What is with this 'swaying' when playing piano?

[i_am_joey_jo]

Hello,

I'm learning the piano and am about at Grade 5 but I have elected not to pursue the testing as I am only concerned about playing music I LIKE and not music from the syllabus, some of which I find dreadfully boring and since I'm really only interested in Baroque and early Classical I get to pick out Bach and Scarlatti pieces I like and then do Hanon and Czerny for the skills.  This works out really well since I am a late beginner (30) and if I'm to play some music I do not like I'm sure I'll quit asap but the Bach is working out great.

Anyhow, my question to teachers is this: today (and I've seen this before) a student performed at our kindergarten who is about 6 or 7 years of age and he's playing a piece and swaying almost out of his chair and I remember some show I saw about Lang Lang and had flashbacks to that.  (I live in China, btw)

Is it possible I am wrong or is this the most silly thing?  It looks as though they are going to fall off their seat and I'm in very much doubt that a 7 year old can appreciate the music that they are playing to an extent that they are getting lost in it.  I can't remember even appreciating my Raffi records as I do now so doesn't that kind of love for music come at a mature age?

It seems that the teachers are actually telling the kids to 'go nuts' at the piano like this because I am seeing it more and more and it really makes me wonder what is going on here.  Who plays like this?  Is it to make up for lack of talent or is it some kind of showmanship gone wrong?

Maybe it's just because I play Baroque and I think that's quite serious stuff.  I've never seen Glenn Gould move like that although he had his peculiarities.

[mrvladimirhorowitz]

In reply to your comments... It is a matter of personal preference of whether to sit still or to "sway". For some people it helps if there is a little movement to feel music, we have to remember music is deeply connected to dance and movement. Glenn Gould was a genius. He had many quirks, none of which should be idolized, such as sitting so low and leaning "into" the piano, and also sitting on a chair instead of a piano stool. I repeat none of these should be repeated. Also Lang Lang is an excellent pianist. I infact have had a masterclass from him. However he has some quirks as well. Such as "swaying" perhaps a bit over the top, and placing every note.. and too much rubato.. But we cannot judge these people because we should be Listening to the music rather than looking..It is mainly visual.. I hope I have satisfied your curiousity...

[quantum]

I'd say that appreciation and understanding are two different things.  While a 7 year old may not have the intellectual understanding of the music than an adult could potentially posses, that does not lessen his or her musical experience.  You do not need to understand something in order to appreciate it. 

I've found that children's expressions can be brutally honest: without regard to cultural practices, ideologies, or social faux pas.  In the age of the urtext mafia, a child's perspective can be a refreshing awakening. 

[soitainly]

 Most kids try to emulate their heroes, the showmanship quirks are part of the reason these heroes are popular. So I am not surprised that lots of kids will pick up on Lang Lang's movements. Just because I am put off by his antics doesn't mean everyone is or should be.

 Every video I have ever seen of Glenn Gould shows him rocking in a rhythmic circular motion. It is constant but not in time with the music. I think he just wanted to prove that even though that while playing difficult counterpoint, he had enough brain capacity to have some left over to rotate, kind of like someone trying to juggle while on a skateboard.

 On a side note, when I was a teenager, I had a friend who tried to get feedback on an electric guitar by kneeling and leaning back like you see in photos of Jimi Hendrix. In other words, he thought that the kneeling position itself caused the feedback, not knowing that it was his relative position to the speaker.