Body Mechanics at the Keyboard (feat. wrist, forearm, and back!)
IMPORTANT! RESCHEDULED FOR
June 20th at 11am PT!
Today we will talk about efficient and intelligent ways to use our body at the keyboard: featuring the wrist, forearm and back! Different kinds of music require different bodily focuses. Join us as we discuss the variety of best use cases!
Follow this event link to tune in!
https://app.tonebase.co/piano/live/player/pno-using-body-at-keyboard-wrist-forearm-back
We are going to be using this thread to gather suggestions and questions!
- What questions do you have on this topic?
- Any particular area you would like me to focus on?
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I need to listen to this very much :) looking forward to it!
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A study in which EMG readings of muscular activity from shoulder to finger found that in conservatory students there was a greater preponderance of activity in the hands and fingers relative to the upper arm. In contrast, more seasoned professional concert pianists had relatively more muscular activity in the upper arm area, and less in the hand and fingers.
Do you thank that over years of playing, technique evolves towards greater biomechanical efficiency by redistributing the work of playing farther away from the fingers into the upper arm? Should that be a goal?
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Michael What a fascinating study! Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Michael.
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One rich source of information on âarm powered techniqueâ is Victoria von Arxâ monograph on Arrauâs technique (with online video demonstrations), and as demonstrated in an online video lecture by Bennett Lerner. Von Arx also discusses the technique primers by Rudolf Breithaupt (1873-1945) who espoused âweight theoryâ as opposed to âfinger technicâ which had been the rule before the heavy modern piano prevailed. I suspect some overlap with Taubmanâs ideas too. Judging by the Tonebase presentations of, say, Biegel, Durso, Roskell, it seems like the âfinger poweredâ and âarm weightââhand-arm-unitâ powered) approaches persist as two fairly distinct schools of pedagogy and method. Is that true?
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Itâs difficult fully to understand what proponents of âarm weightâ (like Arrau) are doing, but three components to depressing the keys seem to be: Downward force is transmitted by momentary/pulsatile/gradated relaxation of the biceps muscle (rather than active contraction of the triceps), accompanied by similar relaxation at the shoulderâtogether bringing the hand downward away from the fall-board. The second is propulsion of the hand downward towards the fall-board from the shoulder, together with active extension at the elbow. The third is âflappingâ of the outwardly-pointed elbow, which in effect rotates the hand while generating downward force. These ideas seem similar to Taubmanâs (Durso even describes the motion of the mechanical arm that adjoins the wheels on an old steam-engine train.)
Do you think in terms of using these techniques?
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It seems that one technical goal of arm and body motion is to minimize âtwistingâ (radial and ulnar deviation) of the wrist. How far do you go to avoid âtwistingâ? What amount of side-to-side angulation of the wrist are you comfortable with? When playing near the middle of the keyboard, do you allow your elbow to point outward and your fingers to fall so that the index finger is closer to the body and the little finger closer to the fall-board (not parallel to the key ends)?
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Michael Thanks for asking this question, Michael. I'm interested in this as well as I'm finally back at the piano after having to take several months off and am noticing that, probably because of multiple right wrist injuries from my mis-spent youth, I cannot tolerate much ulnar deviation at all without a twinge of pain.
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Michelle R even for the most upstanding and uninjured amongst us, it is painful to have lived as an ulnar deviant. Standing on your hands, tumbling and swinging from bars could not have been kind to your triangular fibrocartilage.
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Michael you're so right. It was not kind at all - something I'm reminded of every time I go a little too far in that direction.
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Hi everyone! It seems as though this presentation is more concerned with aiming to achieve the most efficient use of your body, rather than things like building muscle tone. However....
I wondered whether is it worthwhile to incorporate physical conditioning into piano training (as athletes do)? Specifically going to the gym or physio/pilates-style exercises aimed at strengthening and building muscle tone.
If so are there any areas to focus on or avoid? (Grip strength exercises or bicep curls feel to me like they could cause reduce dexterity and freedom, whereas core/back exercises could allow for greater stability...)
Also , although sports can be brilliant for mental and physical well-being, do you have any advice for looking after the hands? Things like bouldering or kayaking have caused me issues in the past - loss of finger dexterity and freedom of movement in arms from bouldering, and increase in tension across chest and arms for kayaking. Is this inevitable, or is it possible to retain dexterity/freedom while playing whilst also doing this kind of activity?
Thanks so much.
Looking forward to it!
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Ben Hi, first of all as a disclaimer, I am not a professional concert pianist nor nearly that skilled, but a composer who has been playing piano my whole life.
I was never much into fitness, but in my mid 30s on recommendation of my doctor (due to a range of problems including insomnia, anxiety, and high cholesterol) I started going to a gym regularly. That was about 3 years ago and it changed my life! I hated most of it at first - and I'm still not a fan of treadmills or most cardio equipment. However I got into strength and mobility training (and my gym offers pilates classes) and it's something I really fell in love with. Weirdly there's a lot of parallels to me with strength training and music practice â the way you work on "sections" at a time, slowly or with less volume, and progress bit-by-bit.
Annnnyway to address your question, I don't see any reason why grip strengh exercises or bicep curls should be avoided. They have not reduced my dexterity whatsoever, quite the opposite. I feel stronger, and grip strength exercises have helped my hand and finger strength noticeably at the piano and guitar.
I think like anything in life, you shouldn't overdo working one muscle group in the same way every time â because when that happens and it gets tight, other muscles can't function as freely. So to me what's most important is a balanced program between strength/resistance training of different muscle groups (small and large), as well as mobility (yoga, pilates, stretching). The warning that musicians shouldn't do certain types of strengh training I think is overblown â yes, if you're hitting the gym doing extreme body building and aiming for 400 lb. deadlifts etc., that might impede your flexibility and smaller muscles. But for the most of us normal people not trying to become a body builder, just doing light regular strength training of all muscle groups has nothing but plusses.
Also my doctor says my cholesterol is normal and I sleep way better nowadays. For me it's become a way of life, less focused on "weight loss" or anything short-term, and more about overall health and strength maintenance of my entire body. Hope that helps.
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Ben Hi Ben! I'm a personal fitness trainer (with focus on corrective exercise) who returned to playing piano ~5 years ago, and started bouldering almost 4 years ago. I guess I should add that I'm now 42yo, so recovery time is an issue.
Initially, I definitely had some reservations about how climbing could affect/injure my hands. I'm only about advanced intermediate / beginning advanced for piano, so I don't know how this applies for more advanced pianists, but I've found that climbing and piano have been mutually beneficial for many reasons (mental & physical).
The piano makes me more careful when I'm climbing, forcing better technique and judgment. The climbing has helped with giving me more endurance, like I've been training on the circuit wall in hopes that it will help me with pieces like Rach Moments Musicaux #4 (too early to tell - I haven't revisited the piece yet). It also helps with confidence at the piano - if I can do a dynamic movement to catch a tiny crimp on the wall, I can definitely go for that large leap on the piano...
The flip side is, I do need to spend more time warming up before I play, and I also have to be mindful of how I schedule my training sessions... I try to do my climbing endurance and other "pumpy" training on the evenings after my piano lessons/classes, so I have almost a full week to recover before having to play in situations with less warmup time.
Also I do a lot of core work in general, and find I can sit better and feel more stable when I don't neglect these workouts.
I'm pretty sure Yuja Wang was (is?) a regular at Tracy Anderson's fitness classes.
Hope some of that perspective helps! Feel free to reach out if you'd like to chat/commiserate further... #type2fun
-Judy
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Looking foward to this Dominic! Just curious--what type of tablet and software do you use for yourself and your students? In iPad Mini? thanks!
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Don Calvert I actually use an iPad Pro! 12.9 inch size!
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Dominic Cheli thx!!! Have a great day!!
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Thatâs my Yamaha Clavinova 809GP.
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Hello Everyone!
My apologies but this livestream will be rescheduled for June 20th at 11am PT!
The link above will still work, just please tune in on the 20th if you would like to join this VERY important topic!
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Hi, I am encountering some gnarly passages in Mozart's Piano Concerto, K.488 in the third movement at mm. 287- 293, mainly in the left hand at high speeds. With relatively small hands, what is your suggestion for negotiating the broken octaves in the left hand at mm. 163-166 and later in mm. 399-400 when the RH plays along in broken octaves?
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This was very engaging and insightful. Thank you, Dominic!
