Tension when playing?

I wouldn't want my intervention to seem out of place, but shouldn't it be your teacher who suggests the way to solve the problem?

There are certainly exercises, but they depend on the type of problem encountered.

The path you must follow is to exploit gravitation and the weight of the arm. The shoulder must control the movement. The only thing that must be firm is the musculature of the hand, which must support, bear, and perform the function of discharging the weight onto the piano keyboard.

One would need to understand if the muscular tension arises from a posture problem, or from a lack of knowledge regarding weight technique, and also understand which muscles tend to stiffen. The piano is not played with muscles! A fortissimo chord must not come from the contraction of the latissimus dorsi, shoulder, triceps, and forearm at a muscular level; it is merely a transfer of energy—energy flows in the form of weight from the lower back and discharges onto the keyboard via the shoulder-arm-forearm-fingers bridge; the muscles do not intervene.

It must be the teacher who suggests the best technique to resolve tension problems which, in the long run, can cause very serious issues (tendinitis, which is nothing to joke about); certainly, a solution cannot be provided via a forum. I, like other teachers, would need to see you and understand where the problem originates in order to suggest the right path to follow. Furthermore, even in terms of sound, do you feel that you are giving the right colors to the piece? The sound obtained through muscular tension is an objectively ugly, metallic, and harsh sound; you will notice this when you play using weight.

Horowitz used to say that the most difficult thing to do on the piano is to make it sing.

You will understand this deeply when you are put on the right track.

The legitimate conclusions are yours... Forgive this unsolicited intervention, but sometimes it is better to be incisive between the lines, to trigger an alarm bell and provoke reflection on methods...

Hello,

TheSimon's response was very exhaustive; personally, I used to play with tension when I was younger because I didn't take enough advantage of gravity and didn't have the necessary strength to depress the keys easily. Normally, this is a problem that (obviously only once identified) is resolved with time and study; one just needs to be patient and find the right technique

Lowseling wrote:

normally this is a problem that (obviously only once intercepted) is resolved with time and study, one just needs to be patient and find the right technique

This is a problem that is resolved ONLY if one is scrupulously followed by good teachers. If a teacher limits themselves to saying: "you are playing with muscular tension" without providing the tools to resolve the problem, then perhaps I would change teachers!

I am not saying this as a joke. I have had many problems with muscular tension; I resolved them by discovering new techniques in masterclasses, especially those of the Russian school. Sometimes many are convinced they are not playing with tension, but a good teacher takes little time to verify it. If the musculature is strong, one does not notice tension while playing. To test it, just play and have someone behind you hold your triceps. If they contract, then we are not utilizing gravity well.

It is not nonsense, and I assure you that many graduated pianists do not play with weight, even though they are convinced they do!

TheSimon wrote:

This is a problem that can ONLY be resolved if one is strictly followed by good teachers. If a teacher merely says: "you are playing with muscular tension" without providing the tools to resolve the problem, then perhaps I would change teachers!

I am not saying this as a joke. I have had many problems with muscular tension, and I resolved them by discovering new techniques in masterclasses, especially those from the Russian school. Sometimes many are convinced they are not playing with tension, but a good teacher takes little time to verify it. If the musculature is strong, one does not notice tension while playing. To test this, simply play while having someone behind you hold your triceps. If they contract, then we are not utilizing gravity properly.

It is not nonsense, and I assure you that many graduated pianists do not play with weight, even though they are convinced they do!

Surely, what I meant is that even with the teacher's help, time, practice, and study are needed to succeed in applying this concept; for example, in recent years I have worked a lot from this point of view, and despite the progress, I still do not feel I have reached the goal 100%!

I'll introduce myself: You can also see and hear some "chats" in my piano technique tutorial videos. I often talk about these concepts, which were moreover suggested in the right and concise way by Simone. Bye

I'll tell you what I personally do

Just a personal technical consideration I would like to make regarding articulation. We are too focused on the finger extension phase, considering it the "active phase," and considering the fall and therefore the depression of the key as the "passive phase." I, instead, consider the thrusting phase to be active: mentally I think about having to "enter into the piano," to "knead the keyboard." The passive phase is precisely when the finger rises, due to the release or the snap of the fingers as they articulate.

Of course, and I hope Maestro Ferrarelli will confirm this, that to play "inside the keyboard," everything must be adjusted precisely: it is enough to not respect certain distances to create annoying tensions for the pianist. Do you know how many keyboards I find uncomfortable and realize they are not well-regulated? For example, a keyboard that is too heavy (I don't understand this fashion of weighting down the keys to build muscle!). Or even an excessively light keyboard—though not even, I would say "fast," but non-gradual—can create tension: imagine having your hand resting somewhere and suddenly they took the support away from underneath ahahahah! The key should descend rapidly, yes, but also gradually, with a certain acceleration and an initial inertia. I am asking Paolo Ferrarelli for clarification on this.

I swapped inspiration with expiration, but the concept is the same.

Lowseling wrote:

Hi,

TheSimon's response was very exhaustive; personally, I used to play with tension when I was younger because I didn't take enough advantage of gravitation and didn't have the necessary strength to depress the keys easily. Normally, this is a problem that (obviously only once identified) is resolved with time and study; one just needs to be patient and find the right technique.

I fully agree. Same exact problem. Finding your technique is fundamental. As is letting yourself be carried away by the piece without thinking too much about the technique itself. It sounds like an oxymoron, but it is the right union between the two things that removes tension by adding fluidity.