Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Questions about tight wrists/arms

I would recommend getting a copy of Faber and Faber's Technique and Artistry book 1 and go through it at home even if your teacher doesn't use it. It has one of the best descriptions and good exercises and ways to think about it geared just for that age. For example, the first page starts showing to rest your hand over your knee and notice the shape of your hand and how that feels. The next half of the page talks about pretending there are balloons tied to your wrist and practice letting the balloon "float" your arm and wrist. The next segment has one tapping fingers on the fallboard in a certain way. The book makes use of good word pictures geared for kids.

Another simple exercise I was taught is to sit at the piano or stand, let one's arms hang loosely at one's side. Take note of the way one's hands look and are shaped and try to carry that over to the keys. Also, one things I've found to help me is set my hands on the keys and just let them rest there thinking about how it feels in my hands, arms, wrists, and shoulders while my hands are just sitting, resting on the keys then I try to "memorize" or remember that resting hand and arm feeling while playing.

I think word pictures especially having your child come up with his own word pictures that make him think of what relaxed shoulders, arms, wrists feels like are really helpful. Everyone's different so what one word picture sounds like a relaxed way to think about it might make another person think incorrectly. One example on posture I use with my students is think of yourself as a tree growing toward the sun with your arms as branches wanting to grow outward. I like to use word pictures that depict movement rather than stiff, stationary word pictures. Another example, might be while sitting at the piano, think about being a hot air balloon getting ready to take off into the sky. I think those sorts of pictures depict posture but in a relaxed movement sort of way.

Another thing I noticed that helps me that sounds crazy but it helped is to take a walk or have a child walk around the room with arms and hands hanging relaxed and swinging in the natural relaxed way that happens when one is walking and take note of what one's shoulders, wrists, hands, and arms feels like while swinging naturally at one's side and try to remember that feeling when playing at the piano.

I've heard said that a lot of tension starts in the shoulders and that if one relaxes the shoulders, everything else should follow. - food for thought.

p.s. I think also to de-emphasize every single note needing to be correct until one learns first to relax. Trying too hard and worrying about not making one single mistake or one single wrong note is a recipe for tension. A person should give oneself permission to hit a few wrong notes here and there. Priorities get turned around. The priority should be relaxing first, correct notes second.

Also, concentrating on the sound one is trying to produce rather than what one's hands are doing might help. I fell into a lot of problems when in beginning lessons from thinking about and trying way too hard to hold my hands and fingers in an exact certain way thus in the process locking up my wrists and arms concentrationg so hard on keeping my fingers held just so. It might help to have the student put the focus on something else than what the student is trying so hard to do. For example, if the student is trying way too hard for correct notes or correct hand position, or holding fingers a certain way, have them put the focus elsewhere such as shoulders, arms, or wrists or on the sound rather than the notes.

mr. teacher suggests i play a song slowly, and with every note make a arm/shoulder/wrist circle.. elbows going out and up first.. keeping the fingers in contact with the keys at all times.

helps alot.

Thank you all so much for the helpful advices. I will be going out to get the Faber and Faber book, and trying out some of the techniques and exercises that you mentioned. I think the hardest thing for my son on this issue is for him to understand and picture what relaxed hands look like. I think the word pictures will help him to experience and practice that.

The other thing to consider is that your son has played for 2 years in this way and probably can't see any problem. You might have difficulty persuading him to make changes to his technique so don't be surprised if he gets frustrated. You can of course teach relaxation and good technique. Demonstration is one of the most effective teaching tools. At the end of the day your son will make the changes only when he is ready. When playing the exercises, focus not only on the movement but the sound. In general if the sound is right then the technique is also right. He needs to concentrate on listening when he plays as bad technique will always show up in the sound.

This might be a silly question but does your son play on a decent well maintained instrument? So many people overlook this.

It is hard to be heard, when you try to explain something absolutely new for people, but I will try again.

Currently I am training a lot of piano teachers with Soft Mozart. Many of these teachers are also performers. I never had this experience before in my entire life, because one thing – is to know that there are many other piano teachers in the world. Another – to become their mentor. During out training, when they experience the program, and see what the program does for students , piano teachers usually open up a lot. I thought that to feel what I feel, when I perform or learn new staff is only my problem. As a child I was so afraid to push the wrong key, I still have this sensation on my back, shoulders and neck, like you on foggy road.

Apparently, many of piano teachers feel tension, when they learn new songs, some of them constantly working on 'relaxation' if they need to perform or even practice.. One of the concert pianist told me, that once on stage anxiety was so great, that she completely forgot her piece. Guys,'it is running in our family' – I mean, it is common problems and the problem is for teachers, too.

You may copy 'free movements' as much as you want, but without vision involvement in development of muscles in blind mode nobody ever feel free and relaxed. The worst thing what happens – these tensions and cramps are going to hide very deeply into people's subconsciousness.

Faber and Faber, as well as other method books would do nothing to combat this issue! Hands would feel relaxed and muscles would develop properly only with one condition: when player will SEE every key and every note on the score with no any doubt or second thought. When they SEE where they are and where they are planning to be – it is NORMAL, NATURAL WAY of coordination development. No books, no explanations would be able to replace that.

Imagine yourself driving in foggy road trying to find a certain address in a limited amount of time, if someone took the streets signs off and demand from you to remember the order. How many relaxation exercises and 'method books' should you read in order to avoid stress and tension?

Very true .....until you find yourself sitting at the bench in the middle of a competition.

Thanks, I will keep these things in mind. We do have a decent Kawai RX-2 which I tune every 6 months. So it's probably not the instrument that's causing him problem. Although I have been wondering if I upgrade to a Steinway with a better and lighter action whether it might help him loosening up a little.

I didn't assume anything about the boy's attitude.
This is a rule of thumb in psychology of human perception: our vision just gives up to determine more then 5-7 similar looking objects at the same time.
I remember, when I was a student of music elementary school, how one of the keys of my piano was little scratched. It helped me so much! It was like a leading light for me!
People have to know and see, not to look and wonder, when they develop motor skills!

Buy a Steinway for other reasons, not because it might have some tiny effect on arm tension. Many a student has progressed from Faber to the Concerto in F on lesser instruments than a Kawai RX-2.

Dear Va mom,
Dear Va mom, before you spend any more money on acoustic piano, please, be advised, that this instrument is not a tool and can not be a tool for learning skills to read music notation. I would recommend for you to go to any electronic store, to buy 61 keys with MIDI keyboard under $100, place stickers on it like that:
http://www.doremifasoft.com/pikeystforal.html
Download free version of the song here:
http://www.doremifasoft.com/gepibsopr.html
Connect the keyboard and computer and watch you son's hands in action. If they still would be tensed, this is a medical problem and I rest my case.

Look, I have no desire or interest to be confrontational, but this is what you said about the boy's attitude:

That sounds like an assumption, and the boy's mother has given no information that would lead to this assumption ...unless, that is, you believe that this is a constant of human behavior that applies to all children. Well, if that's what you believe, what does the professional literature in psychology have to say? You see, Monica is a trained academic psychologist. She doesn't buy it.

All I know is that you have a system of teaching that you believe in deeply. That's fine, but the rest of us need more evidence than what you offer on behalf of your own method. You argue that concert pianists unconsciously behave according to your views. This in non-science, because it is not testable. It is belief instead.

What is not testable? The fact, that people can't comprehend more then 5-7 same looking objects at the same time? It is already got to all the psychology books and it is well-known proven fact. Or you think that 88 same looking piano keys and many same looking circles – music notes are not falling into this category?
I had been there, taught traditional ways, had hundreds of students ( some of them already teach in universities and performing on stage). I understand perfectly well what I am talking about. May be it makes sense to try what I offer?
It is never hurt!
Here is the story:
http://newsblaze.com/story/2006102508300200001.ew/newsblaze/ENVIRWIR/EWorldWire.html

Brilliant Piano Virtuoso Endorses Computer System To Teach Piano After Witnessing Its Outstanding Results With His Own Daughter

"Soft Way to Mozart is the 'missing link' to traditional music education," stated the Moscow philharmonic soloist and representative of legendary Neuhaus piano school Yuri Rozum.

Yuri Rozum - world-renowned artist, a full member of the Russian National Academy of Natural Science and the President of the Yuri Rozum International Charitable Foundation - recently issued a letter of endorsement to Soft Way to Mozart, an innovative piano learning computer system. Hailed as a 'modern day music genius,' Yuri Rozum's endorsement came after being an eyewitness to how the system worked with his own child. Before using the new system, Rozum's daughter was resistant to traditional music lessons. After experiencing 'Soft Way to Mozart,' she is enthusiastically learning piano - successfully and with great pleasure.

'Soft Way to Mozart' was created in tandem by musicologist Hellene Hiner and programmer Valeri Koukhtiev in Houston, Texas in 2002. "The system works in tandem with classical approaches of music education. The program filling the lack of visual support during the first steps of acquaintance with the space of piano keys and musical notation," said Yuri Rozum a classically trained Moscow conservatory graduate in his testimony.

Many professionals from the U.S., Canada, Russia, Mexico, Spain, U.K. and other countries switched to Soft Way to Mozart after learning more about the system and getting trained and certified by system creator Hiner. "After more than twenty years of teaching, I have found no better method for teaching children to play the piano," remarked Vice Dean of the Madrid Conservatory Victoria Lopez Meseguer; another pianist - performer and piano teacher after receiving her training with Soft Way to Mozart in Houston.

"The program brilliantly uses the computer for creating the interactive learning of music as a language. By using Soft Mozart, music teachers can apply their time and energy to more complicated professional and artistic tasks during the classes of piano, theory or Solfeggio. The computer takes care of the routine development of basic skills," added Rozum.

"The majority of children are deprived of successful music study as there is little support for students in elementary classes of music schools. We are not only losing future musicians, but, above all, we are losing educated music listeners. What a loss is experienced when the beautiful world of music remains unknown to them entirely. I encourage implementation of this system in daycare centers, schools and any organizations that are related to the upbringing and cultural education of children - for more than music institutions. In addition, this system provides inestimable advantages for home music practice," concluded Rozum (www.yurirozum.com) in his letter of recommendation.

Olenka, your understanding of human perception is a little distorted and out of date. The "5-7" number, I presume, is a reference to the famous channel capacity in working memory first identified by Miller. Of course, we need to define what we mean by 5-7 "objects." Psychologists now speak of "chunks," which may or may not be a single "physical object." E.g., an intermediate pianist would view a C-E-G triad as a single chunk; the beginner would see it as 3. Incidentally, the 5-7 chunk limit on channel capacity is now considered to be closer to 4.

This is actually not all that relevant to the issue of visual perception (not working memory) and what the eye is capable of attending to. Essentially, the fovea allows us to focus on only one object at a time, although we can switch among objects in the visual field very very rapidly (around the order of 10 ms).

I really don't have a great deal of interest in debating this in any more detail. Your method of instruction sounds intriguing. You say it works wonders. That could be. But if it works, I don't think it works due to the psychological processes you say it does, at least as far as I can determine from your posts here. And the glowing testimonial you reprinted hasn't convinced me of the scientific basis of the method. As piano*dad noted, testimonials are not how science progresses.

What I do find disturbing is how you make strong pronouncements about this little boy's motives and abilities, without having ever even seen him play. Particularly disturbing is your blithe statement that if your experiment with the lighted keyboard turns out as predicted, it means there is a medical problem. I find a statement like that to be unnecessarily alarming and, frankly, irresponsible.

As English my second language I could be not clear in expressing my knowledge in words.
Let's speak numbers here
We developed a device that based on very advanced mathematical formula, which calculates every move of piano players.
There are 2 main numbers – amount of right keys and amount of time. Time is presented like in chess – every delay is building up number.
We also brought music notation on very elementary level, where all what the young beginners have to do is to match.
Even though, when students have no visual challenge and ought to concentrate only on their coordination development, the time score is larger then amount of right keys at the very first stage.
Upon this calculation and after working with students with different abilities and even disabilities, the picture how skills to play piano and read music at the same time became very clear to us in pure math numbers.
For example, if student learned a piece on piano keyboard and his time close to a perfect zero and amount of points is perfect, when you move him/her to waited key digital piano, score is going to drop at the beginning. When we take all the visual support and student is completely unprepared to play, time delay is so great, that student can't comprehend any music and struggles to build coordination.
I would be happy to share all the results of this research with educators, but they have to have a clue what am I talking about. I feel like… Bill Gates sometimes, when first computers were just invented.
Wish people make a little step forward for their own good.

I don't think that any of this has much to do with tight wrists and arms. The ability to translate notation into music on any instrument is a separate matter. There are many musicians who have tension despite being fine readers. Even those who play by ear can be tense and they have never encountered difficulty in reading music.

When I mentioned the quality of the instrument I did not mean the difference between a Kawai RX2 and a Steinway. That would be unnecessary. I was thinking of the many students who play on 'old knackers' as my tech puts it.

My guess is that this boy has just picked up bad habits. If he has played in this way for 2 years it will take time and patience to solve the problems. When he realises that he cannot play the pieces he wants to play because of these technique problems he will begin to sort it out. If you work with his teacher to address the issue he will be fine.

Hi there MOM,
Glad you found this great forum, welcome!
I am a Suzuki Piano Basics teacher and the one word "basics" describes it all. At the very first lesson we teach our students to play naturally. With no tension. With good tone.
Where do you live? You can PM me if you are interested on finding a Piano Basics teacher.
You can at least observe to see if it makes sense and appeals to you and your son.
It is very easy to relax at the piano. I've had students that had very poor form and tension. It does not take long to resolve.
I hope you will find a teacher that can help.

As an adult student, I had the same problem for a long time, so unbeknown to my teacher, I started looking for another teacher. I took one lesson with another teacher. What I learned? I learned from this teacher that I had a good teacher already and should stay with that teacher. However, the greatest lesson came from this teacher, a former Juliard graduate. She instructed me to play a major scale. She instructed me to raise each finger as high as possible and then strike each key as hard as possible in a controlled motion. I previously played soft and had no control over the instrument. What I learned, is that it is ok to pound the keys, to abuse your instrument in order to feel power and control over the instrument (to relax). It is very important to get inside your instrument to feel comfortable. It may be that your child is shy like me and needs to understand it is ok to be forceful and loud. I tell you explore every option to get comfortable on the piano. Let him just play with his pieces or the instrument. I don't advocate buying new books. I advocate using all the resources you already have, but in new exciting, liberating ways, to listen, enjoy and have fun.

YOGA AND TIGERS


Stress.. little kids.. fear..... argggggggg

Kids who are uptight, stressed out, tired, afraid, can become like a board during play.

First thing is to not let them know it. Infact let them indulge.

I'm a Crane and big heavy iron crane... argggggg
Forte those keys to all heck and gone....
ooooooo that felt so good.

Then I'm a tiger with claws and pawing my way through the jungle........ Rarrrr......

Now I'm a crab running along the beach.. click click click........

Now I'm a spider silently crawling along.....
shhhhhhhh...........

And so on...

Now stand and play an elephant song... Long heavy swinging trunk........

Now stretch for the sky... swing those arms around and let out a scream and a laugh and the sound of a fire engine far away, closing in, moving away down the street.

Whoa. that was exillerating. Now lets play Jingle Bells like are fingers are made out of Jello........ and laugh our heads off.


and so on and so on...

Imagination is greater than knowledge.. Einstein