Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Tension at the piano and in everyday life

I am, and have always been, an exceptionally nervous, tense person. However, until I started learning how to play the piano, I was not aware of the severity of my natural state of tension in everyday life. Since I began learning to play the piano, I've become more aware of my physical self, and I've found that I exhibit considerable tension even when I am sitting still, presumably in a "relaxed" state. Now, it seems to be universally agreed upon that abolishing unnecessary tension at the piano is of paramount importance for both 1) developing correct technique, and 2) avoiding injury. However, given my high level of natural tension, what are the chances that I will be able to free myself of unwanted tension at the piano? Not good, I believe. Thus, my question is: should I work at becoming a more relaxed, less tense person in general, and hope that a newfound state of relaxation carries over to the piano? If so, how should I go about doing this? If there are any teachers reading this post, have you ever encountered a student with unusually high levels of tension? I have one other thought: perhaps people like me simply have no business trying to learn to play the piano in the first place. I'm willing to accept that to be the case.

"perhaps people like me simply have no business trying to learn to play the piano in the first place"

First of all: NO! Nobody is in such a desperate state of mind. There are reasons for your tension.
I'm usually relatively loose but when I try something outside of my comfort zone I get tense. To me, getting out of comfort zone means trying to speed up a piece which is not yet properly learnt. Well, in this specific case I turn into a board of mahogany.

The trick that works for me is repetition; slow repetition, then trying some acceleration, but then down again to slow repetitions. At a cerain point two things happen: a) I get so familiar with the few bars I'm practicing that I could play them in my sleeping, b) my tense muscles get so sick and tired of the situation that they start relaxing almost naturally.
In this state I make sure to file even more repetitions so that to stabilize that relaxation state.

All in all you should focus on slow speed so that to FEEL the loose state of your joints and muscles and then being able to replicate the same feeling over and over in different situations.

Hope it helps.

I would say that it is actually a postive thing that you are aware of your physical tension now. Once you are aware of it, you can deal with it.

I have a lot of problem with tension too.

I think you should work on your tension in general - it can only benefit you!

There are alot of muscle tension/relaxation exercises you can do - I've done a lot of them myself. The kind I think really helps is the progressive relaxation exercise. Here is a link:

http://www.innerhealthstudio.com/progressive-muscle-relaxation-exercise.html

The author here starts with the big leg muscles. I actually start with my toes - and I do the exercises lying down, not in a chair.
The main benefit you can gain from the progressive exercises is that you really start to recognize when you are starting to tense up and the relaxation part gradually becomes an automatic response.

If you do a search on muscle relaxation exercises you will find many many links.
Give some of these a try and see how you do.
Don't be too quick to throw in the towel.

There are also specific exercises for pianists for relaxing your hands and arms - the "drop and flop" --- I think you can find links for that too - and I would bet money that some of our local experts will be around to clarify the idea behind this very soon.

Good luck!

wow, 2 posts from Italy almost simultaneously is unheard :-)

Bizarre! - but we are in the same time zone!
and the name of the original poster is "molto agitato"! lol.

Dove sei? (sorry for the little hijack Molto Agitato!)

Torino, not very far from Milano.

Silly me, I didn't notice it in your signature! Lovely city.

Ok.... enough distraction - back to our friend Molto Agitato!

Yeh, why not, work at it.

I have found that working on my relaxation at the piano has helped me a little with relaxation away from it. But, with some specific exceptions, I'm not a very stressed guy so my needs will differ.

Molto, Wow! It is almost as though I could have written that post myself.

I have been a very tense person since early childhood. I have been on prescription medication for anxiety for 3 years. It has helped me enormously! Prior to that I was actually physically deteriorating from tension and depression. I am still however, a much more tense person than those around me. It shows in my piano practice especially. Do yourself a favor and talk to your GP about your overall state of being.

As for piano specific advice, I second the excellent suggestions and comments made by Casinitaly. I intend to follow suit myself.

Best Regards, Rich

Yoga has helped me develop a nice state of relaxation. You don't have to do all the yoga poses, but the meditations and stretching the arms, neck, back muscles are wonderful for getting the kinks out. Try standing up and stretching with arms to the sky..then slowly bend to each side, back to the middle, and then down to touch your toes. Check out a beginner's yoga dvd at your local library. Do the same with the neck...look from side to side, slowly...up and down. Breathe deeply. Yoga has helped me tremendously with my arthritis.

Good luck!

Nancy

+1.
I am currently trying some yoga poses for several days, and it relaxes me a lot.
Good for back painss too.

I, too, tend to be more tense physically than other people I know. Playing the piano has actually helped a great deal Like molto agitato, I'm more aware of it at other times than I was before, for one thing.

what is really good for me is that whenever I start having trouble with tenitis it's from a computer keyboard. Playing the piano actually helps fix that, because I am much more relaxed and tension-free there.

Cathy

While I do find that playing a new piece (or increasing speed in a piece prematurely) builds tension, in general I find that playing the piano releases the tension I've built up throughout my day. If I've had a particularly bad day, I usually will play only pieces I know rather well, or sightread something for fun only.
My family knows to leave me alone when I'm only playing pieces in minor keys!

Parenthetically - this is my first post. I am really enjoying the forum!

Welcome! I am also new here.

+2

I like the Iyengar style yoga. I liked the strength & flexibility it gave me when I was young, but now that I"m not so young, I like that Iyengar teachers use use props to help the stiff or aged to get full benefits of the poses.

This is a style in which one is very careful with the alignment of the poses (teachers are very careful about preventing injury), and one tends to stay in poses for somewhat longer, instead of jumping from pose to pose. Less trendy than some other styles, but in my opinion it's much more physically sound.

You are lucky you have found the piano, molto_agitato! Till now you may not have felt the need to confront the issue of tension in your body, but as you seem to be very aware of, tension kills music. So if you love the piano and want to master it, it could be your guide to less tension somewhere down the road.

As someone who has been there, I would do the following:

- Start in a yoga class. It is a fantastic way to release tension and you will probably start to feel your body in a new way. Tension is the result of not obeying what your body tells you. Yoga can make you more open to the signals of the body. It can be very addicting on top of that!
- Get Eckhardt Tolle’s book “The Power of Now”. Living fully in the present and not the future or the past, is another great way to become grounded and feeling your body again.
- Get William Westney’s book The Perfect Wrong Note. A very liberating approach to the piano. One where tension becomes almost impossible.
- Take frequent breaks during the day. Perhaps close your eyes for ten minutes several times a day. Very often ambition and trying control the future is what causes tension. It certainly was for me. Realizing we cannot control it and that it is OK may give a boost of energy!

Also, David Nueve has some interesting thoughts on the subject of starting out: http://www.davidnevue.com/pianomyths.htm, http://www.davidnevue.com/pianoadvice.htm

I usually feel much more tense when playing classical pieces, probably because of the supposed need to be "perfect" with that. When playing my own pop/jazz arrangements, my mood is much more moderato than agitato. I wouldn't be so critical of yourself, though.. People who are borderline hypomanic I've noticed are the most productive people around. All that energy can be a benefit! Allow yourself some downtime as well, though.

I believe the two biggest reasons for tension are:

1. Poor posture. Be balanced at all times
2. Uncertainty/Fear. When you are not quite sure of the next note(s). This can be conquered with very slow play.

I completely disagree with this obsession with relaxation and
lack of tension at the piano. In my opinion, this is nothing
but a sham and a marketing ploy. This is promoted by
some teachers, because lack of tension implies lack of
effort and hard work, and this of course greatly appeals to
people. Thus, if the student is having problems at the piano,
the cause is always that he's playing too tense. So the
teacher never gets the blame for the player's problems.
It's always the tension that is to blame.