my wrists don't look 'relaxed' when i'm playing octaves

[jiwongirl]

hi all
whenver i play octaves, my wrists stay very high, and it's just my hands that are staying closer to the keys
i'm still very relaxed, but i whenever i see myself play, my hands look very tense
i'm afraid that this would result in some kind of injury
i've been playing for 15 years now, could it be because my reach is only an octave?
do any of you have the same problem?
 

Thanks

[steinwayguy]

Pick up your arm a couple feet off of the keyboard. Drop it flat on. Don't resist. Just bang the hell out of any random keys that your hand hits. Totally, completely, absolutely relaxed. That's how your wrist should feel when you're playing octaves.

[galonia]

Yeah, my reach is only an octave.  I used to do what you sound like you're doing - my wrists were very high.  I think this shows tension in the forearms, which can lead to injury.  I've never been injured, though, but I found that lowering my wrists helped me do my octave passages much more easily, and you will find that as you lower your wrists, your span is a bit bigger, so you may even reach a ninth!!!  (No such luck for me - it just means I can reach an octave without playing the adjacent notes).

[keys]

my wrists used to do that too. When you're playing octaves focus on playing from your elbow for awhile, then your shoulder, then back to the elbow. The wrist can't handle much on it's own. If your arms get tense you can easily relax by leaning back a little bit, but your wrists are harder to access.

[ramseytheii]

Why are you worrying about how something looks, when you can easily say how it feels?  If it feels bad, stop immediately.  For an interesting analysis of octave technique, visit www.leopoldgodowsky.com, and go to the Articles link, where they have stored an article he wrote on the subject.  He said that in playing many octaves, the wrists alternate, high and low.  It is a very instructive article. 
Come to think of it my link may be wrong.  If it is not there, check godowskiana.com

Walter Ramsey

[simonjp90]

Pick up your arm a couple feet off of the keyboard. Drop it flat on. Don't resist. Just bang the hell out of any random keys that your hand hits. Totally, completely, absolutely relaxed. That's how your wrist should feel when you're playing octaves.

is it really though?

i could drop my hand on the piano for four hours straight. but theres no way i could play semiquaver octaves at crotchet=120 for more than a few minutes.

i think theres an element of tension in all octave playing and as long as you don't overdo it then its absolutely fine. if you overpractise then thats where you can injure yourself.

it's impossible to play anything completely relaxed because otherwise you wouldn't be able to lift your hand to the piano.

[richard black]

Octaves are hard, end of story. Talk to any pianist at the top of the profession and they'll agree that long passages of octaves are just about the most tiring thing. That's why you only get them in virtuoso showpieces.

For what it's worth, in the accompaniment to 'Erlkönig', which is the only piece I play at all frequently that has lots of octaves (repeated rather than running, which does make it slightly easier of course), I find that I can stave off tiredness in the arm by gradually raising and lowering my forearm and wrist.

[lostinidlewonder]

Play half of the octaves only with your thumb, relax your wrist. Complete the octave,the wrist should remain as unchanged as possible. When playing octaves focus on the thumb not the other finger. You shouldn't have to about the other finger, some people lock a shape with their thumb and other finger (4th or 5th usually), they relate the thumb to the other finger and other finger to the thumb with equal importance. We should however give much more bias to the thumb and consciously consider it, the other finger follows it, it is not the other way around or with equality of consideration, the placement of the thumb is the control tower. These subtle things in our hands are near impossible to discuss in words alone, you really need to see the persons hands, physically move their hand and adjust it, demonstrate the subtle difference of right and wrong in their own approach, push towards efficiency through physical training.

[liordavid]

if your wrists dont FEEL relaxed, think of it this way. think of moving the octave chord as apposed to pressing it accurately

[tombikadam]

when you play the octaves with high wrist, the forearm do the work and this is nice, but when you put the wrist straight, the pectoral muscles help the arm to play and "basketball bounce" motion appears. The fameous Turkish pianist İdil Biret PLAYS THE OCTAVES with the high wrist.

[gyzzzmo]

people with small hands usually have to stiffen up the wrists to get some volume and quick control in octaves. Plus if you've been doing this for 15 years and dont have wrist issues, i wouldnt worry too much

[point of grace]

have you ever studied Moszkowsky etudes op.72? the one i d minor (octaves etude)? any other ideas of how to keep my wrists relaxed during all the exercise?

[cosz]

watch these videos on youtube... i had the same problem and these videos helped me allot!!

I hope i could help!

visit https://piano-discussions.blogspot.com/ to find out more