I have been experimenting with this. I feel more relaxed and my playing flows better if I am sitting on a chair (of a specific height)with back support. I lean back only intermittently but i find that it helps. My teacher is horrified by the sacrilegious thought..but he is set in his ways, so I try to listen to him- though not without a discrete eye roll.
It can't be so bad to use a chair, can it? Of course I know that some famous pianists do use a chair but I am only inquiring about common mortals.

Always have preferred a bench. Padded of course...

Bench for me, I tend to put my bench quite far back and then I sit quite far forward.
Gould sat on a low chair, I remember reading that one of his teachers developed a technique where the notes of the piano were "plucked" rather than hit from the top.
Do you find that you need the neck support as well as the back support ? Then I think a high-backed chair sounds like a good idea.
Bill Evans is the closest person to my hero but I don't want his posture !

Plain old bench, with some padding added for comfort and to add a little height. I really should get a real adjustable artist's bench, but it never has become a priority.

There sure are a lot of very old pictures of pianists sitting on chairs to play - it still surprises me how often I see that. Does anybody know when the adjustable artist bench became generally available?

I was amused to read that even after he was a famous composer, Grieg (who was physically quite small) used his volumes of Beethoven sonatas to sit on to raise his height at the keyboard when playing the piano in his home studio. Apparently they are still there, if you go visit.

I sit on a chair, but a bench would not be tall enough for me and my dad's 100 year old upright grand. Honestly, it's not that great and I look forward to having a piano where the keyboard is not so high off the ground.

both chairs that we've had, however, have had a completely flat seat like a bench. I imagine that if you are using a chair that has an inclined seat, this could be very bad for your posture and may be the reason your teacher is so opposed to the idea. You should not be leaning back while playing.

It is like a bench, but the legs are crossed like an 'X' and can be adjusted. Eventually I may look into a more traditional bench.

I prefer the bench ..
Feel more freedom compared to sitting on a chair..

A padded bench that came with the piano...

I'd say a chair is as good as a bench as long as you can maintain good posture and be comfortable.

I prefer an adjustable bench with a good width. Allows me to move around a little bit when needed to.

I agree with Mizo and x-jason re greater freedom from a bench. When I reach the 8va section in Clair de Lune, I shift to the right of my bench.
For those of you who use chairs, how do you manage the extreme registers ?

If i using my digital i sit on a chair. At the upright i sit on a bench. I like chair more than bench also arcadi volodos use chair at his every concert.

I don't use a chair, but I also don't shift my seat when playing extreme registers. Balancing by using your feet you can reach up and down without needing to move your seat, as long as you're not sitting too close to the keyboard.

Leather padded artist's bench of the Chinese ebay persuasion. The cat loves it. I started out with a dining room chair. The bench is better.

I use a bench with a towel on top. I push it right back and sit on the edge. I like to feel my seatbones - if they have an even pressure then I know my shoulders are also even and therefore I have an even pressure through my arms, wrists and fingers. I am a professional horse rider and I sit on my bench like I am in the saddle - strange?? I dont know......



I do this only because I am obsessed with no leaning to the left or the right like you would on a motorbike (ok a saddle obsession i know) and so far i seem to have a bench that accommodates my moving around. I always know when I have had a good practice session when my towel is "skew-wif"<sp>.

However when I have a lesson I often 'stick' to the bench - please tell me this happens to others and not just me......please

michelle

For uprights I find a stool more appropriate! The claw foot, swivel top and all.

But I do like a Bench as it gives me a bit more room.

I really really really love the fancy heavy, padded benches, that come with $75k pianos and such! But those are really expensive!

Oh wow, I love those stools - I had forgotten about the one I learnt on as a girl. It was beautiful - threadbare but beautiful :o) Thank you for the memory

I've always used a padded bench but last summer I had the opportunity to try an adjustable piano chair at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. The seat is slightly padded and the height is fully (and easily) adjustable. I appreciated the back during long, long practice sessions when my own back was getting tired. I would never consider performing on one, but for practice, it was great. They are fairly expensive which is what prevents me from buying one to replace my artist's bench. If I ever teach, I will definitely get one because it adjusts so easily.

A bench, so my grandson can sit next to me while I play for him.

The wonderful Radu Lupu famously uses a chair in his recitals!

I sit on a chair when practicing,
Bench when performing a concert

Deborah :

I have both an adjustable piano chair and a Jansen's artist's bench; I use the artist's bench at the piano, but the adjustable chair is good for recitals with numerous players. It is the same quickly-adjustable chair that you used at the Conservatory last summer. When several people are playing it's much quicker to adjust the chair to each person's preferred height than the artist's bench ("Is this going up or down [turn, turn, turn]" "I think it's going up." Oh, I thought it was going down."

The adjustable chair

just like this one

was $125.00US several years ago which I did not consider terribly expensive. It sits in my entrance hall when not in use, and is there for people who want to sit when putting on shoes.

I can use either with equal comfort as long as each is adjustable to my preferred height. Like Deborah, I don't slide from side to side to reach the extreme ends of the keyboard; I just lean and reach and support the lean with a leg.

Regards,

Jansen Artist Bench here, though I can see where the chair people are coming from.

Yes, that's the one. I must have done an expensive internet search. $139 is affordable. Thanks!

I use the bench from my grandmother's organ. I had my husband custom cut the legs to the right height for me.

I am terrible at adjusting those adjustable chairs. Last time I performed on one, someone had to do it for me. Benches all the way!

I was playing the Janesen duet bench that goes along with the Weber baby grand on our schools stage. I couldnt figure out the adjustment dials!

They each seemed to do a different thing. Like you had to twist both at the same time, or only one side went up!


Why on earth do those benches weigh so much??

Wish I had an $800 bench!

So they will survive the beating that they inevitably receive!

But should that equal a $900 or so price tag? Im wondering why they are that much. They sure are nice though.

Well, they are extremely well made. BTW, the ≥ $900 ones typically have a leather covering. Vinyl is a good bit cheaper, but less breathable.

For (hopefully) a lifetime of use, $900 isn't really that bad.