Bad piano technique can cause health problems such as hand and wrist pain, numbness and weakness in fingers and arms, poor blood circulation, cold hands, and sore shoulders and/or neck. As you know from previous posts, I really like the Taubman technique and the videos of Edna Goldansky. Shoulder action is essential for moving the whole arm and hand for fortissimo chords. Sometimes, especially when playing with both thumbs on Middle C, kids will rotate their hands so their wrists are bent. YouTube Playlist On Piano Technique: Tips from Pianist Magazine, Josh Wright, Andy Grall, Weekly Piano and Jonathan Kuttner on “avoiding tension in your playing,” “developing ease and relaxation,” “the wrist as the 4th joint” and “avoiding Tendinitis and other RSIs” the key stroke becomes a … All our publications on the Scaramuzza technique based on Masterclasses, previous publications and educational research. WRIST MOVEMENT IN PHRASING 35 SOME SPECIAL TECHNIQUES WITH CHORDS AND OCTAVES 36 Preparing hand shape in chords and melodies 36 ... Of the many schools of piano technique which have existed during the last century, the most influential have been the “arm weight” and “raised finger” schools. Optimizing technique and posture; This article originally appeared on my Tennis Elbow Classroom site. Wrist pain - technique problem (Read 2306 times) dalek3. It is important to take good care of your wrists and be fully aware of how they are being used in and out of piano practice. they cause a degree of stiffening of the wrist. Question Lately I've been experiencing tension and sometimes minor pain in my right wrist (even off the piano), so if I bend the wrist it will hurt a bit. By practicing this technique and relying on the wrist, you can develop incredibly speed and fluidity. This category includes a section on playing octaves taken from Cortot’s analysis of the Chopin Étude Op 25 No 9. 5) So supple wrist is one detail in that system. Lately, I have been harping on my students about their wrist technique. Wrist action is important for quick, light staccato and rapid octaves. Leaps, accuracy, ease, etudes, anxiety. Since I'm a beginner and I don't have any tutor, I'm very careful about learning proper technique. A blog about piano technique and solving problems. Piano is easy and doesn't hurt. Here, Cortot stresses the importance of the wrist and the idea that it is the wrist that drives the fingers. Piano Technique Mastery 2: Play Challenging Pieces. ... Write a "piano" dynamic marking under those notes. Well, the conductor is not just marking time like a metronome: they are showing the ensemble beat hierarchy. The hand should assume the position as given in the following illustration: 5 Wrist technique. I would say if your technique is correct on your piano and you can play well without pain, then on a harder action you will need to slow down some to compensate, but don't change the technique, or … It is the basis of piano playing technique. Think of a hammer striking a nail and you'll get the point. For passages that require power and speed, the wrists can accomplish both. Although I’m neither trained nor experienced in this approach, I include aspects of rotation and wrist flexibility in my own teaching, particularly when I see students trying to play things with a rigid and fixed motion of the arms and hands. Wrist staccato technique is generally used to play chordal passage work or groups of two notes or more in a very short, detached manner. Faulty technique, especially resulting in excessive muscular tension, awkward positions of the joints, imbalance between opposing sets of muscles or un-ergonomic tendon paths. Some are playing with locked wrists or excess hand tension, even with us working on it during their lessons. Think about how difficult it is to remember to maintain perfect posture and wrist position while playing the piano. ; The thumb may cross under finger 4 instead of finger 3, as suggested earlier in this lesson:. Each finger should be able to depress the key independently without disturbing the wrist motion. I'm currently learning play piano by myself. Therefore, by anticipating the flow of the melody with the movements of your flexible wrist, you can gradually master a special technique which is called ‘intoning on the piano’ (I mention this principle in my report “A New Perspective on Piano Phrasing” and I … The ideal wrist position to prevent pain and carpal tunnel syndrome is a neutral or straight wrist – the same wrist position for playing the piano! Why doesn’t the ensemble just listen to a metronome? Brandy Kraemer. The wrists provide the right balance of speed and power for octave and fast chord work. Tips and Exercises for Proper Piano Hand Placement. Question: One of my biggest struggles in piano teaching is hand position. The only book available today that teaches how to practice at the piano, not just what techniques you need (scales, runs, hand/finger independence, endurance, jumps, tone, relaxation, etc. Podcast Interview With A Pianist. Over-lifting the fingers. An essential concept of Level 1 is beginning articulation, specifically legato and staccato.These terms are so familiar to us as music teachers that we might overlook the importance of these touches in developing technique and musical expression. When playing piano scales and warm-ups with accidentals, use the following techniques: Keep thumb and pinky off black keys when playing scales. The piano is played with the fingers in collaboration with the wrist. The bottom line is that we teachers can only help you so much in a lesson, the … I honestly think it is the most important thing to develop as a piano beginner. It was believed that fingers could be trained properly only when their action was isolated … Elbow action is for rocking the forearms when playing tremolos. Welcome to this lesson on how to develop the standard Over Under wrist motion. In examining piano technique, consider the path of energy throughout your body structure as it flows to your fingers and into the piano. Once you can play it solidly in the 5 finger drill, you can apply the same technique … Continue reading Bonus Video Lesson 1: Scale Form and Motion → When it comes to slurs that end in staccatos, you will want to achieve this is one motion. ... Wrist Movement Anatomy We will give a name to a movement based on the part of our body that moves and becomes responsible for actioning the keys. He takes the analogy of a motor car where the motor propels the wheels rather than the other way around. There are many names given to this early technique of finger action, which is a legacy of clavichord and forte piano technique: "hammer touch", "bent finger" and "finger stroke". IT’S ALL IN THE WRIST: The Secret to Dazzling Octaves. The less finger and wrist technique mix the more they can support each other. Piano Technique & The Wrist. 11/19/2017 0 Comments Proper use of the wrist is a key element in the development of good piano technique. You can learn piano up to 1000 times faster compared to other methods. Playing the piano uses more than just the fingers; instead, the whole arms are required. However these muscles are not suitable for a good piano finger technique, because : the muscles are located largely outside the hand, too far away from the required delicate finger action. The first part will make your technique stronger, but you need to actually play pieces to transfer the new technique into playing ability. The technique I was taught to approach repeated octaves is to isolate the striking motion of the hands from their lateral motion. Piano technique and exercises : the wrist action September 26, 2010 August 25, 2015 Piano In the legato style of playing, the hand remained stationary; in the wrist-action, it is moved. Piano technique - Vicente Scaramuzza. ; Scales beginning with a black key begin with one of the long fingers (2-3-4). His idea is about using the help of gravity as you can see here ONLINE . Musicians often sacrifice their bodies by playing in an incorrect way, and this is foolish. I'm not talking about spiritual energy, but rather kinetic energy. ), but how to acquire such skills quickly, with specific examples from famous compositions by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin. For the full, original article please visit: Overcoming Piano Related Pain: Finger, Wrist And Elbow Injuries (RSIs) — The Missing Link. In this particular piece there is a two note slur that ends in a staccato. A pianist friend and I were chatting recently about articulation (we need to get out more! Instead, as I said above, we use the term flexibility : the wrist is totally loose and relaxed, anticipating the texture, structure and specific ‘layout’ of the musical text. In the Russian piano school, we don’t call wrist movements ‘rotations’, ‘twisting’ or ‘ascending and descending’. To learn to use the arms, hands, fingers, and wrists correctly, finger exercises are more effective than actual pieces, since exercises are often designed to target one technique and their simple structure is less distracting. In this video lesson we’ll be going over what the Over Under technique is and how to develop it using the Five Finger Drill. Kinetic energy is the energy that a body possesses by virtue of being in motion. ), discussing the whole gamut of staccato possibilities and variants. But, we are only human and sometimes it’s easy to slip into bad habits. Technique is HUGE. Try instead to keep the wrists … Experiencing wrist pain, is it from wrong technique? Level 1: Articulation and the Wrist By Randall Faber • February 1, 2016 • • Level 1, Piano Pedagogy, Technique and Artistry. When playing the piano, the pinky finger, the wrist, and the elbow should line up in a mostly straight line.