Tense arms and wrists

[kghayesh]

I have a major problem that my teacher is continuously telling me about it but I can't really change it, even though i really want to change and overcome it.

When I play for a long time, especially when playing hard pieces with demanding passages, chords and so, I feel some tension building in my wrist and lower palm. My teacher says it is because i am play while my muscles are tensed. So, continuous constant tension for a long time results in fatigue in muscles, which in turn makes me feel uncomfortable and so tired.

I was playing in a concert last year and I was playing Chopin's Ballade no.1 and the Revolutionary etude. As it is obvious, they are both demanding pieces. So, what happened was that near the half of the etude i felt soooo much pain in my left arm that i was literally playing almost any random notes with the left hand. In the descending scale at the end, I was playing it with the right hand only coz i felt my left hand was like seriously injured !! My left hand kept hurting me for about 1 hour after the concert .

So, it is obvious that this is due to some faulty technique or posture. The question is...... How can i change ??

[maxd]

the biggest thing I've noticed...which is actually tied to some religions and martial arts..

you must completely relax your entire body.

focus on your spinal column..

every musical action starts from your spinal column.

you will find that in this semi-spiritual totally relaxed state you will be about 400-600% more efficient, and things will come to you in a way which cannot be understood by the mind alone.

your technique will instantly change, and you will feel animated by something else..

the whole trick, I believe, is not to fear this element and let it take complete and utter control of your playing..within wisdom, of course..

[assante]

that's tough  to answer without actually seeing you play.
In a general way, i would say that tension = grabbing, clenching and immobility.
So to counter that state, you have to do the opposite, that is let go loose, and move a lot, i.e. activate the hand, fingers,knuckles,  wrists, elbows by moving them in every which way.
At first, chances are you'll be playing all kinds of wrong notes, feel totally stupid, like a rag doll, but out of this you'll discover things. Forget all principles or dogmas you may have as to how you should play or how you should hold the hand.
Experiment with stuff you've never done before and without a coach you have to simply try all combinations of movement you could think of. Within all that jumble of possibilities i'm pretty sure lies your solution.

 

[comma]

So, it is obvious that this is due to some faulty technique or posture. The question is...... How can i change ??

Change your teacher. Believe me, if he can't help you to play in a smooth, relaxed way he is not good for you. Just to say "relax" is not enough. He has to show you the technique that allows you to do so. As soon as you can rely on a proper technical basis relaxation will come automatically.

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https://www.pianistenschule.de

[teresa_b]

I think being aware of your body sensations during your practice is the key.  I've had similar problems--I discovered my tension was worst in my shoulder muscles--Sometimes I was tightening them so much I got pain up and down the neck and back.  I have improved this by actively noticing while practicing when I felt the muscles tense, and then relaxing them immediately.  At some point I found I was playing with less tension much of the time. 


Good luck!
Teresa

[kghayesh]

Change your teacher. Believe me, if he can't help you to play in a smooth, relaxed way he is not good for you. Just to say "relax" is not enough. He has to show you the technique that allows you to do so. As soon as you can rely on a proper technical basis relaxation will come automatically.

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https://www.pianistenschule.de

Well, i can't really change my teacher. She is the one who told me about the relaxation problem !!! I don't think anyone can just point out that i have a problem in tension !

[comma]

Well, i can't really change my teacher. She is the one who told me about the relaxation problem !!!

She shouldn't tell you about the problem. She should solve it. But it's your decision.

[kghayesh]

She shouldn't tell you about the problem. She should solve it. But it's your decision.

She tells me how to solve it of course, by relaxing my arms and moving them while i am playing. But, I just can't always apply this in my playing!! That's the problem

[cmg]

I was playing in a concert last year and I was playing Chopin's Ballade no.1 and the Revolutionary etude. As it is obvious, they are both demanding pieces. So, what happened was that near the half of the etude i felt soooo much pain in my left arm that i was literally playing almost any random notes with the left hand. In the descending scale at the end, I was playing it with the right hand only coz i felt my left hand was like seriously injured !! My left hand kept hurting me for about 1 hour after the concert .

So, it is obvious that this is due to some faulty technique or posture. The question is...... How can i change ??

You're describing a very, very serious problem with tension.  If you continue to play with such tension, tendonitis will result.  You DON'T want that.

You have to go back to the beginning.  Scales.  So slowly you'll want to scream and each hand alone.  You must concentrate on each finger as it drops its weight onto a key and depresses it.  At that moment of depression (and the sounding of the note), any muscle tension inherent in causing the finger to move at all, must be let go of.  Feel total relaxation.  Then, the next note.  Etc.  Envision a finger stroke that isn't tapping, but a kind of scratching of the key.  And if you're sitting too high at the keyboard, change that immediately.  Lower seating feels odd at first, but, I think it's the only way to go to keep tension at bay.  Let yourself melt into the keyboard.  Don't try to dominate it.  Be one with it.

You must become intensely aware of any tension in your thumb as well.  That's usually the origin for the trouble that the other fingers pick up on, then the wrist, forearm, shoulders, back.  Before you know it, you feel as if you're brittle and ready to crack.  No.  You want to feel totally loose.  Rag doll, as someone above mentioned.  Totally loose is how you must feel.  

And you really need a GOOD teacher to watch you play these scales.  By now, much of your tension is beyond your conscious awareness and imbedded in your technique.  You need a teacher who will watch you play SLOWLY and catch you at each and every evidence of tension.  

I know about tension.  Years ago, I was developing this problem and had an excellent "coach," a graduate student/assistant of Menachem Pressler, who supervised the rebuilding of my technique for an entire year.  For six months, I only played scales, each hand alone, and SLOWLY.  But, it worked.

You see, the more advanced repertoire that you are playing becomes impossible to play with this tension problem.  In fact, advanced playing is all about total relaxation.  Joyce Hatto, the late great British pianist, said she strove to feel as if she were "hot oil" in her approach to the keyboard.  And this lady, even in her mid-70s playing from a wheelchair, could toss off the Chopin/Godowksy Etudes with even more flair and power than Hamelin.  Listen to her sound:  pure, full, ringing and that only comes from total relaxation.

If you have trouble isolating your tension, you should consider a meditation technique.  You have to be totally aware of your body to be relaxed enough to play the Revolutionary.  It's unplayable otherwise -- and I think that's Chopin's lesson for us.

Relax.  It can be learned.

And good luck!  There's hope!

[cmg]

She tells me how to solve it of course, by relaxing my arms and moving them while i am playing. But, I just can't always apply this in my playing!! That's the problem

That's not enough.  Anyone can move their arms -- loaded with tension -- while playing.  Like moving a stiff stick.  No, you have to go back to basics for some time now and you need a teacher who will watch you play every note of a C Major scale at a snail's pace.  And stopping you everytime she sees tension creeping in.  Most particularly, BE OBSERVANT OF TENSION IN YOUR THUMB.

[timland]

Try thinking about your elbow tip as a feather light point floating in 3 dimensions. Relax and and let it float where it needs to to postion the hand in the easiest playing position. The elbow movements will be small. You might find that it doesn't move much which causes your hand and wrist to work harder.

[teresa_b]

I think cmg has a very good underlying unifying point:  You will best alleviate any underlying tension by a sort of TOTAL relaxation, as in meditation.  It is hard to just "loosen" tension in your arm, or whatever, without loosening your whole body first. 

Obviously you have to have muscle tone, but too much causes tension.  More and more I find total body techniques to help in piano playing--for example, I try to warm up my whole body before practice--if possible, before a performance.  I do 30 minutes of something aerobic and repetitive, like running or doing elliptical trainer--not a skilled sport just warm-up.  Do stretching and loosening exercises, too. 

If you can learn to meditate, even for 15 minutes--do that before the performance.  Read a book on mindfulness and breathing-type meditation. 

All this will help you to be AWARE of the tension and immediately relax it when you need to. 

Teresa

[maxd]

you have blocked the energy flow coming from your body and your subconcious.
this is probably due to your not accepting reality 100%..

you must learn to see yourself as something transitory.. don't get caught up in yourself, because yourself is limited to your self-vision.. which is probably the cause of the nervousness.

[nyquist]

I don't believe that any technical advice that you read here can really help.  You need to find a teacher that can solve the problem.  It might be a matter of many months under supervision with a restricted repertory (just scales, for example).  If that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

On another note, I would run away from anybody who speaks of "total relaxation".  These people either don't know what they are talking about, or must understand that phrase in a non-standard way.  If one relaxes totally, one ends up on the floor.  Muscle tension is required to sit at, and keep the hand on the piano.  In the same vein, the advice of "minimizing unnecessary tension" is as useful as being told to "invest in good stocks".  If you know what muscle tension is necessary, you are a master pianist.

nyquist

[cmg]

I don't believe that any technical advice that you read here can really help.  You need to find a teacher that can solve the problem.  It might be a matter of many months under supervision with a restricted repertory (just scales, for example).  If that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

On another note, I would run away from anybody who speaks of "total relaxation".  These people either don't know what they are talking about, or must understand that phrase in a non-standard way. 
nyquist

The "technical advice" offered in the above posts -- and which you find unhelpful here -- is precisely what you suggest:  i.e., scales under the supervision of a competent  teacher.

And, naturally, no one is suggesting "total relaxation" that would result in falling to the floor.  I am suggesting what is quite obvious -- an efficient use of muscular tension.  To the degree that one masters this (and other obvious technical issues), one approaches mastery of the instrument.  It's a concept that all competent athletes  are familiar with.  It can be learned.  Even by musicians.   

[Kassaa]

I think here there's too much focus on feeling that there is a problem, while it should be heared that you are playing with tension. You should sit at the piano at home and be indeed completely relaxed, and try to form the tone you want. You will see that you won't achieve this tone while playing with tense arms and wrist, so you will automatically adapt your way of playing to try to form the tone you want. You should listen really carefully, especially when playing for example legato scales, you can hear that it sounds different and not fluently when playing with tension, and that it sounds open and liquid when you are relaxed. Do this for some months, and you will notice that you have stopped playing with tension completely.

[kghayesh]

I just came from my lesson. My teacher is really getting me so worried. She thinks this problem is a critical one and will really limit me in what i can perform  She seemed to be pissed off that I am still playing with tension.

She tries to help of course and points out at every wrong motion I make, but she feels I have so much to learn in order to play without tension.

This issue is really so much causing me depression, that sometimes i feel not motivated to go practice .... !!!

[maxd]

have you tried focusing on your spine and shutting your brain off?

you are tense because you don't have faith.

try it and let your arms work freely AS THEY WISH.

stop forcing reality.

[timothy42b]

Now, this is probably a really stupid idea and might do enormous harm, so don't try it. 

But anyway.  What if you totally exhausted your muscles by weightlifting, so they were way to tired to use any muscular tension, then moved immediately to the piano.  Would you be forced to play with relaxation and arm weight, because you didn't have any muscle strength left to do it incorrectly? 

[dabbler]

I'm also still struggling with this (my right hand is suffering similarly in op.10/2 as yours in op.10/12), but it has helped me to practice a relaxed playing in small units first. In joining sequences of 4, then 8, etc. notes, I immediately notice when tension is building up and can stop. One more point: I think while in general tension can often be avoided immediately, in several of the Chopin etudes it is a matter of first training the muscles on the piece to a state in which tension-less playing is possible. At the moment, I think it's simply impossible for me to play op.10/2 without tension throughout, and it might be similar for you with op.10/12. So maybe you simply need some patience and continue practicing (stopping when tension develops) for a while until your muscles are better coordinated.

[gruffalo]

most of the advice i would offer has been mentioned above and i dont see the point in repeating what others have already said. however, nobody has mentioned the length of time you should be sitting at the piano for. whilst trying out the various things that have been mentioned, it is very important that you reduce your time seated at the piano to no more than 10 minutes. tension also builds up over time aswell as through bad technique, and you need to build up the amount of time you can play for without feeling pain or tension.

another thing (similar to tim's point, but on a less extreme leve) is exercise. go for a walk, run or power walk before your practice, stretch out carefully (as one would when moving on to a lengthy form of exercise) after your walk (note that it is better for the muscles if they are slightly warmed up before stretching) and do ten minutes. walk around the room, take 5 minutes break, or whatever you judge to be sufficient. then head back to practice for another ten minutes. do 3 of these 10 minute sessions, and leave the piano totally for an hour or two. overall, if you want to get rid of this excess tension, you should minimize your total practice time per day, and your total practice days per week to a level that you feel you can cope with and then build upon this foundation. even if it is just practicing one hour a day, 3 days per week.

additional things you can do away from the piano. analyse whether you are a very tense person in general, walking around, how you sit etc. try to keep good posture with whatever you do in life. if TV consumes a reasonable amount of your time, make sure you sit with your back straight. running is a healthy sport to take up. it will free your mind and allow your muscles to unwind regularly.

Hope this helps,

Gruff

[kghayesh]

Thanks gruffalo for yr post, but i had just one question. For how long I will remain playing for those very short practice sessions ?? Of course my goal is not to play for 10 minutes then feel tired. I think I need stamina, but another question arises.......... how can I build stamina if i am playing just for 10 minutes ??

[gruffalo]

you have to judge this yourself. the time should be increased in small increments, ie. into 20 min sessions, then 30 min sessions. you have to see how long you can go for without pain, and you have to feel comfortable with the amount you are doing. it may only be a few days before you increase your practice month, the entire process will be likely to last a few months until you can do 3 hours or more per day. then again, that is only depending on how efficiently and diligently you deal with this problem.

[hyrst]

I think I am discovering that the key to relaxation is simply a return of the hand to the neutral, cupped, tension-released position (i.e. as felt when the middle fingers are over the black keys and 1 and 5 on white keys).  Practicing scales doesn't help this, but being aware of what you are doing does. 

Avoid pieces that require frequent, multiple stretches until you can master returning to the neutral position.  Move your hand rather than stretching for larger intervals.  Change hand position quickly to move around the keyboard, rather than twisting your hands around.  Stop whenever you feel tension and return to the neutral position.  After each stretch, return to neutral, even if it is in the air between notes.  Also, don't try working your fingers directly up and down from the knuckles and first joints - work with the natural curving motion in your fingers when they clutch to make fists.

Any clenching without release of muscles in any part of your body, especially your shoulders and back, will lead to tension in your hands unless you have trained yourself otherwise to dissociate the muscles - so you shouldn't continue any tightening of any muscles for more than a moment or your hands will follow suit.

[teresa_b]

I don't believe that any technical advice that you read here can really help.  You need to find a teacher that can solve the problem.  It might be a matter of many months under supervision with a restricted repertory (just scales, for example).  If that's what it takes, that's what it takes.

On another note, I would run away from anybody who speaks of "total relaxation".  These people either don't know what they are talking about, or must understand that phrase in a non-standard way.  If one relaxes totally, one ends up on the floor. 
nyquist

Of course no one was talking about total relaxation to the point of being on the floor!  What I meant was total in terms of a focused, whole-body absence of negative tension.  Some muscle tension by definition must be present, but not excessive to the point that it is a hindrance.  Rather than sit there and try to make yourself not tense up the wrist, it may be better to work on whole-body relaxation exercises. 

I think you need to find a different teacher, because any teacher who seems to get irritated with you because you are not relaxing tension is in need of some therapy her/himself!  A teacher is there to help you find ways to solve the problem, not increase your anxiety! 

Teresa

[juelle]

I wonder if your hand span is large enough for pieces that demanding.  Chopin's piano had a much smaller keyboard and perhaps you're female, so your hand is much smaller than his.  Piano teachers tend to expect women and men with small hands to accommodate themselves to today's large keyboard.  If you stick to Bach for a few months, you may correct the damage that has already been done.  Relaxation can't prevent tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome or other more permanent damage if you're over-reaching your hand span. 

[nick]

I found that changing from producing the sound with arm weight to using fingers, my wrist pain vanished, never to return.

Nick

[maxd]

chopin's pianos also had about half the key depth and very little weight to the keys..

they were made for noble hands, not workers..

they were also not as LOUD as today's post-Steinway pianos.

[aragonaise]

have you tried focusing on your spine and shutting your brain off?

you are tense because you don't have faith.

try it and let your arms work freely AS THEY WISH.

stop forcing reality.

You mean letting go of tension requires faith? Dare we say not everybody can achieve this then, in the same vein as not everybody can accept religious faith?

Using the spine to concentrate sounds like new-age hocus pocus to me, but I'm not going to dismiss it just like that. Care to elaborate further?

How much of piano is scientific and how much is spiritual? It seems the further we go, the more spiritual piano becomes, and those possessing little faith starts falling behind.

[danny elfboy]

Are you maintaining a correct posture at the piano?
Remember that a posture which is not correct will sabotage relaxation at the piano

The distance from the piano should be such that whwen playing in the centrla rnge of the white keys youe elbows should be free to move in front of you, almost touching each other
If the sides of your body are not allowing them to move or touch move back till they can
Aproximately there should be about the size of a fist between your elbows and you body

Once found the correct distance you must find the correct height
Remember that you upper arms should just hand in a RELAXED manner from your shoulder
With your upper arm hanging you should just lift the forearms and place them on the white keys in the playing position.

Ask someone to observe you because if you're at the right height:

1) The forearm when playing position should be parallel to the floor
2) The hand, wrist and forearm should be in a straight like
3) The elbow should be level with plane of the top of the white keys
4) There should be an arch below your hand and wrist

If you sit the wrong distance and height you compensate by slouching, back sitting and raising your shoulders. If you do any of these is impossible to maintain a muscle relaxation

The arch of the hand is a condition you should almost never deviate
The wrist is able to work as a weight trasmittion device only when it is in a straight line with the hand and forearm. When it is not it is collapsed.
A collapsed wrist instead of trasmitting the weight from the torso to the hand "accumulate" this impulse on the valley forming between the hand and the forearm causing tension

Playing depends a lot on gravity and must of the playing comes frm the action of gravity alone. The component of tensionless playing are:

1) small relaxed lifting of the forearm maintaining the natural relaxed arch of the hand and wrist. This playing share allows you to trasmit the weight properly

2) small and short muscle contraction the moment the fingers land on the keys

3) immediate release of the contraction a fraction of second after the contraction resulted


The biggest cause of injury if "static muscular activity" or "co-contraction"
In order NOT TO ACCUMULATE TENSION the "shortened" muscles (the contracted ones) must be released and lenghtened before a new pair of muscle is contracted
If you failt to do this i.e. contract one muscle/ without releasing the previously contracted one you create a co-contraction and tension builds up
Contraction without release is a "static muscular activity" because all the muscles are constantly shortened; so their condition is static

Contraction and release, contraction and release, contraction and release is instead a "dynamic muscular activity" because the condition of the muscle is dinamically changing all the time. When you're using a "dynamic muscular activity" you CAN'T accumulate tension and by turn can't injury or tire your hands

What contraction does is trasmitting the weight from your torso up to the shoulder blade, upper arm, forearm, wrist and hand. What release does is sending back the weight to the torso. Think of your "playing apparatus" as a street which the impulse of weight travel back and forth all the time. Think of your wrist as the bridge this impulse travels in
If your playing apparatus is not alignment (i.e. collapsed bridge of the wrist) the impulse can't travel quickly and get accumulated somewhere

There are certain ways you can re-train your hands to automatically play with a dynamic muscular activity

1) Train everyday the three aspect of playing. Gravity action over a relaxed forearm. Alignment of the hand, wrist and forearm. Contraction at the moment of impact. Release of the contracted muscles a fraction of second after the contraction occured

2) Play all your piece in very short sections. Make a patchwork.
For example: play three bars and stop. Play the next three bars and stop. Next three bars and stop. This way you can't possibly accumulate tension because the moment you stop you release any kind of accumulated tension or unreleased contraction

If you practice a piece you already know and have tension problems with in this way you will train your hand to recognize the need for "releasing the tension and contraction" in those same parts you stopped at

3) Practice the tensionless falling, contraction and released of the playing apparatus on just the "main beats" of the piece.

The big muscles of the arm are trained to arrive in
different locations on the keyboard very precisely on beats and in a relaxed manner (relaxation coming naturally from not having to thnk about all the intermediate notes and subdivision) and they will carry the fingers to those places pretty much effortlessly as the subdivisions are filled in. In this way tension in difficult passages is never allowed to
develop.





Another problem is abduction
Abduction mean that you play in a way that the alignment doesn't occur with the radio bone but with the ulna bone. But the ulna is a tiny bone that doesn't even connect to the hand and doesn't trasmit weight

Abduction occurs when you play with the whole side of the thumb instead of the tip of the thumb. For the alignment to occur at the radio your pinky should be parallel to the white key and in this position the thumb is oblique to the white key and can only play on the tip

You're abducting when the thumb instead is parallel with the white key (hence you're playing the the side of the thumb not the tip) and when the pinky is not parallel to the white key but  oblique toward North-East

[jlh]

I wonder if your hand span is large enough for pieces that demanding.  Chopin's piano had a much smaller keyboard and perhaps you're female, so your hand is much smaller than his.  Piano teachers tend to expect women and men with small hands to accommodate themselves to today's large keyboard.  If you stick to Bach for a few months, you may correct the damage that has already been done.  Relaxation can't prevent tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome or other more permanent damage if you're over-reaching your hand span. 

Careful... it's NOT the span of pieces that you play that determine if you get injuries or not.  I know MANY pianists that have small hands and they've played large rep for all their careers with no injuries.  It's all about HOW you manage what you're reaching.  Inexperience in playing pieces that require a large reach will tend to promote injury as some people don't know how to manage it without tensing their muscles.  When you're not playing anything, and that includes everything from before you play a note to immediately after you play it, you need to be completely relaxed.  It only takes a couple ounces of weight to maintain a held note, so after you play it, no muscle action is needed and in fact any muscle action after the initial attack will result in tension.  The weight of your finger is more than enough to keep the note held down.

[jlh]

Read Gyorgy Sandor's book "On Piano Playing".  Most music libraries carry this book, and if not it's available on Amazon.com.  I read this book myself last year and found it very helpful in learning to coordinate my muscles so that the larger ones do most of the work.  It's when you force the smaller muscles of the forearm and wrist to do the work that tension developes.  If your teacher is not explaining the importance of using your larger muscles instead of your forearm muscles then you should shop for a new teacher.

https://www.amazon.com/On-Piano-Playing-Motion-Expression/dp/0028722809

Some of the reviews on the website:

"This remarkable book is perhaps the most outstanding written resource available to pianists pursuing efficient, effective, pain-free technique on their instrument. In a little over 200 pages, Sandor provides an exceptionally thorough and readable analysis of piano technique with ample diagrams, photographs, and musical samples. At every turn he displays a detailed understanding of human physiology and the means to use it to produce musical effect without excess strain, effort, or injury. Very impressive, very accessible, it's a "must-read"."

"I believe Mr. Sandor's (pronounced SHAHN-dor, BTW) book to be the best book on piano technique out there. It's a bit pricey, but worth it.
Mr. Sandor was a student of Bartok and is an award-winning concert pianist. I'm a physician with an engineering background, and I can tell you that Mr. Sandor also has an exceptional understanding of the piano mechanism and of the dynamics of the human body, *and* is a very clear writer. He explains not only the proper physical technique to get the sounds you want, but also explains from a musical standpoint what sound you should be striving for and why, as well as including many useful tidbits along the way, such as the proper timing of grace notes.

Mr. Sandor explains why many of the popular (and painful!) techniques and exercises are not only unnecessary, but harmful both physically and musically. Mr. Sandor himself is the best testimony to the validity of his methods. I had the privilege of hearing him play at age 89, and of hearing his remarkable sound unfettered by a long lifetime of wear and tear on his joints and muscles.

This book would be of most benefit to a budding professional classical pianist, serious young student, or professional piano pedagogue, but is also very helpful to a not-very-good amateur such as myself.

All in all, a very solid, sensible work."

[richy321]

Another problem is abduction
Abduction mean that you play in a way that the alignment doesn't occur with the radio bone but with the ulna bone. But the ulna is a tiny bone that doesn't even connect to the hand and doesn't trasmit weight

Abduction occurs when you play with the whole side of the thumb instead of the tip of the thumb. For the alignment to occur at the radio your pinky should be parallel to the white key and in this position the thumb is oblique to the white key and can only play on the tip

You're abducting when the thumb instead is parallel with the white key (hence you're playing the the side of the thumb not the tip) and when the pinky is not parallel to the white key but  oblique toward North-East

You have provided a lot of good information, which I appreciate, but I am somewhat confused by your comments about abduction.  You may be saying the same thing, but my understanding is that it is the ulna and pinky that should be aligned with the arm, not the radius and thumb.  I read this recently in Thomas Mark's book, What Every Pianist Needs To Know About The Body, and I agree with it, although he puts it in terms of orientation rather than alignment.  By the way, I highly recommend this book.  It is in line with the Alexander/Taubman/Lister-Sink school of thought in which body awareness and avoidance of tension is emphasized.

Rich Y

[danny elfboy]

You have provided a lot of good information, which I appreciate, but I am somewhat confused by your comments about abduction.  You may be saying the same thing, but my understanding is that it is the ulna and pinky that should be aligned with the arm, not the radius and thumb.

Rich Y

Yes. Thanks for pointing out my mistake
It's the pinky that must be aligned/oriented with the ulna
In other words the thumb should play with its tip and not with its side
Just trying to play with the tip of the thumb would force someone not to abduct and to find the correct height at the bench