Playing with a relaxed touch

[lankylady]

I've recently returned to piano (having been gifted with a digital piano by my loving shift-worker husband - hence the digital) after about a 17 year layoff from daily practice.  Before my layoff I had achieved RCM grade 8, and was working on grade 9.

I've launched myself back into piano, and started taking lessons with an advanced teacher here, with the goal of eventually doing higher grades and achieving diploma level so I can teach.  Unfortunately, going from zero practice to a few hours a day has taken a bit of a toll; I've been rewarded with a trapezius muscle that goes into spasms.

I will be seeing a physiotherapist about this, and have spoken with my teacher, who tells me that I need to work on relaxing and playing with a more relaxed touch. 

Trouble is, that I'm not one who relaxes easily .

I will be following my teacher's suggestions and the exercises that he gives me, but I'm curious to know what other suggestions and insights others have regarding restarting piano as an adult, and how to relax at the bench, know that you're relaxed, and how playing with a relaxed touch should be thought about and felt (I have to intellectualize a lot of physical concepts before I can really fell I'm putting them into practice).

If anyone else has overcome this same issue, what worked for you?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[lankylady]

So many views and no responses?  Surely someone's run into this before?  Or should I be on the teacher's forum?

[fenz]

I have the same problem... 

[peterjmathis]

You should make sure you have good posture at the bench. Bad posture affects the whole body and will make you less comfortable (and able to relax).

You could also try relaxing for a bit (10 minutes or so) away from the piano before you actually start playing. Just sit somewhere, close your eyes, and try not to think about anything stressful. Listen to calming music. Try not to think too hard about needing to relax, because that will make it harder to relax (it's one of those annoying things).

Play something easy and fun to start with, so that you begin with something positive every time. If you're looking forward to playing, you'll be more relaxed.

[m19834]

Well, a "relaxed touch" is not exactly what it sounds like.  Relaxation, firstly, isn't just in the hands/fingers, but something within the whole body, involving joint alignment and balanced posture, extending into the arms and hands and fingers.  However, playing the piano is not truly about just being "relaxed" and balanced, but rather about tension and release, as well as clearly defined mental intentions and physical motions.  Also, learning how to kinesthetically feel tension within parts of your body at any given time, learning what motions tend to create tension in general for you, all of this is not something that is achieved once and then you never have to think about it again.  Yes, habits do form and some things that you had to make conscious efforts about at one point may become second nature to you after awhile, but there is always more to go.

Personally, I have explored a few different things as it relates to finding balance and tension-free playing (and I am still discovering).  I learned quite a bit by reading Thomas Mark's book, "What every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body" and applying and experimenting with ideas in that.  What I took mostly from that book was how to sit in a balanced way, and a mental assurance that we are indeed actually built to sit and should be capable of sitting at the piano for hours without pain.  Eventually that morphed into something else though, as while I was first learning about it, I had to discover just what it felt like to be balanced and aligned.  I couldn't do all of my playing like that though, and had to discover how to move when I needed to and then either come back to a center, or find nearly the same kind of tension-free feeling, even when my posture might have changed.  

I also spent at least a year completely reworking my entire technique with "forearm rotations," part of the big idea during that time being joint alignment within my body vs. alignment with the keys.  Eventually that also morphed into something different, as now I do make a point of aligning with the keys, but had to find a way to do that while experiencing the same kind of tension-free feeling as when I was working on just aligning my joints regardless of how I aligned with the keys.

After that, I once again completely reworked my technique under the guidance of a watchful and knowledgeable teacher.  There is A LOT that I can't put in this post, simply because it's too hard to try to write it all out, and even if I could it would probably be completely overkill.  

Regarding "relaxation," I think the most important thing along those lines that I have been learning in my current work is that relaxation isn't just an isolated idea, and if it's treated that way then the musical concept will suffer in its realization (similarly to how the musical concept would suffer if there is unreleased tension).  I am learning that 'tension and release' is directly tied to musical concepts and pianistic motions, and that it all comes together to create a complete package during performance.

[quantum]

What is commonly referred to as relaxed playing is probably more accurately described as playing without unnecessary tension.  As K points out, tension and relaxation are linked and both are required.  Good technique gives proper proportions to both tension and relaxation.

You say you have trouble relaxing.  Perhaps what would help you is a perspective of what is tense and what is relaxed.  Without knowing and feeling the difference, one cannot fully judge if one is at either state if the opposite state is an unknown. 

Try this:  Make a tight fist.  Concentrate on the tension.  Take note of how it feels, how it looks. Extend your observations to your forearm, notice how clenching a fist also causes tension throughout your arm.  Extend your observations to your torso and the rest of your body and notice the reaction of your body to your clenched fist. 

Now contrastingly drop your arm to your side like it is dead weight. Let your whole arm up to your fingertips go limp.  It should be as if your arm wasn't even attached to your body.  Let it hang freely and do not try to control its movement.  Notice how the rest of your body reacts and feels.

Compare and contrast the two experiences and make notes, especially of observations that are new to you.