The Chopin Method: Piano lesson 1. Sitting and posture at the piano. 

Thank you for your amazing work. I have a master degree in piano performance and I've had excellent teachers over the years who explained in other words what you are explaining in your videos... BUT... the visual of your videos combined with your very clear explanation is nothing less than a revelation for me... (I've watched all of your videos). I won't go into details, but it feels now as if I can play anything, that my body can find the right way to play difficult passages without fighting. Learning a new piece is also faster, because my body feels right from the start. Being scared of Chopin etudes is a thing of the past, I want to learn them all!!! You changed my life, nothing less. Thank you.

This explains so much about why sometimes I feel like i have so much control while other times I feel like i can only play forte. Paying attention to my posture all the sudden makes me feel like I have so much control.

As a med student and a pianist, I can tell you about the "tenodesis grasp" which helps finger flexion by a slight wrist extension. That's also why you shouldn't sit too high on your stool.

Pure gold, I'll watch it later Edit: Now I know why I was feeling so much tension after a while playing, thanks for such amazing content!! Also, great voice!

This channel is pure gold. Thank you for sharing this knowledge with us. The video is made so professionally that it leaves no questions. Chapeau bass. This episode convinced me to consider purchasing a stand for my midi keyboard so that I can practice proper positioning while learning to play the keyboard. I can't wait to see what I learn in the next episodes.

Thank you, this is valuable to all pianists. You have created an educational resource that will last forever.

Thank you sir for your service. You really are doing unique, significant work out of your degree. Beyond what the certificate says, your passion shines through to share with others through such personal creativity. Thank God for you. ❤

The information on this channel is insane, thank you so much. Keep up the good work.

This is fascinating! Excellent visuals too!

Excellent video to combine the anatomy with piano playing.

you are the hero we need

I love your videos keep it up!

Very interesting presentation!!!thank you

wow thanks for sharing

Amazing video. I been struggling with posture while reading, learning and practicing new pieces for long hours. This will surely help the tension and pain on back and neck.

Excellent video, thank you.

An excellent explanation. You also included the cause-effect relationship. Congratulations and thank you. I have not come across a written method that succeeds in describing a narrative in this detail in a textual way. For this reason, unfortunately, there is a need for lessons in which the teacher observes the student from the outside. But the video is very, very explanatory..

best on youtube on this topic. thank you

You are a genius. Bravo👏

Muchisimas Gracias Don Claudio. Este Canal y esta información es Oro puro y da paso a Pasos Gigantescos. Dios lo Bendiga.

Well done

Very interesting. Thank you very much for your work.

I wish there was something like this on RU-vid for how to sing

Thanks for sharing useful knowledge! It's help me to teach students piano .👍

This is amazing. I feel problems of tension in the following muscles: Anconeus, medial and lateral head of the triceps, short head of the biceps brachii, and anterior deltoid. This problem only goes away if i support the arm weight with my fingers, but if i do so, the forearm muscles are activated. How can i support my arm with the fingers without tensioning forearm muscles?

These videos are fantastic! As a pianist, I try my best to get as confortable as possible during my playing; unfortunately, I suffer from a problem in my feet that causes both of them to lift only a little bit, regardless of how hard I try. Because of this, I can only operate the pedal without feeling pain or tension in an uncomfortably far position from the piano, making my arms less pararel

thank you

Great video and channel. Please keep it up!

i have exactly what u said, tension on forearm, shoulder, and top of the back and as it's say, it's because of my deficient fingers 4 and 5 trainning (i only started piano 3 days ago)but it only happens on my right hand ( probably bc i'm right writter so don't use these 2 fingers + play a lot of fps game, so i used to use my finger 2 3 4 that's why i consider i have a decent finger control of my left hand, but bc of no trainning, it's super hard to move my finger 4 without the 5, plus when i put all my hand down on the table, with the left hand i'm able to raise my finger 4, all of it all of the phalanx, but it's not the case of my right hand, i can only raise the end of finger 4, but no other phanlax, even more the last phalax before joinning over finger, i try it super hard but it's like i don't have muscle respond. I guess it's bc in commun life you don't need this abilities so i put the effort on my forearm or another muscle so the muscle needed to raise highy the finger 4 have no power bc i never use it and train it. Another thing, i can't spam with 2 fingers with my right hand, but i can do it slowy, so i need to train it, but for the strenght of finger 4 i have no idea, i have no respond muscle, how can i train it, from a certain height , it block i juste can't moove higher, it's not like spam, that i can do it slowly so how can i train this ?

When I sit leaning my body forward a little it is enough for my lower back to start hurting. The posture I always use is the same, but without leaning my body. Any advice?

Gracias, tus videos son muy ilustrativos con la parte anatómica involucrada en la técnica del piano, que en muchos casos es ignorada a la hora de enseñar. Salud y éxitos!

Dziękuję!

Great video I'm not a native english speaker and I'm not sure I understand the difference between holding and supporting weigth. Does supporting weight implying a certain degree of muscle contraction (not letting the hand collapse due to gravity) ? And so holding weight is used for the region with "total" relaxation ? What about the dynamics ? Does this mean that the movement should start from the upper back when you're playing pianissimo to forte but should start from the lower back when playing fortissimo ? Or is it because playing fortissimo needs a more ample movement from the forearm producing a force that goes backward toward the shoulder and the back ? Thank you for your response

The other day I got a warning by a teacher at my conservatory for raising the bench to much as it would cause it to break down. That happened because the benches weren't being maintained, and I would oftenly tighten the bolts by hand and the screws with a little swiss knife. When I tried to give a reasoning as to why I would raise it so high, an ergonomic posture, relaxed forearms etc, she just repeated that I shouldn't do so, because it brakes it down. All that well and done, I followed her advice to play from the "standard" bench height, but my forearms got sore about 30 minutes in, when I would be able to have 4 hour sessions easily. Is it just because I am not used to it? I get that raising it higher makes it more susceptible to some movement, wiggling etc, but shouldn't they just tighten em up frequently? I am pretty new to the conservatory, had private lessons years some years ago, so I don't quite know how to best convey the reasoning for my actions. I guess I shouldn't max the bench height, but not raising at all? I'm 22 years old and around 1,75 meters tall I could manage somehow, but what about the kids? They are short and small, aren't they putting unnecessary stress to the body, that could be resolved by just raising the bench? Or am I being unreasonable..?

Good

Question - in 5:22 it is said “Leaning backwards loads the finger with more weight”. Is it what it was meant to say? Both leaning backwards and forward creates the same additional relevant weight on the fingers?

We do all realize that there are NO coincidences anywhere when the Piano (forte) is involved. What seems like handy coincidence is most definitely by design...just not sure if it was a conscious design choice or a subconscious one but still 😊

Thank you very much! (I'm a beginner at piano)

Thank you! I'm self taught, can't even read sheet music but currently on my third Chopin etude 😂 I really need videos like this. Does this apply to digital pianos as well? I don't have an acoustic

How can I practice that, I will have to rework all my bad routines, this isnt easy. What would you recommend at the start? Ive been playing for years and have this tension with me, especially in my right arm. Thanks a lot!

Chopin did not use the arm, preferring the wrist action (octaves etc.). Old technique was weightless finger technique, and the hand was moved to serve the fingers, in theory

Very interesting Can I ask you someting... Are you pianist? or Physiotherapy? or ...

Would have been funny to see Glenn Gould at the end of the video 😁

5:29 I’m wondering whether the reason for both Liszt and Gould choosing to sit higher and lower respectively than the height of the piano seat is to utilise their body weight.

great video :)

Mas Chopin tocava usando o peso do braço ou mais articulado com auxílio do punho ? Muito interessante os vídeos

Artur rubinstein used to not hang his arm at all. He say quite away from the keyboard and have arms outstretched. Is that okay?

My teacher says 125degree between forearm and lower arm. The video shows 90degree preferred.

Si può avere una versione in italiano 😯

Thank you so much

Aso, I wanted to ask you about the 90 degree elbow position. There are so many pianists out there talking about playing without any static tension and yet they extend the elbow forward so that it forms 110 angle approx - so that already creates a static tension and I can easily feel that, playing long enough in that position. I'm a lifelong dancer and have a partial rotator cuff tear, at some point it becomes unbearable for me to play like that. What do you think is happening there, I mean, they're all hypocrites or what?

A Chopin quién le habrá enseñado la forma correcta de sentarse? Por favor leer entre líneas...

Is there a way to deduce how high one had to sit in regard to the keyboard level, based on length of legs for instance? I have already struggled my how life finding the exact position and height of chair.

Hello, I'm not sure if I understand correctly, at 4:10 you say that you have to bend over to have an angle of 90°, but when you look at great pianists, you notice that most of them are upright and have a slightly more open angle of about 110° ?

This information where comes from?

Ottimo, Super, peccato per il mio povero inglese, ho dovuto tradurre tutto con Google translate!

Great video, however not one of the french sentences in the begining mean anything

who are you?

En français ?