2025
This has some really interesting applications for music teaching. 
I'm quoting my friend Chiliachka here:
'I’ve been trying to say this for years about the ineffectiveness of manipulating a pianist’s hands…
“What is not very effective as a learning strategy is to physically manipulate the dancer’s body,” she says. If a dancer is slouching their shoulders, for example, a teacher might approach them and put their hands on their shoulders and pull them back. She explains that while we talk a lot about “muscle memory” in dance, learning fundamentally happens in the brain. “When you manipulate someone into a position, their brain is certainly processing that information,” she says, “but it is not making decisions about how to direct that information. It is only experiencing a new sensory position.” The dancer is learning what that new position feels like, but they are not learning how to get there independently.”
Reevaluate how you use touch as a teaching tool in the piano studio..'
I agree. And while we don't use physical touch that much in teaching anymore, the same thing happens when you tell somebody to change their position – pull your head up - they may find a position, but they have no idea how to make the decisions about how to find themselves! Just changing the position does not correct the imbalance. 
And as to pulling shoulders back, that's not effective anyway because if the flutist tightens their upper back muscles to pull the shoulders back, they limit their rib mvt and breathing, and put pressure on the nerves to the hands, with a whole lot of other unhelpful results.  Change in shoulder position needs to  come from overall body balance, not manipulating the shoulders. 
