Legato and the “Fox Walk”

One of the best aspects of teaching is finding connections from my students’ other areas of interests and learning and helping them apply them to music. Recently, I had a student who made the connection between legato and what is called the “Fox Walk”. The fox walk is, roughly, a way of walking silently through the woods by placing one foot in front of the other, feeling the ground before stepping, and gradually transferring weight into the next foot. After making this connection, her whole approach to the piano changed for the better and the movements became connected and the sound more legato. All knowledge, as Charlotte Mason rightly points out, is related.