Lesson 2 Relax the Hand

All aspiring pianists eventually will be asked by a more experienced pianist this question; "Have you learned to play with a relaxed hand yet?" You might not realize it, but to be an accomplished player, you need to learn to relax your hand while playing. If you haven't yet learned to play with a relaxed hand, this exercise will be of help. Practice the first part, the loose wrist, every day for about 1 or 2 minutes per hand. Then, after you believe you are doing it correctly, you could try the second part, raising and dropping the fingers, while continuing to hold down the 5 keys with a relaxed wrist. Both parts of the exercise are to be done every day, but only for a minute or 2 for each hand. Of course, you may go longer if you like. These exercises have a very beneficial effect over a period of weeks and months.

Why do we want to relax the hand while playing the piano? Because artistic playing demands that you work with the force of gravity when necessary, rather than work against it. Also, you can help to prevent "musician's arthritis" over the long term by playing with relaxation.

Don't force your hands and fingers to play the keys. Instead, go through a period where you allow small amounts of your arm and hand weight to drop onto the keys. When you play scalar passages (passages involving scales) you use the 5 finger position shown here. When you are playing chords, of course, you allow the fingers to extend farther up into the keybed.

At times, you will of course need to play with force. But even then one will allow the wrists to act as "shock absorbers". For much more information on this subject, read the small book "Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing" by Josef Lhevinne, one of the world's greatest pianists and educators.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lesson
• Relax
• the
• Hand
• piano
• lessons