Piano Playing Posture

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Understanding fingering and the basic chords to play a melody is not enough to become a good performer of this or any other music instrument, if you do not dominate an important technique: relaxation.

Even singers need to relax their bodies and control their nerves when start practicing the prosody of a sentence. Thus, developing a piano technique requires that you break that barrier that tenses your body rather than relaxes it.

Careful study of your posture at the piano is necessary during the first stage of your learning, after which natural grace will take place. Your seat at the piano is the only thing you need to relax and learn how balance of your body contributes to master the musical chords while playing, giving to your fingers the flexibility required to play the keys accurately.

Balancing your arms and hands harmoniously without actually playing any note is the way to go, breaking free from the tension of your body and the nerves of the first public performances. Getting ready for a gig, show, or concert can be very stressful during the early days when you are just learning to play, when you know all eyes will be on you.

At the piano, your fingers must be naturally curved to play on your fingers' tips, but tension makes you pose your hand resembling a petrified paw with the fist closed. Let your fingers, wrists and elbows move harmoniously and naturally, do not force your posture even if that makes you digit wrongly some of the piano keys.

Sit up straight, with your feet flat on the floor before start practicing the pedals. Keep your shoulders back, but never force a rigid position. If you end up your piano training session with body pain or back ache, then your posture is not natural or you were tensing your muscles whether voluntary or involuntarily.

Sharp ache in the wrists, shoulders, and back also occur when new employees get into their new job spending long hours sitting down under stressing circumstances that can be real or the result of their own concerns. Piano is just the same, so relax, take a deep breath, and let the music play effortless.