Technique Video #2 is here! I dive into a lot of subjects so take your time and digest all of this. I know i will help your piano technique a LOT!
(If you haven’t seen video #1, click here to watch it first.)
As promised, here’s a bonus video of me working on these concepts with a student in a real-life piano lesson. And remember to comment below! I want to hear about any improvements you’ve had in your technique lately, where you are in your piano studies, or any confusions you have around technique. Or just say hi!
Your instructions regarding hand position etc make a lot of sense and totally go against what I have been doing for quite some time. Have taken notes and intend to apply these concepts asap.
Thanks
Thanks Averil!
Very interesting will need to keep trying it
Hi Matt, thank you so much for this video, it has helped me tremendously. The main ‘Ureka’ moment was the instruction relating to finding a neutral position on the key and letting the arm weight drop to lower the key and then play a note – I felt an amazing floating feeling, relaxing fingers and wrist and above all full control (at last) over what I am playing. This has transformed my approach instantly and was what I have searched through probably hundreds of Youtube videos trying to discover.
Richard – thank you so much I’m very glad you found this so helpful!
HI Matt
Feeling and probably looking awkward
Will be excited when it becomes natural
Cross fingers
Oops … relax fingers!
Karo
Hi Matt
I’m Zanele from South Africa,thank you once more.Will practice this rotation.
Hi Zanele – I hope you enjoy the lessons. Thank you!
Your lesson is very interesting. I will clip my fingernails and practice!
Best regards
Gunnar
Hi Matt! Thanks for your class. I am learning a lot!
Thank you Mariette I’m glad you like the class!
Thanks Matt. The rotation is new to me. Have a very short pink (well below the top knuckle of my ring finger. Hasn’t been a problem yet in the lessons, But it is in playing harder music. Just to let you know.
Hi, my name is Martin and I live in Colorado and I found this video very informative because I learned that you have to have very strong fingers so you can do the drop. I cant wait to learn how to do the sweep.
Hi Martin – Thanks I’m really glad you enjoyed the video. I wouldn’t say “strong” quite by the way as that connotes tension or rigidity – but for sure having a good hand arch but a supply forearm is very helpful 🙂
Hi Matt, you are right: tension, tension, tension when I´m so focused on reading the notes. Thank you for your help.
Maria
Hi Maria — yes it just takes lots of patience but you CAN relearn your habits. Thanks!!
I’ve been learning piano for three years and no one has ever shown this to me.I feel different in my hands already! Thank you.
Thank you so much for the effort you’ve put into this!
Although I play for several years now, no one ever took the time to work on this solid foundational skills in the clear way you do!
Because off that I struggled with several technical issues. It’s my goal to retrain myself and become more at ease at the piano so your teachings are so welcome.
appreciate it a lot!
Hi Theo – I’m glad you’re enjoying these videos. I’ve worked with adult students like yourself on retraining and improving technique. It does take patience…you just have to think “long-term” and over the course of several pieces you will see things improve as your muscles learn new movement patterns. (Checking yourself with a video camera can be very helpful…since the body will tend to go into old patterns and tension when you aren’t thinking about it.) Cheers!
Very helpful- thank you!
Thank you Barbara!
Matt,,
I like how you take your time with your students, nice to star with your tips.
Thank you Betty!
Interesting. I never fully considered that we play with our whole hand and wrists rather than just the fingers. I believe this will help me. Looking forward to the next video.
Hey Marc – I’m glad you found this helpful! 🙂
Yes; now I can tell that different keys feel different, as they are going down, and that I may repeatedly have trouble with particular keys.
Yay! Glad it is figured out 🙂
I feel like I have more control than when I first started. (See earlier post, above.) I think I can keep it silent most of the time, but not always… just when I have done it several times and I think I have the hang of it, the next time, it sounds! 🙂 However, it is not a loud sound. I have mostly been working with the single keys but continue to have a problem with the 2 keys together– keeping them silent and keeping them level with each other as they move down.
It is an acoustic piano.
Hi Colleen – that’s great that you are getting more control. And really that’s the point of the exercise…to have more of a sense of the key descent (most people don’t even know this is an option!). Obviously at some point we want to make sound anyway, but with more control 🙂 The ability to control an acoustic piano can vary a lot depending on the piano and even from key to key on the piano . . . it’s a complex mechanism so if the key is regulated differently you’re going to get a different response.
Especially if that let-off point is “sticky” or “heavy” on your piano it’s going to be *very* hard not to get a sound. One way to know this is this: do you get to the “click” without a sound but then on the final click you lose control and there’s a sound? If that’s the case it may be more the mechanism of the piano than you.
Hope that helps!
Do you have an idea for how to visualize the pressure on the key so it is steady, yet gentle enough that the key doesn’t sound?
Hey Colleen – When you depress the key do you have trouble keeping it silent? Are you on an electric keyboard or an acoustic?
Hi Matt. I’ve found this video very interesting as someone trying to solve my own problems with tension and how to best to get my body especially my upper arm, forearm and hands working in an integrated way. Thank you for going into such detail and in a sequential way. I’m not a piano teacher but work in the school education sector so have a research interest in piano pedagogy and healthy playing. It is refreshing to see quality teaching online.
Is your approach informed by the work of Thomas Mark and Dorothy Taubman? Mark says in his book, What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body, that it is useful to visualise the structure between elbow and finger tip as an arch with the knuckles as the key arch in partnership with the wrist, which I’ve found useful but still experimenting with. I do know if I have a break in the wrist, forget to use it to position of my hand and forget to use wave like motions I run into all sorts of tension problems. I simply can’t allow gravity to do its job as the energy gets blocked in my arm or shoulder rather than going through my fingers into the key bed.
Besides the above, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on the role of the elbow and the subject of transferring gravity weight between the fingers/thumb? Do you consciously keep your elbow loose? Do you use it to steer the arm? Questions…questions…I know this is a long comment post so please do PM me if you prefer.
Kind regards
Andrew
Thanks again for these videos Matt.
I thought the exercises were pretty easy so I hope I’m doing them correctly. I can also relate to having weakness in the 4th finger. Should these exercises help strengthen the 4th finger?
I encourage more people to comment. I enjoy reading the comments from others who are working to improve their skills.
Hi Lisa – Thanks for watching! Actually the next video will go into more detail about strength in fingers 3-4-5. But also yes, learning to keep a good hand structure and relaxed forearm is essential to feeling “strong” in finger 4. (It’s actually about learning to have the arm behind the finger in a controlled way. I might make a video on this in the future!)
Where is the pressure coming from, to depress the key(s)– finger(s) alone, or weight of whole hand, or…?
Hi Colleen – That’s a great question… and actually it changes depending on the circumstance. The fingers and hand probably wont be enough to depress the keys, so I would suggest using the weight of the arm. Some of this depends on your particular body mechanics. There are actually many different ways to make the key descend but that’s the short and sweet answer without the technicalities. I hope that helps!
This is great; keep them coming!
In this video, the biggest “revelation” for me was getting that sensitivity to the finger being placed securely on the key; I have often felt like my fingers were floating slightly above the keys, rather than resting on them.
When I do the exercises, I have difficulty consistently depressing the keys without making them sound. This happens with 1 or 2 fingers, and when I try with 2 fingers, I am not pressing them down at the same rate– as they go down, one of them usually lags behind the other.
Hi Colleen! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the videos. Controlling the key descent can definitely take some time, especially when you start thinking about using more than one note at a time. One thing to watch out for (without me seeing what you’re doing) is that no joints are collapsing in your hand…if a joint collapses in one finger but not the others that will cause that key to depress slightly more slowly.
Keep practicing! 🙂