How far from the piano and how high should one sit?

[jlmap]

People always say that you should sit in a way that your forearm be paralell to the floor. But, watching Horowitz videos, I think he sits much less high than this. I tried to sit like him and play, and I noticed in fact some advantages. I noticed much greater controll of the fingers. What do you think of this?

[thierry13]

People who advance such facts are people who try to find a comfortable pretty harmless way to play the piano badly. It's a trick for grannys who try to play and don't want to get hurt. The real way is your way, and only you can find it. Horowitz isn't the truth, also. This sitting worked for him, but you will see many different sittings if you look at different pianists. Ashkenazy and zimerman for example sit a bit higher. It's all about connection. Find the way you use your whole body best.

[oscarr111111]

People who advance such facts are people who try to find a comfortable pretty harmless way to play the piano badly. It's a trick for grannys who try to play and don't want to get hurt. The real way is your way, and only you can find it. Horowitz isn't the truth, also. This sitting worked for him, but you will see many different sittings if you look at different pianists. Ashkenazy and zimerman for example sit a bit higher. It's all about connection. Find the way you use your whole body best.

Truth.

[slobone]

I think you should experiment and find the height that works for you. But don't expect to get the answer right away. You might even change your mind over the years. Get an adjustable bench and try different heights.

[general disarray]

People who advance such facts are people who try to find a comfortable pretty harmless way to play the piano badly. It's a trick for grannys who try to play and don't want to get hurt. The real way is your way, and only you can find it. Horowitz isn't the truth, also. This sitting worked for him, but you will see many different sittings if you look at different pianists. Ashkenazy and zimerman for example sit a bit higher. It's all about connection. Find the way you use your whole body best.

Excellent!

[faulty_damper]

I noticed much greater controll of the fingers. What do you think of this?

From a physiological standpoint, the alignment of your arms makes it seem like you have more control of your fingers.  This would seem to be a good thing in piano playing.  However, the more you use your fingers, the worse you play.  This is also true from a physiological standpoint.

Horowitz couldn't play everything no matter how impressive he was.  He only played pieces he could play and gave up on the pieces he couldn't because he couldn't.

Don't look up to false idols.

[term]

People who advance such facts are people who try to find a comfortable pretty harmless way to play the piano badly. It's a trick for grannys who try to play and don't want to get hurt. The real way is your way, and only you can find it. Horowitz isn't the truth, also. This sitting worked for him, but you will see many different sittings if you look at different pianists. Ashkenazy and zimerman for example sit a bit higher. It's all about connection. Find the way you use your whole body best.

That's true for many topics discussed on this forum 

[slobone]

From a physiological standpoint, the alignment of your arms makes it seem like you have more control of your fingers.  This would seem to be a good thing in piano playing.  However, the more you use your fingers, the worse you play.  This is also true from a physiological standpoint.

Horowitz couldn't play everything no matter how impressive he was.  He only played pieces he could play and gave up on the pieces he couldn't because he couldn't.

Don't look up to false idols.

Yeah, whatever you do don't aspire to be as limited a pianist as Horowitz! 

[richard black]

Of course it's a very personal thing. I sit ridiculously low - I used to sit quite high but found that a lower position (a little lower, ideally, than most standard concert stools will go) was simply more comfortable for long periods (as an opera repetiteur I sometimes get to play for 2 hours straight, no breaks whatsoever) and, after I got used to it, had no detrimental effect on my ability to play lots of notes.

So on the basis of my own experience I would say, don't be afraid to experiment!

[nick]

one thing i found that worked very well for me was to make sure I sat far enough back that the front of my knee was about even with the fall board. I used to sit closer, and being tall had to turn my leg a bit to use the pedal, and was never centered. Much better now. 

Nick

[Petter]

As far as possible, damn those things hurt....

[m]

Yeah, whatever you do don't aspire to be as limited a pianist as Horowitz! 

Why do you think he was limited? He actually excelled in a number of different styles. He played wonderful Scarlatti. His classics--Haydn, Mozart and early Beethoven were superb (well, at least before he started adding to them odd manerisms). I don't even mention romantics, but he was also pioneering some newer and modern music like Scriabin, Prokofiev (6-7-8 Sonatas), Barber, and even Poulenc and Kabalevsky. Definitely he was not at his best in such monuments like Schubert B flat major Sonata, Brahms 2nd Concerto, or Beethoven Op.101, but nevertherless, he was equaly good in miniatures and big forms.

On the other hand, ANY pianist has limitations. Even for such titans of keyboard as Gilels or Richter there were whole layers of repertoire where they felt just helpless and I believe Horowitz in this respect was not more limited than they were.
In any case, out of all romantic pianists Horowitz in fact, seemed to be the most versatile.

Best, M

[slobone]

Why do you think he was limited?

Sorry, Marik, I was responding to this post:

Horowitz couldn't play everything no matter how impressive he was.  He only played pieces he could play and gave up on the pieces he couldn't because he couldn't.

Don't look up to false idols.

I was being sarcastic! My point was that telling people not to emulate Horowitz because he was "limited" doesn't make a lot of sense. There may be other reasons not to sit the way he did of course.

Next time I'm being sarcastic I guess I should use an emoticon

And as to Horowitz, when I was younger I thought Rubinstein was God and so I hated Horowitz. As years have gone by, I appreciate Horowitz a lot more and Rubenstein a little less. Now I'm always interested in what he has to say on a given piece, even if I might end up preferring other performances.

[rc]

hahah, yes, to be as limited as Horowitz would be a pretty good problem to have!