Piano Technique – Pianodao

Healthy Piano Technique

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

To become a three-dimensional pianist we need to focus on developing our musical body: that is, our physical engagement at the piano, from how we sit, to how we move beyond a five-note range, and from how we incorporate pedalling, to how we breathe while playing.

A healthy piano technique empowers us to fully realise our musical intentions and communicate our creativity, all without sustaining injury. Pianodao includes a growing series of articles addressing these important topics and much more…

Preventing Injury in Pianists

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

The problem of musicians developing injuries related to their playing has received much attention in recent years. Happily, we can learn from a growing body of performing arts medicine research, and the insights of respected pioneers who have devoted their expertise to the fields of piano technique and movement retraining.

A systematic review (2018) of existing research into the prevalence of injury makes sobering reading, suggesting that up to three quarters of all keyboard players report experiencing musculoskeletal pain. And sadly we will all most likely have encountered players who suffered injuries such as tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and dystonia.

Avoiding injury is clearly a key concern. However, increased awareness of this important issue has been accompanied by confusion and disagreement between pianists and educators both about the causes of injury, and what constitutes “good technique”.

Beyond five-note hand positions

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

In a previous article, I considered the importance of establishing a stable five-note hand position in the early stages of piano playing. There are many important reasons for doing so, which you can read about in my post here:

The importance of five-note hand positions

Let’s remind ourselves that teaching beginners to play in a stable five-note position has several important technical and musical benefits, and isn’t simply the construct of a book-based approach.

As I also explained, it is wise to use a range of different five-note positions, rather than locking into just one. This allows the player to experience major and minor tonality, and explore a growing range of the piano.

In this follow-up, I will consider the three most basic ways that we can begin to move beyond the five-note position. These form the basis of an effective fingering technique at elementary level:

moving to a new position
connecting with the thumb
and stretching the hand.

These foundational techniques can be introduced as soon as the player is able to maintain a stable five-note hand position, and all appear in Piano Time 1, a method book I often use with children and have reviewed here.

I believe that learners should be encouraged to recognise, play around with, and understand these three strategies, which they can later use to create their own fingering alternatives as they progress.

Penelope Roskell’s Essential Piano Technique series covers these techniques in the Primer B and Level 1 books. This series provides wise insight and helpful material for developing the foundations of an efficient, healthy playing approach from beginner to late intermediate level.

The importance of five-note hand positions

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Many popular beginner methods and repertoire collections encourage young players to initially blossom at the piano and develop finger independence by learning simple tunes with a fixed, five-note, stable hand position.

Much can of course be taught away from the page, but when introducing reading there is a solid logic to beginning with the landmark note Middle C, and with the pinkies respectively playing the G of the “G clef”, and the F of the “F clef”. Happily, this also allows for melodies that range over an octave.

However, the problems with this approach are well observed. We find that learners who stay in this position for too long often find it difficult to move beyond it, developing a fixed but false association between certain finger numbers, specific pitches, and piano keys.

Sharing Middle C with both thumbs can certainly be awkward too, although undue panic about ulnar and radial deviation of the wrist seems to me overstated, and slightly absurd at this level.

Nevertheless, these drawbacks have fed the growing fashion for consciously avoiding the classic methods, dismissing established pedagogy and conventional piano teaching as old-fashioned and ill-informed. But this seems to me an overreaction which could itself prove to be more damaging…

Technique, or Dogma?

Fermata • Pause and Reflect

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales

In his wonderful book Piano Notes: The Hidden World of the Pianist (2002) the American concert pianist, author and polymath Charles Rosen writes:

“There is no agreement on how to hold the hand at the piano: most children are taught to curve their fingers and place the wrist in a middle position, neither too low nor too high, but of course playing rapid octaves generally demands a higher position for wrist and arm. Horowitz played with his fingers stretched flat and José Iturbi used to hold his wrist below the level of the keyboard.
This variety is the reason that almost all books on how to play the piano are absurd, and that any dogmatic system of teaching technique is pernicious. Most pianists, in fact, have to work to some extent in late adolescence to undo the effects of their early instruction and find an idiosyncratic method that suits them personally.
Not only the individual shape of the hand counts, but even the whole corporal shape. That is why there is no optimum position for sitting at the piano, in spite of what many pedagogues think.”

Breathing with Bach

Pianodao Wellbeing • Mind, Body, Soul

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Eva (not her real name) learnt to play piano as a child, but took an extended break in early adulthood. A few years ago she returned to playing. Since coming to me for lessons she has completed the higher ABRSM grades and gained a DipABRSM performance diploma.

Eva continues coming for a 90 minute consultation lesson once a month. Her focus is on expanding her repertoire, and at the time of writing, she is working on Bach’s Partita No.1 in B flat major.

This post offers a reflection on a recent lesson, shared with Eva’s permission, in which we addressed the importance of the breath in alleviating shoulder tension, using three dance movements from the Partita as repertoire.

Simple fixes for easing piano pain

Pianodao Wellbeing • Mind, Body, Soul

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

Bernice (a real person, but not her real name) is a 76-year-old learner who took up the piano about 5 years ago. She has made steady progress, is now early intermediate level, and particularly enjoys playing traditional classical favourites.

The article which follows is based on Bernice’s true story, her lessons with me, and easy adjustments which have helped her overcome discomfort when playing. She has given permission for this to be shared in order to similarly help and encourage others.

Learning to Play with Precision

Pianodao Articles • Full Archive

Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Written by Andrew Eales

In my previous article Why Bother with Scales? I considered the many benefits that arise from regularly playing and teaching scales and arpeggios. Now, in this shorter post, I’m going to hone in on one especially important advantage which is sometimes overlooked entirely.

Regular scale and arpeggio practice trains the brain and the fingers to develop precision in judging and playing all the musical intervals up to a fourth, using any standard combination of shapes and fingerings, and in all the standard keys.

This significant benefit is certainly not to be sniffed at, and fosters a technical ability that is otherwise unlikely to develop during the formative stages of learning the piano. Read on, and let’s consider how this works…