Forearm Tightness

[swim4ever_22]

I find that when I sightread Burgmuller's Op. 100 No. 2 (Arabasque), that I develop a tightness in the left hand from the playing the staccato chords. Is there anyway to prevent this, or will it just go away over time?

[shortyshort]

I also get this, after say 45mins. 

Relax more. Enjoy the music. 

Split your practice sessions. 

Play something easier in the middle of your session. 

Mine has not gone away. 

[danny elfboy]

Balance, posture, tension are concepts rarely discussed by teachers and students and yet they're at the foundation of the ability to play.

Think of snake. It is only spine and head. Yet it moves and efficiently so.
So the basis of movement is the head which leads and the spine which follows.
If we could add arms and legs to a snake we would attach them to the spine and they would depend from the spine.

Whatever kind of compression, of awkward posture, of tension in the neck, of unproper head weight balance on the spine and the limbs stop working efficiently. Whatever compression, awkward position and tension in the arms and the hand and fingers can't work properly.

It's a long work but one that pianists with the tendency to pain, to injuries and to difficulties in technique need to do.

Become aware of your posture.
Are you really balanced or the weight of your weight slope over the right or the left side?
Is the neck long and forward or compressed and backwards?
Is the head balanced over the spine or the pain is badly misplaced?
Do you lead your movements with your head?
Are you arms stiff and excessively contracted when you play?
As you play an hard piece do you tend to raise your shoulder and tight the elbows?
When you raise your arms does it feel weightless or very heavy?
Are you fingers free to move or stiff all the time?
Do you sit in your butt and not in your coccyx (the lower part of the spine) ?
Do you sit at the correct height and distance so that your arms are free to move and your hands position is neutral and forms a bridge with the elbow?
Do you practice only small segments and stop to release the extra tension or keep playing for bars and bars or passages you don't know so well and hence keep accumulating extra tension without releasing it?

Keep asking your question to yourself, become aware of your body and re-educate it.

[swim4ever_22]

Hmm... I've tried paying attention to my movements, and doing things differently. I have noticed that instead of having my arm parallel to the keyboard, if I arch my wrist, it lessens the tension. I guess you could say that I was playing the staccato notes by pushing the keys from an angle instead of letting gravity help me push them from above. I will continue to practice this way and tell you if anything else happens.

[dan101]

An undulating (up and down) motion of the wrist always helps relieve tension. It's a staple in a proficient piano technique.

[ramseytheii]

The wrist motion the above poster is referencing I think is best seen by placing a piece of paper flat on the table, and then lifting it from one side.  The other side will not come off the table in a straight line, but in an arched curve.  Similarly, when you pick your hand up using your bigger muscles, if it is relaxed, it will not go along with the arm in a straight line, but will be sensuously curved, like a piece of paper.  I hope that makes sense.

The danger with trying to convey "gravity" playing in words is that too often the player plays down, but never comes back up.  I'm sorry I don't have the score, but I think I remember that the left hand of this piece has staccato eighth note a minor chords, separated by eighth rests.

You should cultivate and hopefully master two main types of touch: stroking the key, sometimes called "playing out," "pulling," or even "dusting;" and playing from an angle inside the key, sometimes called "playing in," "pushing," etc.  That motion is important because it should be a perpetual motion: you don't just go down, but play the chord, and the hand comes back around to play it again.

This is controlled, as all things are, from the lower back, not from any particular joint.  This is something which I think is impossible to describe in words, but the feeling always has to be that your piano playing comes from the lower part of your back, and that part always has to be involved in your piano playing - whether you are playing one single note; no matter what articulation; no matter what volume.

If you ever ask yourself, "how do I play this  - from the wrist; from the finger joint; from the shoulder?" stop yourself there before you drive yourself mad and damage your precious body.  All piano playing comes from the whole body, never, ever, just one location.

For the arabesque, experiment with either kind of touch.  Does "playing out" work best for the sound quality you want, or "playing in?"  I find for these kind of short, soft, string-like chords, it is actually best to play "in."  If you want a sharper, accentuated sound, perhaps even a shorter sound, stroke the chord, and pull it out. 

Some people will say different; one often hears that playign "in" creates a harsh sound.  It's not so.  Those people just don't know how to do it.

Experiment and come up with a solution for yourself. 

Walter Ramsey