Negative Tension in Piano Playing.

[ajspiano]

Firstly this information is hardly new, or to be credited to me. I’m just going to summarise something I read some time ago, and again recently – I’d just link you to it but there’s no way to do it since I read it in a book that I bought, not online. I also don’t think that anyone will be able to read this and suddenly resolve any related problem. There will be more to explain. Also, please do not adjust your playing based on any of this if it feels wrong when you try it. The objective here is simply to better understand what types of movement cause us to tense up, not to explain how to move in order to play the piano.

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Many of us experience what we might call ‘negative tension’ when we play the piano. That is, subconscious building of tension in our bodies that hampers the execution of an accurate piano performance. If you look at the “Chopin's Fantasie Impromptu in C# minor Project” thread (and dig around a bit) you will find some discussion about this regarding the 5th finger, and some talk about solutions including a video from birba.

There’s probably one main reason for someones negative tension at a given point in a piece of music – or perhaps a few. I’m going to list and describe a couple of the common possibilities, maybe just 2 for now and add to it later.

1. Isolation of the fingers –

What this means is that you consciously (or subconsciously) attempt to press down with a finger while lifting up with one of more other fingers. Without running an anatomy class (mostly because I don’t know it well enough), essentially your fingers and the muscles/tendons that operate them are interdependent to a degree, which means that they work better together rather than in isolation. As a result, you can make more powerful motions with less strain if you fingers all move in the same direction at the same time. If you move a finger in isolation (one goes up while the others go down) 2 sets of muscles are fighting directly against each other which creates a feeling of tension and begins to restrict speed and accuracy.

2. Stretching.

This one has to do with the unnecessary use of the interossei muscles to move the fingers sideways.  These muscles are used to stretch the hand out and create distance between the fingers, you might use these if you attempt to demonstrate the size of your hand span. You will feel that they can go so far before there is a feeling of tension. If you take them to the extreme of their range (stretch your hand as far as you can) you might notice you hand begins to feel a bit ‘locked up’ in that it can only be stretched out flat – you cannot move your fingers up and down very much while you are stretched. To further demonstrate this you can try the following.

Place your hand in this position - you don't need to have a broken wrist like that though



This is essentially one of the finger motions used at the piano (Seymour Fink - “the pulling finger”). Now, with your hand in this position attempt to stretch your fingers out sideways. You will feel that it is completely impossible. The only way to stretch them out is to lift them as well.

This demonstrates that you cannot play down into a note and stretch a finger out at the same time because it causes muscles to pull directly against each other creating tension.  Instead we must find a different way to get our fingers around notes that have wide gaps – a description of how to do that is beyond the scope of this post though.

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That’s all I’m going to include for now, please feel free to add – or argue that I’m completely out of my mind and clueless..

AJ

[nyiregyhazi]

What this means is that you consciously (or subconsciously) attempt to press down with a finger while lifting up with one of more other fingers. Without running an anatomy class (mostly because I don’t know it well enough), essentially your fingers and the muscles/tendons that operate them are interdependent to a degree, which means that they work better together rather than in isolation. As a result, you can make more powerful motions with less strain if you fingers all move in the same direction at the same time. If you move a finger in isolation (one goes up while the others go down) 2 sets of muscles are fighting directly against each other which creates a feeling of tension and begins to restrict speed and accuracy.

Is that strictly true? It assumes zero finger independence. Surely it's possible to lift one while depressing another? There's no reason why two fingers can't go in opposite directions without straining. i Done incorrectly this can be harmful, but I don't think this should be a blanket no. The way a virtuoso might practise with high fingers is totally different to the way an amateurs fingers might randomly splay out.

This demonstrates that you cannot play down into a note and stretch a finger out at the same time because it causes muscles to pull directly against each other creating tension.  Instead we must find a different way to get our fingers around notes that have wide gaps – a description of how to do that is beyond the scope of this post though.

From that position. However, if you start with curved fingers and extend them, the hand can splay open very easily- during the act of movement. It's not that I'm looking to rubbish what you're saying by any means, as these are important issues that demand caution. However, I think there's a danger of throwing the baby out with the bath water. In some cases, it's better to find sensitive ways of around things rather than write them off completely. Some people go so far to avoid using stretch between fingers that they never develop either flexibility or freedom of movement. These things can be greatly developed, if you take the right approach. Again, there's a difference between forcing the fingers open in a stiff way, and the healthy way in which a great pianist can learn to splay massive distances between fingers. You can't develop freedom, if you take the attitude that the knuckles should never be opened at all.

[ajspiano]

Valid points - I completely agree. The points in my post are very generalized observations.

Is that strictly true? It assumes zero finger independence. Surely it's possible to lift one while depressing another? There's no reason why two fingers can't go in opposite directions without straining.

You are ofcourse correct, the independence of the fingers varies. 2 can obviously move a lot more comfortably in isolation than 4 can. There is perhaps an acceptable range of motion in opposite directions before tension creeps in. As such, if we look at the range of motion for lifting the 3rd finger for example... If the 2nd finger is down, when you lift the 3rd the height at which tension can be felt will be much lower than if you allow the 2nd to come with it.

From that position. However, if you start with curved fingers and extend them, the hand can splay open very easily- during the act of movement

again yes, my post has only dealt with one kind of finger movement, if we were to use the "unfolding finger" (to continue with finks terms) - then stretching is the comfortable option. No doubt because extending the finger uses a completely different muscle set to pulling the finger down. In fact, as I understand it, finger extension can be done with the same muscles used to stretch out the fingers..  even more interesting, the fingers can be comfortable stretched out further if its done by an outside force, rather than by you muscles. As in, you can pull you LH fingers apart using your RH much further than you can by using you LH interossei

The example I've initially dealt with is primarily fast finger work related - things change when we play intervals and chords.

You're experienced eye obviously picked up the lack of explanation immediately, which highlights some flaws in how I've written it perhaps.

[nyiregyhazi]

You are ofcourse correct, the independence of the fingers varies. 2 can obviously move a lot more comfortably in isolation than 4 can. There is perhaps an acceptable range of motion in opposite directions before tension creeps in. As such, if we look at the range of motion for lifting the 3rd finger for example... If the 2nd finger is down, when you lift the 3rd the height at which tension can be felt will be much lower than if you allow the 2nd to come with it.

Yeah, true. It certainly makes sense to make these kind of comparisons, to improve awareness of where slight conflict creeps in. When you can feel even the minute differences, there's much less worry about whether you might be doing it in the wrong way.

In fact, as I understand it, finger extension can be done with the same muscles used to stretch out the fingers..

 

Yes, I think this is highly significant. Since adopting the extension action as my primary way of moving, the space between my fingers has improved quite remarkable.

even more interesting, the fingers can be comfortable stretched out further if its done by an outside force, rather than by you muscles. As in, you can pull you LH fingers apart using your RH much further than you can by using you LH interossei

Absolutely. I think this is perhaps the issue with finger lifting too. It pays to develop flexibility passively, before you start lifting fingers high. I think this improves the likelihood that you can perceive the different between genuine conflict and perfectly healthy finger preparations. I do quite a few exercises where the other hand pushes two adjacent fingers in opposite direction- sometimes one to the left and one to the right and sometimes one up and one down. I think these are very useful- when done lightly.

[ajspiano]

Yeah, true. It certainly makes sense to make these kind of comparisons, to improve awareness of where slight conflict creeps in. When you can feel even the minute differences, there's much less worry about whether you might be doing it in the wrong way.

I can feel a clear difference between moving the fingers together and the minuscule sense of tension I get when I move 2 fingers directly opposite to each other, even when its just a millimeter or so. There's a discussion required about overall technique too, as this is isolated from any supportive arm actions.

Another interesting consideration is someone that is keybedding.. if you apply excessive downward force on the key using the finger after the sound it dramatically reduces your tension free range of motion. I am able to reduce the range of independance between the 2nd and 3rd fingers to something similar to the 3rd and 4th by doing this. So a performer that has tension for this reason could be barely lifting the fingers at all and experiencing the same amount of tension as similarly tense pianist that is lifting the fingers quite high.

EDIT:
This perhaps leads to the idea that we may lift fingers, and have a finger remain down and inactive.. but lifting finger while applying downward pressure with a finger is a bad idea.

[costicina]

As always, great post AJ!!

What about stiff wrist in octaves or repeated chords, or about the technique of "staccato"?
As you know, I'm struggling with these problem with Prokofiev...I watched the Fink's video (it's really useful and full of stimulating insights), maybe I to study it better....

Ciao!

Margherita

[ajspiano]

As always, great post AJ!!

What about stiff wrist in octaves or repeated chords, or about the technique of "staccato"?
As you know, I'm struggling with these problem with Prokofiev...I watched the Fink's video (it's really useful and full of stimulating insights), maybe I to study it better....

Ciao!

Margherita

Hi Margherita!

I've actually started to make a video for you - I recorded 2 or 3 times last night. I'm not posting anything though because I faced a particular problem. That is that its tough to describe the mechanics of it with accuracy, and that when I demonstrate the right way vs the wrong way for comparison, the 2 look incredibly similar in the video. This makes the whole thing very open to misinterpretation so I'm being pretty cautious.

I'm going to make a fairly loose point here..  perhaps just an observation - I will try to talk about it in the video soon.

Firstly, I found that I can intentionally place tension in my wrist and arm before I even go to play a note and that the most likely reason someone would do that at the piano is if they are conciously positioning the fingers for the chord before moving into the keys..  To explain that a bit better..  if you raise you hand/arm off the keys (lift the forearm from the elbow) and then stretch your fingers out to the position of an octave your wrist will become tense and your arm will feel locked in whatever position its in.

If you do that, you can not effectively "free-fall" into the keys - rather you feel like to bring your arm down and play you have to conciously and deliberately move the forearm every inch of the way. If instead you relax the fingers, it feels like "freefall" toward the keys is a very natural motion. In fact, I feel like its a lot more comfortable to fall into the keys than it is to hold my arm up when my fingers are all loose like that.

You can practice freefall into the keys from a height, say 10-15cm to begin with, to play octaves in this way. The hand begins relaxed and the only tension in the wrist is enough to hold it up so its inline with the forearm. The fingers come out to reach the octave at the decent into the keys, they are not prepared. The reach to the octave distance is combined with a slight "letting go" of the wrist, so that the hand moves down into the keys, but it does not conciously apply pressure from the wrist. When you 'let go' like that you're fingers naturally want to spread out - so you just have to control that spread rather than conciously position them for the notes your aiming for.

If you apply downward pressure with the wrist this natural spread of the fingers does not occur. so you would instead have to press down with the wrist and stretch out the fingers - which would make you enormously tense.

Its really tough to explain this well so the aim for you would be to experiment with it, when you manage something that feels free and easy then thats the motion I'm talking about..  if it feels tense you're misinterpreting what I mean (or i'm badly explaining it).

As far as repeating them and remaining free of tension, I think I will talk about soon - its such an enormous amount of motion to explain - and the first step in playing repeated notes freely has to be playing a single note/chord freely.

EDIT: I would also say that you should be trying this initially with a sense of forward momentum, you're not going to move forward but your weight should be travelling forward into the keys. This should help you avoid a "breaking" of the wrist.

[costicina]

Thank you soo mych, AJ!!!
I'll try to apply your "free fall" exercise to the RH ocatves in the last section of the Rev, I've still problems with them.
As for Prokofiev, here is a video of the first few bars after the introduction. I know I use too much pedal (the sound should be much more dry, not so muffled), but it was just a try. Maybe it can give you a better idea of the problems I'm struggling with.

Thank you again

Margherita

[keypeg]

I'm not far enough along to advise but I'll share this.  After playing self-taught for a fair bit (including some decades ago) I am presently working with a teacher and a great deal of what we're doing involves untangling these kinds of knots.  Very often the cause of whatever difficulty can be somewhere else.  For example, something in the hands might have its roots in the shoulders or even feet.  A problem in the lower back might be connected to something in the thumb.  Our bodies work as a unit.

[ajspiano]

@keypeg

Very true - infact, one of my students last night tends to forget to breath when playing. And I myself have a really annoying habit of clenching my teeth when I'm learning something new that is particularly difficult.

@costicina

The free fall in the octaves is extremely important to the revolutionary, in fact I have been quite conciously working on this for every single octave and chord in the piece. It makes for producing loud powerful sounds/accents with very limited effort.

It tends to produce a very forte tone if you are really letting your weight drop into it, but you can produce beautiful pp/p/mp/mf sounds in the same way by limiting the speed of the decent. That is, that you use your muscles to make your arm fall a bit slower (a very tiny holding up feeling, then let the weight fall in to the key right at the very last instant).

It's like a counter weight - The amount of upward lift is less than the downward force of gravity on your arm so the arm still free-falls, but rate of acceleration is less. This is particularly important in bars 25-26 to get a completely free feeling in the crescendo, then great power in the stretto and fz as you gradually allow the arm to drop faster and faster with each subsequent chord. It's also a critical factor in the softer sections toward the end..

watch lisitsa (its the best example I have because the camera work is decent)

You can see how her arm comes up off the keys between the groups two octaves or chords in the opening of theme after the intro. Obviously I can't ask her, but i'll bet that she is just lifting the arm, then letting go of the weight so it can fall back into the keys effortlessly. Rather than lifting and then conciously placing her hand and moving downward with deliberate control.

Watching you're rev video I can see that you do lift up - its hard for me to really tell if you feel a sense of free-falling back on the the keys or whether its more rigid though. Tough to explain to, since obviously there has to be some conscious control or you would just be mashing random keys..

[keyboardclass]

It tends to produce a very forte tone if you are really letting your weight drop into it, but you can produce beautiful pp/p/mp/mf sounds in the same way by limiting the speed of the decent. That is, that you use your muscles to make your arm fall a bit slower (a very tiny holding up feeling, then let the weight fall in to the key right at the very last instant).

That is so true.  I teach release of arm weight in about the second or third beginner lesson for accents but I use it myself just as much for control in pp.  It's called eccentric muscle contraction - well worth knowing about.