Piano lesson - WRIST techniques

Because there doesn't seem to be much of a resource on piano wrist techniques on YouTube, I thought I'd share these with you. I use them in my own teaching and playing.
It is important to have relaxed and flexible wrists when you play to avoid any unnecessary muscle tension which can, at an extreme level, lead to RSI. Plus it looks great!
Something I neglected to say is that with the first technique - down up on each note - you can also add a bit of a circle into it too. You can see me doing this in the video.

You can watch a lesson on rotary technique, another wrist technique I didn't talk about here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m64fAYxrQyQ

My background: I studied at Victorian College of the Arts, classical piano 2002-04, achieved A.Mus.A with distinction in 2000 and L.Mus.A in 2003. Currently I am a Suzuki teacher in Melbourne, Australia and was a Suzuki kid myself. I also am a performer, as can be seen in my other videos. I play solo as well in the bands Inverto and Tinpan Orange.
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Category:

Music

Tags:

• piano lesson
• how to play piano
• learn piano
• how to learn piano
• wrists
• hanon
• girl
• play
• beethoven
• howto
• fingers

[IM863]

Hi, regarding your earlier comment, I was wondering did the pain clear up or did you see someone about it? I've only been playing for about a month now, was putting in around four hours a day and my left forearm has been playing up. Tightness yesterday, little stingy today after playing for no more than a minute.

[astrobic]

@IM863 hey, that sounds really bad. Like, really. You need to stop practising and see a physio, discuss the problem with your teacher, and possibly see an Alexander Technique teacher to learn how to use your body correctly on the piano. That pain isn't supposed to happen!!

[BalladeNumber1Opus23]

Sinkink down? I saw only young pianists (who don't have theris own technique) do that (trying to do everything right on competitions) Horowitz, Gilels and other great pianists don't do that.

[astrobic]

@BalladeNumber1Opus23 Obviously, my videos are designed for people who don't know fairly basic technique - not professional geniuses. Everyone has to start somewhere with having a feel for playing,& this can be a good place to start. Obviously there are a million different theories on how one should play the piano,& it is well known that some of the best players have terrible technique which doesn't hinder them in any way. But for adult beginners suffering tension, this is a good place to start.

[sbarrocha]

I wonder where you learned these " techniques ". Perhaps your advice should not be taken too literally. Nobody plays like that (just watch any video from a good pianist). Maybe what you say is indeed part of the way pianists play, but at any rate, these gestures should be microscopic. I think technique is more like a sensation than like an act of will.

[astrobic]

@sbarrocha I learnt some of them from this guy: /watch?v=p6hdP7ELGV4 . The best way to first learn these techniques is to exaggerate them. As I say in the video, the faster you play, the smaller your movements become. Ideally they should happen eventually without you even realising it,but this may never happen for those learning piano as an adult.When children under the age of 8 learn an instrument, their body molds to it & they can imitate wrist movements. Adults don't have that advantage.

[IM863]

@astrobic Yeah, I've not played since. Gutted! I've no teacher, so obviously I'm doing something terribly wrong (started as I began to look at technique). Right hand is fine though. I'll see the doctor this week. Thanks for the reply.

[BalladeNumber1Opus23]

@astrobic Alright. You're very adorable.

[JohnnyLgood]

I like your videos, I find them very helpful. Its also easy to see that the wrist circle movements are exaggerated for practice purposes, especially since you stated that @2:24 . some people obviously weren't paying attention :)