Wrist pain when playing

[moffatt98]

Hey I learned maple leaf rag last year and have been having pain in my left wrist when playing the final 2 sections at full speed. It feels like built up tension as I make my way through the sections. I'm struggling to be able to release tension whilst doing high speed jumps.
Here is a link to my performance of it on my channel I hope this helps pinpoint what the issue is.

i=FZO944LRyz9T4E2I

[jamienc]

The two possible reasons contributing to the issue, from what I can see from that camera angle, are as follows:
1. Constant wrist pumping on octaves and chords throughout the piece, and
2. What I call the “inside-out” position, which is the wrist on the LH being forced inward toward your body while the elbow remains positioned outward when you move from bass to chord.

The second issue, if you watch in slow motion, creates a constant swiveling of the wrist mechanism and repeatedly thrusts the forearm into a position that tends to contract the muscles that ultimately control the fingers. If you practice it slowly, try to keep the wrist aligned straight and perhaps change the fingering of the chord to prevent the wrist from bending inward. I also noticed that when you do move the left hand to the chord, your upper body never moved to accommodate the shape of the arm/wrist joint. The key of this piece makes it tricky to align everything properly in the LH, but with focus on your entire playing position, you might be able to avoid the pain you are experiencing. Try not to pump the wrist, too!

Hope this helps. Anyone else see anything I might have missed?

[stringoverstrung]

Hello,

Bravo sounds like a real good rag to me!

here are a few tips that you might try:

1) fundamental approach:
the first step is to relax more when not pressing notes. This can be achieved in many ways. A good try is to practice very slowly with the left hand alone (1/3 of final tempo or less ... what you can mentally tolerate). When lifting the left hand from the keys, relax your hand. When you lift it up the hand should follow the wrist (that is it "hangs" from the wrist a little). Second thing that should happen is that your hand should close a little as in the natural resting position.
You should also check if you keep pressing the key after you have hit the bottom of the key. This is certainly the case for certain notes.

2) I can not see it well on the video but It seems you are sitting far enough from the piano. However you do lean forward. Study great pianists from the past and you will see that they sit extremely far from the piano. This prevents too much torsion of the wrist.

3) Remove your watch. No need to have a look at the time when you are  playing

4) You should absolutely play regularly on a good acoustic piano and then listen very carefully what it tells you. For example on the E octave left hand at 1: 50 it will say "ouch, no need to press that hard" (forced sound).

5) Make sure your hand bridge is well constructed (pinky stretched in octave play).

6) try to "pull"  the sound of the  key. Example in this video at 4:20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3xHZrcjPg&t=400s

Hope it helps and let me know what worked for you!

Regards,
Gert