Unusual habits or traits!

[megakentar]

What are some unsual habits that you have when you're practicing or when you're performing?
HECK, anything unsual!

Mine consist of:
Making unsual facial expressions, such has twists my lips.
Sometimes I mumble.

As for traits...
My left hand has a vein that moves from one side of the tendon to the other when I move my fingers. It can be distracting when I play because sometimes it may tickle.

What are some of yours?

[jollisg]

When I perform I have a tendency to twist my lips as well. I have photo-proof on that 

[pianoplayjl]

Habit: I tend to sway a lot while performing without the sheet music in front of me. Not to also say, I also close my eyes. I tend to bend my back a lot so that I look like an old man playing and my mouth is always open like this: 0.

As for traits, I don't know if I have any. If I do, probably it is just my pinkie which is half bent.

JL

[jollisg]

and my mouth is always open like this: 0.

I used to do that as well.. That's why I do what I do nowadays

[avengeil]

Instead of using a normal metronome for practicing( since I broke the last one) I use a program on my smartphone hearing it via headphones.

[49410enrique]

i got rid of my nightstand to make room for my digital piano which I set my alarm clock on, they say you can tell a lot about a person by what he cuddles up with at night, not sure what having a piano in your bedroom (my grand at least i keep in another room) says lol

[black_keys]

 leaps twist also ... and i look like that in pianissimmo 8D (stare eyes and big smile)

[m1469]

I have this extremely strange trait - completely out of my control, btw - of being a shape-shifter of sorts.  Often I appear as though I'm somebody else entirely!  For example, most of those women in the sexy pianists thread are me ...  :-.  Or anybody who's actually a great musician ... for example, sometimes I've appeared to be this person people call Horowitz, or Richter.  

OK - disclaimer ... yadda yadda yadda, I know, I know ... peace out.

[ted]

I used to produce stertorous sounds without realising it until I heard my recordings. It wasn't to the Jarrett stage of grunting but I have now got rid of it without too much effort. I am a very physically active player, but that isn't particularly unusual, and provided it doesn't cause negative effects or waste too much energy it doesn't matter.

[evitaevita]

Although this thread is a little bit old, I decided to write here because I found it really interesting (even funny!). 

Well, I have some habits when I play the piano, but some of them are not very good and I have to stop them soon...
One of them is the fact that, during my practice, I usually sit with legs crossed. Also, sometimes, the piece I'm playing captivates me so much that I take weird body positions. Fortunately, when I'm playing in front of other people (even my teachers or my parents), I'm taking the greatest body position ever!
On the other hand, while playing, I don't make any gestures or act dramatically! No, not at all! So, the whole thing doesn't seem ridiculous.
Finally, the funny thing is that during my practice (I mean when I'm alone), I talk to myself and tell me what to do. No! I'm not crazy! I just tell things like: " I must play this like this and not like..." or "Crescendo here!". It's something that I could also do loudly. But, if someone watches me doing this, it's very funny.

[the_fervid_pig]

When I play a certain piece, I hold my breath, no idea for how long, I always get to a certain bar, the same one each time and realise I'm holding my breath, so I breathe out. I also curse myself a lot. Dunno what I do with my mouth, I can't see it.

[outin]

One of them is the fact that, during my practice, I usually sit with legs crossed.

I do that too quite often...especially when sight reading. It's more comfortable and relaxing for me to sit that way...

[the_fervid_pig]

I used to drive like that when I had my beautiful old Saab that had cruise control.... probably shouldn't admit to that. 

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Habits, hmmmm...

I smile a lot.  Especially if it's really good.  Or if you know something is about to come up but the audience doesn't.  For example, the first movement of the appassionata, there's like this pp scaley thing that goes down the keyboard and right when it's about to end, I'm smiling thinking, 'man, you guys have NO IDEA whats about to happen', and then BAM!!!  I punch you in the face!!!  With music of course...  Or the begininning of La Campanella.  Im like, 'you guys have no idea, sh*t is about to hit the fan...'  Unless if I'm playing Bach, I grimace...  And I bite my lip on tough spots of music.  

And if I'm learning a new piece and I come across something REALLY hard, I'm like, 'WHAAAT THE HECK?!?!  **** that sh*t I'm not playing that!  You can find someone else to play that, cause I'm not doing it!'.  And I say stuff like that out loud.

When I'm practicing and a musician who knows me walks by, I purposely bang on the piano, but pretend that I'm actually working hard on something just to piss them off.  Or play something they know, but really BAD.  Lol they get soo mad!!!

When I'm jamming, I stomp on the pedal whenever I change it.

I sit cross legged when I'm doing slow practice.  

When there's a ridiculously stupid passage where the notes are in the bass clef, but all of them are on like the 15th ledgire line, I cross my legs, put my elbow on the keyboard and rest my heard on my hand, and go by the notes, one by one.  

I do a lot of forearm clusters.

I practice in the dark.  

[lloyd_cdb]

DEEP head dives when I play a slow chord. Only with una corda and left hand. Really odd. I chew my cheek when pausing between practicing sections. I've started slightly opening my mouth, making me worry that I might start drooling. Not a fun one.

[hfmadopter]

I nod my head to the beat, if there is a long sustaining note I may hold my head in one position to that sustained note then back to the beat. It's a form of counting for me as I find myself counting to the nods and the interval of the sustain. I liken it to tapping a foot but the feet are busy when playing piano. I close my eyes (as another poster noted as well) sometimes but worse is I may roll my eyes slightly back so i have to be careful reopening them or it could look monstrous!  The nodding is not huge but it's there, as is swaying rocking my head slightly side to side.

If I really get into a part I feel is intense for me and memorized, I will watch the keys very closely, finding my head moving closer and closer to the keys ( that's been more pronounced since aging and the vision only so good, I'm 63).

Trait, I can slouch. Have to watch posture closely. Another is I can nibble on the inside of my lips, I really don't like that one but it seems to run on my mothers side of the family.. My neurologist said it's habit but it seems odd to me that so many aunts and cousins do the same thing I do, I think.

[Bob]

I would say it's unusual, but mouthing swearing words is always amusing.

[karenvcruz]

I am a short person, roughly 5'3 in height (5 feet and. three inches). My friends laugh st me because i tend to put tons of mats on the piano chair so that I can have a higher seat and play heavy classical music without tiring my arms so much.  Then, when I attended a master class, the professor noticed I tended to keep pressing on the pedal and she realized I was psychologically worried I would not be able to mAke a smooth legato so I had this tendency.