She challenged the finger-centric approach of much classical piano teaching and instead advocated a holistic attitude in which the arm and torso are the conductors of a musical image conceived first in the mind.
"[2] Whiteside praised the natural ability of the child prodigy and the jazz pianist, and sought to understand how an untutored technique could be capable of virtuosity.
Another important device—used especially in the correct tempo of the piece, no matter how fast—is what she calls "outlining": skipping notes provided that the basic rhythm and body dynamics of motion were maintained.
More than even the arm, however, Whiteside advocated the concept of a basic rhythm—a somewhat specialized term in her writings which indicated an innate sense of phrasing present in all but the most unmusical humans.
This rhythm informs every action involved in producing a musical phrase, with the torso, humerus, forearm, wrist and fingers forming a single mechanism to express it.
"[citation needed] Whiteside's sense of muscular use is partly along the lines of the Alexander technique; perhaps the best-known and best-formalized modern school was founded by Dorothy Taubman.
The same charge could be levelled at an influential contemporary in England, Tobias Matthay, whose only single noted pupil was Myra Hess (actually not true, there were plenty more, like Moura Lympani amongst others).
Many great pianists and pedagogues had few if any famous pupils, from Chopin to Dinu Lipatti - they were offering training in authentic pianism, which is often somewhat at odds against the superficial acrobatics of the contemporary concert scene.
She is the daughter of famed composer and musician the late Will H. Dixon, dubbed "The Original Dancing Conductor" by James Weldon Johnson, circa 1930.
Schwedisch, ISBN 978-3-95786-136-8 Ydefeldt, Stefan: Musik und Bewegung beim Klavierspiel - 74 bedenkenswerte Übungen, Augsburg 2023, Wissner Verlag, orig.