Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum 2 week progress check (and mild wrist soreness)

Here's what I've been up to for my first two weeks of actual practice. Can you experts check out my form? My wrists are mildly sore on top, but I think it's more of my playing a lot (need to build endurance?). Anyway, check em out and any tips would be appreciated. BTW I am doing sight reading as well (single note Mary had a little lamb etc)...but I'm also tackling stuff lke NY State of Mind for fun. I do hear my timing off, and my transitions are not quite on...But practice practice practice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQnEBk2sLmE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQtx8gr_peM

Looks like you're doing great for your first two weeks, but if your wrists are sore already, you are probably doing something wrong. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to make any recommendations based on your videos, but here's a bump in hopes someone else will (are you out there kbk?).

If you continue to have problems, I would definitely suggest working with a teacher, even if only for a few weeks or months, so unhealthy techniques don't become ingrained.

Bluekeys, thanks for the bump :-). Actually the soreness has gone away for the most part. I guess I'm building up stamina. I have the rest of the intro to NY State of Mind down, but using both hands makes it hard for me to keep it smooth and clean. I gotta keep up with the practice! I don't think it's a very hard piece, but it's free flowing and requires that Jazz feeling which I think is just beautiful.. Will post another vid once I get it done..

I think the problem arises from the fact that your wrists are too low in relation to the keyboard, and they are very tense. The wrist should be level with the keys, and pliable. They should give a little bounce down when you strike a key, then back up to level as you continue to hold the key. This will also free up your fingers more to move faster and easier.

I recommend working on a 5-finger pattern one hand at a time. Play finger 1, and let the wrist bounce down and then return to level as you hold that key down. Also completely relax everything after the initial pressing down of the key. Do not continue to press down hard, just enough to keep the key down. Then proceed to finger 2 and do the same. Repeat for all fingers, then go to the other hand and repeat. It's a bit awkward at first, but the more you do it, the easier it will become, and then you can speed it up a bit. The faster you go, the less noticeable a bounce there will be. But you should still have the feeling of relaxation after the key strike.

Try to work this into your regular playing as much as possible. If you ever feel that soreness creep in, then stop playing for a bit and come back when it goes away. There should never be pain when you play, and ignoring it could cause serious problems that could halt your playing altogether. Hope this helps!

Thank you so much for the help! I definitely see the tenseness but didn;t realize how low my wrists were. I will make a conscious effort to raise m wrists and relax more. When you say level with the keys I assume you mean the bottoms of my wrists level with the tops of th keyboard and the fingers slightly curved?

Yes. Think of the wrists being parallel to the keys, and fingers slightly curved as they do naturally when completely relaxed.

Thank you again for the help. I am looking for a teacher now for once a week lessons to help me focus and help with form. I'm in Korea where piano is very popular. I'll probably wind up with a Samick upright before long!

Aside from what Morodiene said, your hands seem to be locked into position. For example - the second link - in the lh, you might want to come out of the octave position after you play the octave to get some rest, then play the next. A lot of the soreness might be from the held position of the wrist, octave, 3rd and 4th fingers that I can see. You seem to be pushing down a lot after you play the notes too. Also, your shoulders seem tense.
You might be sitting a little too low, and a little too close to the piano.

Good work for a couple of weeks! Tension is the most difficult thing to get rid of. If you're aware of it in the early stages, you'll be better off.

Phlebas, much thanks. I surely feel the tension and find that when I try to relax, I can play much smoother. Also, winter leads to sore tendons in the bottom of my left wrist. BTW, I'm from NYC originally and plan to move back in a couple of years when I retire from the military.

The wrists are OK, it's the fingers up in the air.

Well, I start lessons on Sunday. Will let you know how it goes...