How To Keep A Relaxed Wrist While Playing The Piano | Piano Tips 

I dont mean to be so offtopic but does any of you know a trick to get back into an Instagram account?? I somehow forgot my login password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me.

@Kyler George instablaster =)

@Liam Christian Thanks for your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.

@Liam Christian it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy! Thanks so much, you really help me out!

@Kyler George you are welcome :)

do you still play rn?

I'm so glad! Thanks for the support 🙏

Amazing!

Thank you so much for the comment! I understand exactly what where you're coming from. I too struggled with tension in all areas of my life (even simple things like holding a book!) and I discovered that it stemmed from years of playing the piano in a extremely tense way. I basically had taught my muscles to tense up and hold tension instead of releasing it. And now, years later, I can play without tension and I've gained a lot of insights into injury-preventive technique and want to share my knowledge! Thank you again for the support!!

I second this! Thank you for your explanation!!!

It is a very common problem, I hope the video helped!

Glad to hear it was helpful!

I'm so glad it was helpful!

Not only because of the dog but it was an added incentive. We can't get enough creative humor.

Your very welcome! I am glad that it was helpful.

You are welcome! So glad it was helpful.

Haha nice. I too found this to be very helpfull!

You're very welcome! I'm so glad the video was helpful!

Yes! And I post new videos every week! You are very welcome and thanks!

Thank you! I'm so glad that it is helpful!! Thanks for the support!!

Totally agree, "so much crap."

You're very welcome!

Update on how your wrists are?

You okay?

Hope you get a lot more subscribers. ;)🍀🙏

Wow, thank you very much for the kind words! I do put a lot of time and effort into the videos, so it is wonderful to hear that they are useful and enjoyed by people. Thank you again and I am so very glad that you found the video helpful!

And thanks for the support!

You're welcome! I shoot each video with two cameras (one from the side and one overhead) and use software to edit them together in post.

Glad to help! Great question! In general, keyboards or pianos that have a lighter action (touch) will make it harder to build tension as it requires far less effort to put the keys down. I'm referring more to electric keyboards that can have extremely light actions, most regulated piano should be basically the same. For instance, my piano and my teachers piano are pretty much the same even though they are different a make, model and size (Mine is a small 5' grand and hers is a 7'. Hope that helps!

@@PIANO_LAB There is, of course, a great deal of difference between the action on a spinet piano (often quite light) and a grand piano. This caused great problems for me when I was a young student. I would practice on our spinet at home, and then go to my lesson and attempt to play what I had practiced on my teacher’s grand piano. My arms/wrists/hands would tighten up as I struggled with the much heavier action. Students now have much the same problem if their home instrument is a keyboard with unweighted or “semi-weighted” action. (I tell the parents of my own students that it’s OK for them to practice on a digital piano, but it needs to have fully weighted action.)

I meant all "new" or "well regulated" pianos are basically the same in regards to touch weight. The standard for uprights is 50 grams, where as for grands it is 56 - 59 grams. (and to my knowledge has been for decades) In any case, it is my opinion that "good" effortless technique is independent of the instrument that one is playing on. Just because an instrument has a very light touch weight doesn't mean that the student playing on it will not build any tension. This is because tension is not only acquired from putting the key down but also from moving from key to key. How you move laterally across the keyboard, how you use your fingers etc. all of these things can cause tension. So then, the instrument itself is far less important than how one uses it (in my opinion).

Keeping the hands tension free is super important to be sure! Especially when playing fast rep.

@@PIANO_LABThank you for such a quick reply, and thank you for the tip also. I'm sure if I keep trying to loosen up my left wrist and forearms whilst playing, I'll be able to play as well as I always hoped I would be able to. I'll keep in touch to let you know how it's going! :)

@@Hobnob-xh8nx Any updates? Has this helped you?

Haha Would have been pretty awesome

Great question! This would be much easier to demonstrate in a video than explaining here, but I will do my best. (I will definitely make a video about this in the coming weeks as I think this is a great question.) The constant lifting and relaxing of the wrist, is to teach your arm and hand to constantly release tension. However overtime one does not need to do it as much as your hands and arms learn to constantly release tension without the exaggerated motions. For instance, I don't need to use such big exaggerated movements when I play. Just a small movement in my wrist and arm is sufficient. Because I have practiced like this extensively in the past, I don't build up tension that I need to constantly release. So, when I play a long Passage I don't need to constantly lift and release my wrist because my hand and arms are constantly releasing tension as I go. Or I can even say that my hands and arms aren't really building any tension. I would suggest taking small sections, like phrases or even measures, and playing them individually with large exaggerated lifting motions with the wrist in between each section. You can find the most logical places to do this, as measure lines may not be the best place. Another thing that helps keep tension from building in passages more like this is using other kinds of gestures. For instance, oftentimes a circular gesture or a rotational gesture involves more arm movement and helps the fingers play more fluently. Also, constant Motion in the arms when using these gestures will help keep the muscles from tightening. Muscles that are constantly in motion will not very easily tighten and build tension. I hope that all makes sense! Hopefully this was helpful, and you can apply some of these Concepts to your own playing. Like I said, I will definitely have this to the list of videos that I'll be making in the next couple of weeks as this is a great question! Thank you for the question!

@@PIANO_LAB thank you for the reply. It makes perfect sense to me. I will try applying these suggestions in my practice sessions from now on and I hope to get more insights from you in the future when you give a video demonstration. Thank you once again.

Thank you! I have certainly seen this before. It's actually the problem with just tying to "relax" because it can cause you to relax even the muscles that are necessary to a strong hand position. The key I think is to use arm weight to put the key down and learn to use only the muscles that are necessary to keeping a strong arch hand shape. I hope that this is helpful!

@@PIANO_LAB Thanks very much, I will certainly try that.

Hi Rachel! Thank you so much for your question and kind words! I have studied with the Golandsky Institute but have also been trained in the Russian method. I like to start with wrist movements with my students because I find that it is the best way to gain an awareness of tension and learn how to release it. Once a student learns to be aware of and release tension then I like to teach students how to have proper structure (hand position and alignment). And yes, you are completely right. The wrist movement is exaggerated at first to initially teach the sensation but later it becomes less obvious overtime once rotation and other shifting motion are implemented. I still do think that so called "wrist movements" can be very helpful at any level but they become small and less obvious. In answer to your other question, at first I think it is helpful to drop below the keys so as to feel a very relaxed wrist and forearm. After this is learned, however, it is better to not drop too low. Although when playing, say a fast succession of large chords, it can be very helpful to drop the wrist a little lower to ensure that the arm is releasing between each chord. I think that a kind of "eclectic" approach to piano technique is what I find to be the most helpful. Rather than a blind adherence to any one approach. Anyways, I hope that answered your questions! Thanks again!

That is the best explanation I've ever read on this topic. I understand that there is a lot of sometimes heated discussion in Taubman circles but as you do suggest, wrist motion is helpful to experiencing the actions to a pain free technique. I think maybe Taubman approaches this the other way around though to secure and establish a hand structure as its neutral balance so that it always has a place to move between in different technical contexts. I think Irina Gorin in Tales of a Musical Journey and Jackie Sharp in her Technique Trainer both address the wrist technique and its role in very creative ways, including using pencils and little hair bands to experience the movement. I have heard people in the Taubman school caution against this type of exaggerated action oor hyperextension because the tendons will begin to fray and eventually inflame causing injury. I think it's because it's being instilled as an expressive tool all the way through their repertoire to experience how different directions and phrasing feel kinesthetically which I do think is important. I am always interested in other perspectives so thank you so much for clarifying your ideas, I really appreciate it.

I'm glad my explanation was helpful! I think that the only danger with exaggerating this kind of wrist movement is 1) if it is not eventually minimized. 2) if proper hand structure and Alignment is not eventually learned and applied. It also seems to me that the reason why people tend to injure themselves by using "wrist" movements is because they don't have proper hand structure and alignment which means that the only way they can feel "loose" when they play is by using extremely exaggerated wrist movements. Extremely exaggerated wrist movements without the aid of proper alignment and structure can be problematic. I am happy to clarify and thanks for your support!

@@PIANO_LAB thank you so much for explaining this. Yes there is sometimes a lot of attention on wrist movement and not on the arms, so as a result the wrist motion becomes isolated and as you say that causes a lot of problems because they haven't learned how to relax and release tension through the whole of the arm. This means that the student can't smoothly progress into repertoire they want to do because of immediate setbacks caused by tradition, leaving them psychologically hampered because they have to start all over with a fresh foundation. I think there was the Leschitizky type of method which focused on wrist movement and finger independence, taking the parts of the arm in isolation rather than having it all connected together.

@@rachelstarritt481 Always impressed with your knowledge and exposure to pedagogy It can only help.

i have no idea it doesn’t make sense to me

Thanks for the question! The movement should feel easy and loose. If it doesn't, it probably means that your forearm and wrist are locked and tense. You need to make sure that the movement is initiated from the arm NOT the finger, hand or wrist. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the question! It can be used in scales to a degree. Obviously, when we play scales we can't lift and release our wrist on every single note but this can be a helpful way to practice scales as it can help teach our bodies what it feels like to play up and down the keyboard without excess tension. I actually have a three-part video series on scale playing and in part 3 I discuss this method of practice. I just filmed part for over the weekend and it should be released Tuesday morning👍

It can be very hard, but with time it gets easier!

Never heard it called that but ok. I've also never seen anyone teach or demonstrate this exercise except my teacher who I learned it from. Thanks for watching!

Care to evaluate?