Hand relaxation

[J. Dan]

Any tips, tricks, or advice for keeping your had relaxed during fast difficult repetitive passages?

 

As an example, I learned Boston Foreplay long ago but never played it out and it was always a bit sloppy. I played it out a couple times recently as a sub but it was a bit sloppy. I am now going to do it in a duo (I sequenced the bass and drums), and decided to start drilling it regularly. I used to not be able to play it more than a few times in a row, but a few days ago I ran it probably a dozen or more times and was playing it very well. I noticed that my hand felt extremely relaxed and everything was just flowing effortlessly. I've not been able to replicate that in the couple days since. I still tense up at times.

[MAJUSCULE]

1. Daily repetition/technique.

2. Proper warm-up and stretching.

3. Deep breathing, focus and conscious relaxation. You have to choose to be relaxed.

[cphollis]

Ibuprofen ...

[ksoper]

Take note of your shoulders as you play. Whenever I start to seize up on the fast repetitive stuff I try to loosen my shoulder and let my hand "hang" at the end of my arm. That "fly-away" thing. I'm really bad about tightening my shoulders as I play. When I took piano in college I had a teacher who was able to help me get my speed up and it involved something of a Jedi mind trick. When playing fast, multi-octave scales and arps I learned to think past the individual notes and instead thought of them as one phrase, one motion. Like zoning out and listening to it like someone else was doing it. When the speed was up I had to consciously not pay attention to my hands or I'd falter. Very zen.

 

I don't know if that makes any sense or not, but that's what I shoot for.

[xKnuckles]

Cool advice Ksoper. I find I can play difficult things unless I think about the fact that I am playing difficult things.... Then they fall apart. Am going to try your Jedi technique today.

[EscapeRocks]

I love ksoper's answer:

 

Shoulders and zen.

 

Way back in the pleistocene era/epoch when I was taking piano lessons, my teacher was always on me about relaxing my shoulders.

 

To this day, when I feel them tensing up when playing fast, more technically difficult pieces, I hear her voice and start to relax.

 

As ksoper said, I lower my shoulders, start to breathe, and get into what he calls a zen like state. Very hard to describe that part, but at that point my hands totally relax, and I can fly all over the keyboard.

 

I could just about quote ksoper directly about thinking of a fast passage as one big phrase. I literally "sing" it in my head and my hands just do it. I'm not even thinking about the individual notes.

 

I always call it being in the zone.

 

Just thought of this: When doing my Hannon exercises way back then (and even today), when I was tensing up and stumbling, I would close my eyes and just hear it in my head, and voila~, my playing became more fluid.

It's funny, as to this day, I get audience members who will comment that it looks like I play with my eyes closed a lot.

[Dana.]

Any tips, tricks, or advice for keeping your had relaxed during fast difficult repetitive passages?

 

As an example, I learned Boston Foreplay long ago but never played it out and it was always a bit sloppy. I played it out a couple times recently as a sub but it was a bit sloppy. I am now going to do it in a duo (I sequenced the bass and drums), and decided to start drilling it regularly. I used to not be able to play it more than a few times in a row, but a few days ago I ran it probably a dozen or more times and was playing it very well. I noticed that my hand felt extremely relaxed and everything was just flowing effortlessly. I've not been able to replicate that in the couple days since. I still tense up at times.

I don't think this is the right forum for your problem...

[theGman]

^^^^^^ dittos

 

[MorayM]

Any tips, tricks, or advice for keeping your had relaxed during fast difficult repetitive passages?

 

As an example, I learned Boston Foreplay long ago but never played it out and it was always a bit sloppy. I played it out a couple times recently as a sub but it was a bit sloppy. I am now going to do it in a duo (I sequenced the bass and drums), and decided to start drilling it regularly. I used to not be able to play it more than a few times in a row, but a few days ago I ran it probably a dozen or more times and was playing it very well. I noticed that my hand felt extremely relaxed and everything was just flowing effortlessly. I've not been able to replicate that in the couple days since. I still tense up at times.

I don't think this is the right forum for your problem...

 

 

We really need an innuendo thread around here, don't we?

[Ed A.]

[video:youtube]

[Moonglow]

Cool thread. I forgot about relaxing my shoulders...my first piano teacher told me this when I started taking lessons. Many years later, another piano teacher advised to not clench my teeth while soloing.

 

As an example, I learned Boston Foreplay....

Funny you should mention this tune, my band resurrected Foreplay at our last rehearsal for an upcoming gig. After two spins my right forearm was aching. On the third time, our drummer screwed up about half-way through so we had to stop...I gave him the death stare. Played through it one more time and I was done. Of course, playing it on my Nord Stage 88 (now my rehearsal board) doesn't help, but strangely, I've always preferred to play this song on a weighted action. Seems I can "dig in" to it a little more. Sorry for the digression...

 

 

[J. Dan]

For me, weighted action seems to really help with my timing, and strangely doesn't seem to hurt any more than unweighted, I think because keystrikes there's more force from the key moving your finger back up, so you only need to exert force in one direction, not two, if that makes sense.

 

 

I ran into a similar situation to yours at my last practice - this was my acoustic band where I'm playing Bass. Well, I'm singing Roxanne....which is a stretch for me as it is....and we ended up having to run through it like 4 or 5 times. The last couple times through I resorted to falsetto on the choruses.....I figure no need to kill myself in practice just for everyone to get the music down.

[16251]

Here's a technique book Contemporary Piano Technique in which you can learn a technique which Madame Charloff, a famous piano teacher from Boston area taught some of our greatest jazz pianists. I found my first attempt to work through the book. I found the DVD the best part to learn the concepts, which will help play with minimum motion and being relaxed. I need to start working through it again #solazy

[BRW]

I just wanted to say that make sure the muscles in your right hand (the forearm) aren't tense; this can easily affect your playing dexterity and even everyday tasks. This is also a problem for most office workers who write and work with a mouse. Stretching is the key!

 

[klezman]

In my case its not the shoulders but the elbow. When my technique deteriorates, its because I'm holding my forearm rigid instead of allowing for minute adjustments necessary to get the key down and back up. In one of his master classes, Dave Frank talks about visualizing the motion starting from the elbow. This is subtle and takes some experimentation to get the coordination. I suspect you stumbled on this and didn't realize it when things started flowing.

 

The other thing is a sense of "done"-ness when finished playing the note. So don't aim past the bottom of the key travel. In my case again, I use forearm adjustment to find the right depth. If you don't do this, then you end up working against yourself and essentially stop fluidity.

 

Finally, this

 

The "rotation" stuff didn't work for me conceptually till I realized that its the same idea that Dave Frank refers to above. She gets to the fundamental issue at about 11:15-11:20 in this video, what the forearm does lets the fingers move freely.

 

I would experiment without really trying to play anything in tempo to see if you can find the formula the works. Essentially the keys should "melt under your fingers".