sitting position at keyboard

[bribbs]

Hi,

I have searched, but all I come up with bench height, and distance from keyboard. 

Maybe this is Piano 101, but do you sit in the same position at the keyboard for every piece?  Most of my pieces seem to be at the lower end of the keyboard, and I feel like I'm a contortionist trying to play the lower notes, if I hold a center position. 

Thanks!

3yrs lessons 25 years ago, started again july 2010, been thru 3 teachers (I guess I'm the problem), but none of them has mentioned this to me.

Pieces this a problem for me concerning the position at keyboard:
Chopin 23. 20
Moonlight Sonata, 1st and 3rd movement
And some others.....

[richard black]

Opinions vary. I move a little, but I've got a relatively long and flexible body. Busoni took this very seriously and used to use his own piano bench which was unusually long and topped with polished wood so he could slide along and be 'on top of the keys' conveniently in any register.

[omar_roy]

Trying to maintain your body in the same position at the keys is exactly the opposite of what you want to do!  Maintaining as close to a natural alignment in your forearm/wrist/hand area is essential to avoiding excess tension and discomfort!  You should never really feel like you're contorting yourself to play.

I generally keep my butt planted in the same place, but I lean side to side using my legs for support when needed.  A wise piece of advice I was recently given was to keep my nose exactly in the middle of my hands at all times.  After testing this out, i found that it was actually really helpful.  Maybe you might consider testing it out as well.