This Is What Causes Tension In Piano Playing - And How To Fix It
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- čas přidán 20. 08. 2024
- Todays video answers the question: What Causes Tension In Piano Playing? We give 4 reason for why you have tension and then 3 tips to overcome tension in your day to day practice.
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I hope you guys found the video helpful! If you did, make sure and share it with a friend! 😊👍
Thank you!
Another cause of tension, for me at least, is the fear of playing a wrong note. Then I remind myself of Rachmaninoff's sage advice: practise like a snail and play like a cheetah. The fear of wrong notes also really gets in the way of playing a run smoothly so I try to adopt the mindset that my fingers are floating over the notes. If my hands get tense then I need to stop!
Right on. To play with confidence means you don't have to think about it, it just goes. Never heard the Rachmaninoff quip before. A great one from someone who really knows. The value of slow practice can't be overemphasized. Anything can be done slow enough, Edna G, "Once you can play it slow, you have it." Great comment.
This is very good. Many piano teachers told their students to curve their fingers rather than told them to keep relax and use natural position. Because when you told the student to curve the fingers, they will over curve. And it will lead to tension.
But it is good beginner technique because if you tell them to keep natural and relaxed they'll slouch
Your videos are so helpful! (Forgive me if I commented elsewhere with the same story...) I've restarted piano with a digital keyboard after nearly 50 years. I found myself using the same tense habits, and the same pieces and books (Hanon included). I started having a lot of back pain, mostly between my shoulder blades; I would even go numb there. It was so noticeable playing piano, trying to sit straight, adjusting the distance and height of the bench, etc. My physician suggested a spinal x-ray, which revealed osteoporosis damage, but lower down, and she sent me to physical therapy. I highly recommend it! The exercises strengthened my core muscles, helping support my spine. I lost track of time practicing this week; I went over an hour without pain.
Wow this is so helpful! Sometimes, these things are hard to explain, but you made very easy to understand. I will need to share this with my students.
I'm so glad!
Thank you for making this video. I damaged my arms doing packaging work for five years and now that I’m returning to the piano I’m having to learn how to relax my arms and sit with good posture. I definitely do not want to further damage my arms and want to heal even while I improve my piano skills. Your videos are always so insightful and I appreciate you sharing your advice
True, this is the first most important rule. Free of tension technique 👍🏻 the greatest of pianists used these old school lessons.
This is literally something that I just started revisiting in my playing, thanks for the advice!
Happy to help!
Learning what you teach is not only revolutionizing my piano playing but my guitar playing too. Thank you!!
Great insights, thank you! One of my problems is number 4. My posture is quite terrible. However, for some reason it doesn't cause tension in my arms or shoulders, and I can move around the keyboard with ease. It's an issue even my conservatory teachers thought of as "Well, it doesn't seem to bother you in any way, shape or form, so we'll leave it be". Only after trying to have me play with better posture of course. I can play for hours without getting tired or tense.
When I sit up straight I start to accumulate tension, and my playing suffers. In the end, I wish I could play relaxed with good posture. I'm young and my back can still take the horrible treatment I throw at it. I'm afraid of what that will be like when I get older...
Interesting! Some people for some reason are able to withstand more tension without it causing issues. I think of Daniel Trifonov who often sits very hunched over the keyboard and it doesn't seem to bother him.
One thing to think about is that sometimes when we are told to "sit up straight" it can cause us to sit with "military" posture (I hope this makes sense) which is just as tense and awkward as slumping over with everything collapsed.
Another thought is that if your back is used to bad posture and it feels "normal" your muscles may be "locked" into that position and "good" posture will feel very wrong. There is also something called "motor sensory amnesia" which could be what is happening too. This is from a website describing what 'MSA' is, it reads "So, sensory motor amnesia describes the negative effects of developing muscle memory; the state in which we have lost sensation...of a movement or posture because it has become so deeply learned." Specifically 'MSA' describes the loss of sensation in a muscle or group of muscles or even the feeling of discomfort or pain!
Anyways, just some food for thought! I hope that helps!
@@PIANO_LAB your video as well as your particular comment right here are very helpful to me. I am older, have been using bad posture sitting down for many year, am just getting back to playing piano and I seem to have back tension quickly despite what may appear to be sitting correctly, unless it is too much military posture. I must push myself to using right posture outside of piano playing I think! Hopefully eventually things will fall into place. The tension comes up only when I struggle with the technique it seems.
Also the comment by John Evans may well apply to me: Another cause of tension, for me at least, is the fear of playing a wrong note. Then I remind myself of Rachmaninoff's sage advice: practise like a snail and play like a cheetah.
That's very good, however you missed out one thing, the psychology aspect. In other words, getting stressed in the act of trying to play the correct notes, then feeling tense, and with me all the tension goes into my back, and gives me back pain!? It's more a mental thing and can be unconscious, that is, you don't even know you are doing it, and end up in pain. How to overcome the mental stress of playing the piano? That's what I need to know?🤔
Love it! You're so knowledgeable, thanks for sharing it with us!
Glad it was helpful!
Reviewing all videos in order; no new tutorials forthcoming. Craig reviews tension causation again, such bears repeating so we don't succumb to bad habits. My summary: "Use all parts of the body according to their natural, easiest purposes and range of motion. Compensating leads to tension, soreness, fatigue and worst of all, finally, injury. About 6 months ago I re-evaluated and re-worked my technique from the feet to the fingers, using Craig's lessons, and a few others. My results have been outsized, exceeded my already high expectations.
Another tension source for me is playing faster than I'm easily prepared to do. When learning a piece or turning up tempi, if I come to a point where my brain/muscles jumble up and slow down in confusion and wrong notes, that creates anxiety and tension. I slow down and build up slower than most, I would guess.
Thanks to the tutor and all supporting commenters.
this video is very important, thanks
can you make a video about reducing tensions when grabbing octaves?
Thank you for the quick tips to relieve tension. This video helps new students and is a friendly reminder for intermediate piano players. Keep posting content and grow the channel. Congrats 👏 on getting to 1K.
You're very welcome!
These little snipets of information are extremely helpful. Thanks, Victor
Thank you sooo much I've been doing it wrong for years I feel kinda ashamed that it took me so long to search this up but now I can play easier too
Thank you for your advice, my online piano Teacher! 🌻
You're so welcome!
Good work I've suffered from Levitating Pinky Syndrome. I'm working on it.
Thanks, that was really helpful!
If it's not asking too much, could you make a video about voicing and exercises to make the melodies stand out more?
Great suggestion!
Thank you for taking the time to make these videos. They are so helpful. I'm a 70yr old beginner and this is one, among a number of problems i have. The tention is very noticable, as i have been told to keep my fingers very close to the keys and use a pressing down motion. is this bad advice? From the UK
You're very welcome!
In my opinion (which is tempered by the fact that in the past I was injured twice from bad piano playing advice) I think that this is not very good advice. I think that there should be arm weight to some degree on every note that we play. And rather than the fingers constantly pressing down, they should actually just support the weight of the arm and deliver it to the key bed. Like our legs support and deliver weight rather than 'press' into the floor. I hope that helps! Thanks for tuning in!
@@PIANO_LAB Agree with Craig; watch Martha Argerich's performance videos. Any of them. Dave at 76 years young.
A lot of this is good tips, but i still dont understand how to apply this to certain parts of songs where I have to hold an octave, and hit two or three seperate notes in between and hold them all and keep repeating that multiple times without holding my arm still. I just end up letting go of the octave if i move my arm and then give myself even more tension/pain in my wrist
Great info. Good to keep in mind even away from the keyboard.
Absolutely!
Thank u very much, sir🙏🙏🙏🙏 these tips are really helpful 🙏😊
Always welcome!
What can u do if a piece requires jumping around the whole time for about 8 min😢
Fantastic video! Gave me some ideas for improving guitar technique too... Especially the lateral reaching. 🙂
Thank you kindly.
Excellent. 😊👍🏾
I practiced scales with dashed rhythms short-long, long-short - and I do make an attack on the ‘long’ note. I wake up with somewhat burning tendons. Yet I do not have any muscle issues - I use arm weight (but making an attack is literally impossible without actually lifting the finger), I know about alignment and keep it the best I can throughout.
So is it rather too much attack I using those rhythms coupled with quite a lot of repetitions, or something’s necessarily wrong with my technique?
Do not sit too close to piano.
It took me quite some time to figure out that I was sitting a bit too close to piano, I was feeling tension and pain after longer sessions when playing chords in the middle of the keyboard with my left hand. Just moving a bit further back helped me to remove discomfort and made way easier to reach further corners of the keyboard. I learning piano myself, maybe the teacher would have told me to sit further, don't know.
I find that a big cause of tension is simply trying to play faster than I'm genuinely able to control. I've started using a metronome to slow my piano exercises down to the point where I'm not tense, and I will only increase speed as I build back my skills. (I'm returning to playing after being out of practice.) I can play those exercises faster -- but not without tension.
God bless you and all Amen
And thank you and God
Great job!!
Thank you!
What piece is in the background in the beginning
Thanks!!
i love you bro actually
Tension in the mind leads to tension in the body also!
Thank you for the video, currently I’m learning rachmaninov prelude op3 no2 I watched your video for that piece I have 2 question; First if our hand tendons cannot be get stronger like other parts in our body how our fingers getting stonger and second how in time we are not getting tired in same pieces like our first time I think some muscles are getting stronger but I could be wrong or confused btw I’m a beginner I learned 3 chopin and other 5 piece in 9 months now I just completed Prokofiev Dance of the Knights so Rach prelude maybe causing overuse in my hands because of second part of the piece(agitato) what you suggest while praciting? Or simply because of just I’m beginner so that my hands getting tired
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:00 🎹 *Introduction to tension in piano playing*
- Tension affects control, fluency, and speed in piano playing.
- Tension is a signal that something is wrong, but frequent breaks don't solve the underlying issue.
- The video will explore four main causes of tension and provide tips for avoiding it.
01:53 💪 *Cause 1: Muscle fatigue or overuse*
- Common misconception: Muscles getting tired is normal, but it's not beneficial for piano playing.
- Muscles controlling fingers should move freely without excessive fatigue.
- Demonstrates how finger movement in a natural position feels effortless compared to tense positions.
03:46 🤲 *Cause 2: Alignment issues*
- Incorrect finger, hand, and arm positions cause tension.
- Playing with a low or high wrist, or with the elbow sticking out, puts the mechanism in awkward positions.
- Emphasizes the importance of maintaining a right angle to the keyboard and keeping the wrist level with the arm.
04:54 🤝 *Cause 3: Isolation*
- Isolating specific muscles, especially the fingers, leads to tension.
- Playing with only the fingers strains small muscle groups in the forearm.
- Encourages integrating fingers, hand, and forearm to avoid excessive fatigue.
05:51 🚶♂️ *Cause 4: Bad posture*
- Bad posture causes soreness in the neck, shoulders, and back, hindering free movement.
- Interdependence of muscles in the neck, shoulder, back, and arms contributes to tension.
- Demonstrates the impact of bad posture on playing and emphasizes the importance of correct posture.
06:48 🎓 *Tips to avoid tension in practice*
- Tip 1: Maintain good posture at the piano for comfort and freedom of movement.
- Tip 2: Ensure fingers, hand, and arm alignment, keeping the arm at a right angle.
- Tip 3: Move fingers within their natural range of motion to prevent overuse and tension.
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The violin in the background is distracting and putting me to sleep. 😪
You took too long to get to the point, I switched to another video.
Indeed, why explain things anyways?