Tense vs. Relaxed?

[go12_3]

Today I've been thinking about my students how some are relaxed or tense.  And I'd like to know from teachers if they notice their  tense or relaxed students.  I find that the tense students have a harder time to learn as quickly as the relaxed students. Plus, they have a tendency to try too hard and get frustrated.  During the lesson I can tell they are tense by a rigid body with shoulders hunched up and fingers stiff while they play piano; I would get the student to loosen up by speaking softly and praising on their progress.  Even some humor during the lesson helps a tense student to realize that they can relax and enjoy learning.  Now, the relaxed student, I find are easier to teach and they seem to handle the process of learning to play piano.   These students are able to take in whatever is being taught and  plays the pieces  effortlessly. 

To the students:  are/were you a tense or a relaxed student when you learned to play piano?  What do you think about tense vs. relaxed?  Or does it matter either way? 
best wishes,

go12_3

[Bob]

I think I used to be more tense in playing.  Now I've got more technique, physically and mentally.

I have thought about tense students. They don't ever quite get there, do they?  They try, and tense up, and still don't finish the piece, right?  So there's no point tensing up much over things.  "Monster" pieces are still good, but not to perform and not to stress out over.


I've also wondered about the old students with tense.  I had one adult student with tense hands, but it wasn't the same....  More of a ridigity.  Maybe a lack of control over the hands from the mind.  It was a type of tension learned (or lost, in terms of control) over decades.  That really concerned me.  And we worked on relaxing and made some progress, but still... yikes...

[go12_3]

I was not a tense student , and enjoyed playing the piano throughout my childhood. It was an easy process for me to learn, I didn't have formal lessons(only in shcool as a group)until I was in the University a a Piano Performance Major.  Even then I was able to learn the required pieces for the two year duration there, however, I quit and began to teach.  I was dealing with  nerve problems in performing in front of people.  I got used to performing in groups but it wasn't something that I loved doing.  I loved playing the piano, but it felt too much pressure to perform, and probably the tension kicked too at the time.

I feel that technique and musicality has to involved physical and mental effort to learn and  perform a piece.  I think the tense students can't seem to relax enough to enjoy the process of piano playing.  They have a tendency to try too hard and that can be a stumbling factor on their progress, unless the teacher can help them to relax, but not forced, to ease the tension which is mostly mental anyhow.

I think there is a ddifference between being *stressed out* and *tense*.   Begin stressed out is when the student HAS to play correctly on each note and to perform well for the audience.  That is why I don't have my students do recital pieces for their parents and other students.  I think when they are older and have that *desire* to perform in front of people, then I would be happy to accomodate that so that they can have the opportunity to perform.  Therefore, being tense manifests itself through the learning process until the student realizes that he can relax and enjoy playing the piano and learning a piece.  There has to no pressure to play each note correctly , until they feel comfortable and more relaxed to play a piece. 

It depends upon the age of your older students, Bob, and their physical and mental health.  Both can be a factor on *tense* from their hands.  I have a condition on my right pinkie and it is swelling on the first joint.  The doctor told me that there is nothing I can do about this condition, but to play piano!  And keep it active by playing piano, so it won't stiffen up and get pain.  So I was real happy about that and so I play piano everyday to my delight and being a natural medicine for my pinkie.  Woo hoo!  I can still play fast with no problems.   

Best wishes,

Go12_3

[dan101]

Relaxed is what has always worked for me, especially in fluent passage work.

Mentally, stress is fine. Distress is most certainly counter-productive.

[gracehaven]

This is in regards to an adult beginner student I am teaching.  She is in her 40's, decided to take up the piano because she always wanted to learn how, rented a piano from the music store for awhile to see if she would like piano, loved piano and 4 months later bought her own.  So, here she & I are, 4 months into beginning piano lessons and she is a tense/stressed beginning pianist.  She's that way when she's at work, at the computer, and knitting, too.  Her hands and wrists actually start to hurt after just a little bit of piano playing and piano playing is supposed to be FUN!

In her technique pieces and warm-up pieces, I have her complete disregard the tempo and counting all together.  Just ignore it and pretend there are no quarter notes, rests, dotted half notes, etc.  (She's been learning the I, IV, V7 chords.) Here's an example of every measure, for 8 measures:

3/4  LH: dotted half note
      RH: quarter rest, quarter note, quarter note

I have her play the LH chord & relax her wrist (oh, my, her wrists are rigid!).  Each time she goes to the RH, I have her "Prepare for the chord"..."Relax her wrist" and don't play the chord until your hand and wrist is relaxed...and then play the RH chords with a flexible and easy going motion. 

If anyone has other ideas, I'm all open to them!

[go12_3]

gracehaven:

It's interesting how some students are tense.  They don't relax.  Consider your student's personality, like is she up tight or stressed about things in her life?  That can be a contributing factor upon tense wrists.  It's hard to teach those kind of students, from my experience.  But , be patient with her and I think she will enjoy playing piano. Just have her do simple and fun things on the keyboard.  Have you tried the Piano Adventures for the Older Student by Faber and Faber? 
There is a variety of pieces that she may enjoy. 

best wishes,

go12_3

[sarah_antoinette]

Maybe she's nervous...I find that my adult students are usually more tense, and more apologetic for mistakes...it could be she's just intimidated to be learning a new skill from someone who already knows how do do it.

Regardless, I agree with the above posts in that tension is a big problem, and will inhibit good playing. My highschool teacher encouraged me in relaxation by saying piano should NEVER hurt...if hands/shoulders/etc. hurt, you are doing something wrong! Kind of like working out...tired is ok, pain is not! Maybe that would be a good reference point for her to start from.

Another thing I do with my students is simply to remind them every five minutes or so to relax...perhaps placing my hands lightly on their shoulders, or having them stop the piece and shake their wrists gently to loosen them up. Good luck with it!

[jgallag]

I was, still am, a tense student. Let me tell you, while nerves for the lesson may be a problem for some, at the root of it talking softly and being polite is not going to solve the problem.

First, let me tell you a little bit of my background. I was my class's salutatorian. This means I strove to do my best in every class, took all of the advanced classes, and, though I didn't show it to people, poor grades always left me depressed and scared about my average. All through middle school and high school I did Select Chorus and Jazz Ensemble, and I also tried tennis, track, and cross-country. There were days when I went to school at 7:35 am and left at 7:30 pm. On Saturdays I was in a bowling league and, being a competitive guy, I liked to win and strove to bring my average up to a 180 and manage to roll a 600 series. Since I was eight I played piano. My first teacher for five years held recitals, and people always thought I was great (no prodigy, though). Then, after a stupid fight, I switched teachers and there were another three before I went to my teacher for high school. The bad habits and tension were already ingrained before that because the teacher before her loved to put difficult pieces on me, and he taught musicality rather than motions, not that he taught much at all. I was also in my church choir. So, all throughout high school I had Friday nights off, and the weekend. Mon - Thurs there was something going on until at least 7:30 every night. I tell you this not to impress you, but to impress upon you that I was an overachiever. I still am, but I'm trying to loosen up.

For me, tension is a deep-seated problem. My three big areas that my teacher noticed are my shoulders (always up), chest (caved in and tight), and my jaw (locked, doing weird things while I play). Partly because of my tension, and partly because of my lack of solid instruction, I also had great technical deficiencies, which furthered my tension problem. Now, I closely monitor my breathing and blinking during practice, I look for tension in the hand, forearm, upper arm, even my legs tend to cramp up when I play. I also try and do yoga daily. I've made progress, and I'm confident my teacher can help me clear away the problems, but I work at relaxation every time I sit at the piano. It's gotten to the point where I don't even realize a muscle is tense until it starts to hurt. I have horrible posture, but when I roll my shoulders back, I find that correct posture is very uncomfortable and hard to maintain, because my chest is so used to being closed and tight. It actually takes effort to relax.

So, go, I ask you to please, please keep investigating this. What you say worries me, because you are a natural, and I'm glad for you, but that also means that you might not understand the problem. I'm not saying that tension is forbidden, but I do think that as a teacher you must watch for it like a hawk (pardon the cliche), because I don't want your students to end up like me. You might look into Feldenkrais instruction for musicians. I can't take it yet at my school, but I've worked with a certified instructor (other than my piano teacher). She was the one who spotted immediately that I hardly breathe, blink, or swallow when I play. There's also the Alexander technique, which is different but has the same aims. I'd say you, as the teacher, are the most important influence in helping your students relax. I've read a lot of piano material, but none of it truly makes sense until my teacher explains and demonstrates the material in her way. Then I can connect it to my reading, but instruction comes first.

I don't know how common tension is as an issue, but it is definitely a serious one.

[go12_3]

jallag:
Thank you for your post today.  I have been thinking about this issue while I teach my students and each student is so different in their approach in learning to play piano.  I can tell that a student is tense, by the facial expressions, breathing, shoulders(especially if they are haunched up), back(posture), arms, hands, wrists to the finger-tips.  As I gently place a student's hands in position to play a piece, I can tell just how the tension radiates through the hands.  I had one student that was so tense that during the lesson, I had to stop and ask the student to breathe as I gently rub the back(not all students respond to this and I only do that for very serious situations)and talk them out of the tension.

After a few lessons, my students do usually relax because they have gotten to know me and the routine of the lessons, along with knowing what to expect at the lessons.  Each lesson is different and sometimes in a student's life there may be circumstances that occur in the home and I may not know about that at all.  And  I have to be alert and be sensitive to how my students respond during the lesson, if they happen to be tired or stressed about something in school, or whatever that occupies their minds.  So it is my job to make their lessons as enjoyable and yet productive, and even if my students don't play well, at least they tried during the lesson.  I think that my attitude towards my students has to be that they are only children and not demand so much from them to the point that they get tensed up.  I don't like to get tense either.

I feel that today there are many demands being placed upon children, that they have to strive to do their best in school in order to achieve their goals, if they happen to have any, plus the fact our world is has more commotion and distractions going on, with the computers and video games, that there is too much stimulus for a child's brain that it gets overloaded.  Plus, many children have Attention Deficit Disorder and depression which medication are being administered daily;  and I wonder how that affects their young brains, too. 

The world of being a piano teacher has many challenges and I have to place my personal problems and health issues aside for each student that walks into my house, that I present a positive and warm enviornment for my students so that they can relax and enjoy playing the piano and learning for the joy of music into their lives, which is so needful in this world now.  I cannot place any kind of stresses upon my students, they don't need it, and neither do I.  I want to make lessons as simple as possible so that my students do know what to expect:  a lesson to enjoy and that they want to return and learn more, and leave their lessons with a smile upon their faces....

best wishes,

go12_3

[mcdiddy1]

Playing tense or relaxed makes an enormous difference in tone on the piano. There is no room what so ever for tension is piano playing. The limbs cannot move effectivily with tension. Tension will severly hammper the students product. If you see tension is your students you have to stop them and show them how to play relaxed. If their shoulder is tense, touch it while their playing and say relax. When they get to the stage, the combination of tension and nerves could be disasterous. Professinal pianist look completely at easy in the most difficult of passages  because they understand their body and once the technique is there they can focus on the musical challeges of expression. To ignore gaining a relaxed technique just to make the student feel "comfortable"  is an incredible disservice to the student. The student comes to you to help them be better and show them how to become better. Music is rewarding by itself. Inspire them by playing the music with expression and meaning and giving them ideas to latch on to...not by siting back and letting them continue playing in a detrimental way

Most kids or adults for that matter don't play with tension because they are nervous although that is possible as well, but because they don't know how to play relaxed and never practiced doing it. Giving childern goals and to aim for is not a bad thing on itself because that is a part of playing music and really doing anything. We have desires and and without goals we don't know what to aim for or what the purpose of doing music is. You should teach them to enjoy the art of commicating emotions through music which will be enhanced by creating goals and having a comfortable techniques