Piano Forum
Piano Board => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: pleasantemu on May 20, 2020, 03:41:52 PM
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Hello,
I've heard a lot of varying opinions on elbow position when playing. Some seem to think they should always from a 90 degree angle at key level, while others seem to like being higher than the keys with straight elbows (see Brahms, Daniel Barenboim, and a few others).
I personally love the straighter elbow position above the keys, as it allows me to use my full bodyweight to better control sound.
Here are some pictures:
https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01128/opinion-graphics-2_1128836a.jpg
https://www.davespianoshowroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Daniel-Barenboim-Piano.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Willy_von_Beckerath_-_Brahms_am_Fl%C3%BCgel.jpg
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/3f/4d/dd3f4d5716f2b2ee9908124664f95b7c.jpg
https://andantemoderato.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Krystian-Zimerman-performs-Chopin-Four-Ballades.jpg
What do you guys think? Is one position more likely to cause injury?
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Well I don't know about forearm injury, but I keep my elbows about parallel to the keyboard.
Yeah, if you're improvising or maybe in some isolated bits of legit rep you can just do whatever you need to, but I don't think I could even run some scales without a parallel elbow and leading with the forearm.
You could try an angle of about between three-halves pi and zero/two-pi if you want. I guess Glenn Gould did that.