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Topic: Right hand technique not improving  (Read 690 times)

Offline marqueemoon

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Right hand technique not improving
on: March 11, 2022, 06:59:22 AM
Hello all,

I've been playing the piano for about 3 years, and my right (dominant) hand technique is progressing MUCH more slowly than my left hand. I have tension and weakness on the right side, and I've developed tendonitis in both the forearm and elbow. On the other hand (pun not intended), my left hand feels free and fast.

I believe I harbor lots of tension on my right side in general. My right shoulder feels tense almost all the time, even as I type this I can feel that there is lots of tension there. My left side feels quite loose comparatively, so I know that this is how a person SHOULD feel in their shoulder.

Has anyone else experienced a similar issue, or have any advice for how to remedy this? Right now, my ideas are yoga, which has worked well for me in the past, and physical therapy. What have you all found that works?

Thanks.

Offline lelle

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Re: Right hand technique not improving
Reply #1 on: March 11, 2022, 10:51:03 PM
I'm assymetrically tense in my body. Likely because of computer usage, holding a mouse for many hours a day.

I like Alexander Technique and Qi-Gong. Yoga can do wonders too. My experience is that you need to stick with whatever thing you pick for a while to see lasting improvement, assuming it works for you. I know people who have tried some various things like 1-5 times and then given up because there wasn't enough improvement. You need to commit a bit longer than that.

Offline mad_max2024

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Re: Right hand technique not improving
Reply #2 on: March 12, 2022, 03:50:58 PM
It may be that your right hand technique is faulty. I don't think you should be feeling tension with good technique and certainly not to the point of tendinitis.

My advice would be to improve the technique in your right hand and learn to move with efficient movements in a relaxed way that doesn't create unnecessary tension.
I'm probably not the best to give advice on how to achieve it and certainly not over the internet but a good teacher should be able to help you with that.
I am perfectly normal, it is everyone else who is strange.

Offline marqueemoon

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Re: Right hand technique not improving
Reply #3 on: March 23, 2022, 10:28:29 PM
I'm assymetrically tense in my body. Likely because of computer usage, holding a mouse for many hours a day.

I like Alexander Technique and Qi-Gong. Yoga can do wonders too. My experience is that you need to stick with whatever thing you pick for a while to see lasting improvement, assuming it works for you. I know people who have tried some various things like 1-5 times and then given up because there wasn't enough improvement. You need to commit a bit longer than that.

Thanks for your reply, I have not heard of qi gong, but I will check it out. So far, yoga seems to work the best. I have also tried feldenkrais, but it just seems like a worse version of yoga and kinda cult-like with it's excessive veneration of its founder (sorry to feldenkrais enthusiasts).  And I feel you about the computer usage, I am a SWE myself so that's a big problem for me as well. I even sometimes map my mouse buttons keyboard keys to distribute it a little bit.

Offline marqueemoon

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Re: Right hand technique not improving
Reply #4 on: March 23, 2022, 10:44:57 PM
It may be that your right hand technique is faulty. I don't think you should be feeling tension with good technique and certainly not to the point of tendinitis.

My advice would be to improve the technique in your right hand and learn to move with efficient movements in a relaxed way that doesn't create unnecessary tension.
I'm probably not the best to give advice on how to achieve it and certainly not over the internet but a good teacher should be able to help you with that.

It is definitely faulty, but it's improved a lot though since I discovered rotation and the concept of arm weight. I had a taubman teacher for a few months, and she had me on a 're-training' regimine where we didn't play any music and only focused on technique. I unfortunately had to give that up though cause it drove me mad not being able to play music. I am convinced that I need the musical feedback in order to develop the technique anyway. Luckily the concepts stuck with me and I have improved a lot since I quit lessons. Somewhere out there I hope there is a teacher who understands piano technique, but is comfortable teaching it alongside music and not as a separate thing.

Offline lelle

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Re: Right hand technique not improving
Reply #5 on: March 23, 2022, 11:40:02 PM
Thanks for your reply, I have not heard of qi gong, but I will check it out. So far, yoga seems to work the best. I have also tried feldenkrais, but it just seems like a worse version of yoga and kinda cult-like with it's excessive veneration of its founder (sorry to feldenkrais enthusiasts).  And I feel you about the computer usage, I am a SWE myself so that's a big problem for me as well. I even sometimes map my mouse buttons keyboard keys to distribute it a little bit.

I started out Qi Gong by learning this routine, I think it's pretty good and you can learn as you go following along to the video to the best of your abilities each day:

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