Finding the right touch

[outin]

Damn this piano playing thing is hard

I find it almost impossible to control my muscles when playing with my fingers. I overuse muscles and I use muscles that I should not use. Because of this my playing sounds bad. I know it but I cannot control it, I'm so used to tense and force my muscles to compensate for my hyper mobile joints. I also don't have the kind of kinetic sense that some people do, my brain sends messages to my muscles but get no feedback. I find it difficult to feel my hands, I just feel the keys under them 

Every now and then (like today) after trying really hard I do find the right touch but I always loose it again. I can hear the difference immediately in the sound. I feel a difference in the way the keys feel under my fingers, playing becomes easy and fluent and my forearm muscles, wrist and shoulders relax. But I don't feel what my hand muscles are doing, so I never can remember how to do it the next time I begin to play. When it happens I wish I could just go on playing forever (and I could because I don't get tired really) since I know next time I can't do it anymore 

I think I will drop all the other pieces for a while and just work on the Scarlatti sonata, where I can concentrate on the touch and most clearly hear the difference. And don't tell me to play some Bach, this piece is just as good for my fingers, and also is beautiful music 

[hmpiano]

If you understand it's the ear that has to do all the work then you're headed in the right direction.

[outin]

I really think I am getting somewhere now, just playing the first page hands separately for hours (not on one sitting though) is raising my awareness of what I am actually doing. The only problem is that I must be driving my neighbours grazy

[j_menz]

Don't overthink what your body is doing - as long as it is comfortable and relaxed and you are getting to the notes there is no issue there.

Concentrate on the sound. Both what you are envisaging and what you are producing. Work to close the gap between them.

This is not an instant fix, by the way; it takes time and practice.

[outin]

This is not an instant fix, by the way; it takes time and practice.

Yeh, I know...I't just annoying to have the candy and then it's taken away again 

[werq34ac]

This sounds like some mystic BS but
Trust the piano. And it will reward you.

That's actually just for performance. You need to be able to produce the sound in the first place for it to work.

If you don't like the way something sounds,
1. THINK
    a. What didn't you like and why you didn't like it
    b. What you did that made a sound you didn't like
    c. What sound you want
    d. How to achieve that sound
2. Ssssssslllllllllllooooooooowwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyy practice the passage until you at the very least get the sound you want.
3. Bring it up to tempo, but always keep that sound in your mind and make sure you are producing it even at faster tempos.

[outin]

2. Ssssssslllllllllllooooooooowwwwwwwlllllllllllyyyyyyy practice the passage until you at the very least get the sound you want.
3. Bring it up to tempo, but always keep that sound in your mind and make sure you are producing it even at faster tempos.

Good advice, since now that I have been doing exactly that for a few days I feel the right sound is coming back more often.

[hfmadopter]

Outin you're advancing if you know the problem exists ! It's that simple and now you can work to solve the problem ( and obviously you are doing just that). In the beginning we know nothing, we take baby steps and eventually learn to play well. It's a long term investment.

Also something my teacher taught me. Now and then take a day or two completely off from the piano. Go do something else, go shopping, bike ride , what ever, just not piano. Then come back to it refreshed.
David

[outin]

Outin you're advancing if you know the problem exists ! It's that simple and now you can work to solve the problem ( and obviously you are doing just that). In the beginning we know nothing, we take baby steps and eventually learn to play well. It's a long term investment.

Hope you have had very relaxing time out there

Just practiced for half an hour and it is just amazing how much I have progressed in just one week. I actually use my fingers in a completely different way now. I have found the muscles in my palm and can now use them at will much more than a week ago. I think the biggest issue was being able to use the palm muscles separately from the ones in my forearm (which were quite overworked). I still need to work a lot to get better and prevent me from reverting back to the way I was playing before. I guess things like this really cannot be taught to me, I need to figure out them myself. Maybe the biggest value I get from my teacher is that she will always tell me what's wrong and needs to be corrected.

Even though I have mostly just worked on the same piece, when I try something else I can hear improvement too. So I understand now the idea of playing Bach to get better finger technique for other music as well, I just don't think it needs to be Bach. Besides you can play Bach all day long and get nowhere if you don't know what you are actually trying to do

[outin]

Time for a little update...

My "boot camp" was quite successful in the end. After a few weeks of working the fingers I don't really have to think about it so much anymore. My fingers feel more secure and playing has become much more effortless. Most importantly I can hear the difference. On my lesson this week I was almost shocked how good my pieces sounded on my teacher's grand. Except for the mistakes of course

Only thing is that now my teacher's other grand feels very light to play, so I have to be careful not to get too relaxed since I get sloppy.

I also found out that I had muscle cramps in my right forearm that prevented my wrist from flexing down normally on the pinky side. Did some exercises and while it's still a bit tense sometimes, but it's getting better. This tension was affecting my hand span too, I can now play the occasional right hand octaves tolerably. The right thumb is still handicapped, but I try not to think about it too much and just play with it.

My teacher really didn't complain too much about my playing this week, only sometimes I still have the habit of letting the wrist fall, especially on the left hand. I just have to give it more attention I guess.

Thanks all for your continuous support and advice!