How do you teach relaxed touch

[lankylady]

I know that I'm committing the almost unforgivable sin of cross-posting, but I'm not getting a response on "Student's Corner", and my shoulder's aching again.  Please forgive me! (Mods - If you'd like to delete one thread and keep another, feel free.)

Here's the post I put on Student's Corner.  When you get down to it, I'm looking for concepts, or "gestalts" (if I'm using that term correctly) that you use to let yourself know that you're playing in a relaxed and flowing fashion. 

Once again, thanks for your help!

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!

[lostinidlewonder]

From; ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezius_muscle)

The upper portion of the trapezius can be developed by elevating the shoulders. Common exercises for this movement are shoulder shrugs and upright rows. Middle fibers are developed by pulling shoulder blades together. The lower part can be developed by drawing the shoulder blades downward while keeping the arms almost straight and stiff.

Muscle imbalances, which can heavily affect posture and compromise shoulder health, can result if all three sections of the trapezius are not developed equally.


On the matter of relaxation there are hundreds of points that one could consider and really it is unique to the person. Often people are not relaxed at the piano because they are not sitting correctly at the piano or sit for too long! I find when I practice for 3+ hours in a row I cannot sit on a normal piano stool, I have to sit on something that supports my back (like an office chair) because I can get a sore back from sitting upright for hours. Then I know people who can sit upright all day without feeling sore, each person has different muscle strength associated with their back muscles and this really does effect each persons endurance at the piano. Going to a gym or other fitness exercises cannot hurt to help!

Without sitting next to you to observe you play it is really hard to give proper advice. I would say your problems are not so much technical with your hands and arms but rather the posture of your body as you sit at the piano. Perhaps even how your hold your arms up to the keyboard your shoulders collapse or do something peculiar or something for too long which effect your trapezius muscle negatively or ask too much of it. Avoid things like crossing your hands past/near the center of your body, try to keep them outside and away from your center when possible. As your hands approach your centre your body can tend to close up, correct technique will maintain your shoulder width/height but incorrect can cause all sorts of different tension in the person.

[eyevory]

I personally find that relaxed touch comes naturally. it is very hard to do at first. your fingers are not good at moving how you are commanding them to move. after a while of practicing you can perform the actions more easily and then your touch becomes more relaxed. that was my experience anyways.

so scales and any kind of exercises for your fingers should do the trick. but over time, and i'm not sure i'd put emphasis on being relaxed right away. but getting timing better and increasing speed with good timing the whole way through. then relaxed touch should just come easily and naturally, because playing becomes easy.

[go12_3]

I think the key to a relaxed touch is how relaxed our minds are, if we are tense the whole body tenses up which affects the touch unto the keys.  Do some shoulder shrugs a few times and wiggle your fingers.  Do a warm up exercise, like scales or arpeggios, something to get the fingers to relax and get your mind to ease up.  Playing the piano can be tricky because how we feel physically and mentally will reflect upon the touch. 

[anna_crusis]

See a physiotherapist. I had a lot of shoulder pain at one time, I saw a physio and was better within a month. It's impossible for you or your teacher to diagnose the cause of pain - that's for a medical professional.

[fifthelegy]

I have trouble relaxing my left hand and find that I also get pains, in the wrist which I just massage out. Also since I have small hands, I find relaxing my arms quite difficult when playing octaves and stretchy stuff.

I agree with eyevory though, it generally comes with practice. Keep doing exercises targeted on moving your fingers and arms, and you'll eventually find it easier to relax. And give your shoulders a shake and relax your whole body between songs, and try to let your arms move more freely.
Also try not to play for too long in one sitting, instead do several 'sessions' in one day and you might find that it helps. Unless you don't have the time to do that of course...

[ramseytheii]

Just some general thoughts that may be helpful.

First it is hard to give advice to someone who is experiencing injury, because although a lot of pianists experience it, a lot of them don't, and it is easy for a teacher to say, "learn how to play in a relaxed fashion," but very hard to address to connection between practicing and injury.

Also, I find that while physiotherapists, Alexander technicians, and Feldenkrais practitioners all have good ideas about efficiency and proper usage of musculature, they have very poor understanding of the relation of the body to an instrument, and especially an instrument like the piano.  In my experience, having studied extensively Alexander technique and less extensively Feldenkrais, the general rules they suggest, have little bearing on improving a pianist's approach, and almost no bearing on improving an artistic technique.  Perhaps this is personal, but I doubt it.

Considering a relaxed touch, we should consider two things: our own body, and the instrument.  There are certain universal aspects of physical technique that have to be in place in order to play in a free manner.  All of the different parts of the arm have to work in concert; the wrist must be free to be elevated and lowered; the forearm must be free to rotate as necessary; the elbow must be free to operate in small clockwise and counter-clockwise motions; and the shoulder should not really be squeezed up and down as you see many pianists do, but rather used as a conduit for the energy to come from the muscles of the lower back.

Learning to play physically then involves a certain amount of experimentation and exaggeration of movement, in my opinion, in order to discover how these things feel when working in concert.  A teacher can provide guidance in this regard, but in the end it is the student's physical talent which will convince him of the right or wrong approach.

Now the instrument.  In order to play the piano with a relaxed touch, we must be aware of how far the key can be depressed.  Part of the tension in many players comes from trying to push the key further than it can go.

Piano action has double escapement; when you play a note, as you release the key, the hammer is ready to be played again, even though the key has not come all the way up.  There is a point, halfway down the key bed, where you can feel this double escapement.  All pianists should be aware of these two basic levels of depression.  I recommend that you practice all your repertoire silently: feel the exact halfway point of the key's depression.  This will encourage sensitivity of touch, and to be sensitive, is to be free.

As I said earlier, it is difficult to address injury in piano playing.  But I think it is common sense in general when experiencing this extreme discomfort (if it comes to injury, it is always extreme) to back off pieces that require large physical gestures.  Instead, spend your time learning contrapuntal pieces that demand a variety of touches in both hands, and a variety of touches in one hand.  Study Bach fugues, and study them in such a way that you can feel this variety under your fingers. 

I really think so much of tension comes not from the way we are holding this, holding that, or whatever, but rather from the approach to the instrument.  You have to be sensitive to the way the key is depressed, and the variety you can achieve with that depression.  Start with the thing that matters the most: how does your finger actually touch the key.

I hope you can find some of these helpful.

Walter Ramsey