Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum How high should you sit?

I never really knew or speculated about this TOO much (thought i'd found the right height). I always wanted my piano (P-155) to be a bit lower and me a bit higher. I took the feet off my stand to get it as low as possible. it was good, but until i started working on a wrist rocking technique (hanon 6 is what my teacher is having me do that on). My left hand was having probs doing this technique on the way up, and the right hand on the way down.
I told my teacher and he says my wrist wasn't high enough, i raised it and it felt natural and much easier. That brings me to my home setup.

While its not super bad, its low enough to where i feels awkward to have my wrists raised. I kind of like being a bit higher and really going straight down into the keys. My bench won't raise, my stand won't lower. So I put a pillow on my bench, perfect height!! I'm over the keys, it feels much better and i'm feeling confident about really playing with my fingers between black keys. I really felt like I was much more in control of my instrument after doing this.
How do you guys like sitting at your bench?

I like sitting a bit on the high side. I've lost some muscle mass in my shoulders due to surgeries on each one. When my entire body was stronger, I sat a bit lower than I do now.

I don't think there is an absolute right or wrong except that extremes are to be avoided. No teacher in their right mind would position a student to sit like Glenn Gould. Horowitz sat pretty low too. If you can play as well as they did, you can break convention and sit anywhere you like. Sit where you feel comfortable. I think a bit high is better than too low.

I like sitting up higher like this guy ... too low and I start feeling like I'm back in an old wash tub:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ogGWGwORWg

Yea, I personally didn't think it'd really matter a whole lot. I personally just like to be a bit higher!

480mm. Not one more or less. That`s what my seat says . . .it`s unanimous on that.. . and I aint forking out for another!

My position changes almost daily lately, but I think my body is horribly out of alignment. My right leg is ever so slightly shorter than my left. Not really noticeable unless you look at my hip bones. I didn't even know until I was in my early 20's. So I tend to automatically stand with all my weight on my right, which throws me off even more (and I'm on my feet all day!).

When I exercise, I can barely tell, and I feel more even. So I suppose I should stop being so lazy!

When you put your fingers on the keys with your shoulders relaxed, your elbows should be level or a little higher than your wrists. Don't sit like Glenn Gould.

I have a bench and an office chair, at the start of the day it's the bench but by the end I am on the office chair

I've always thought this guide was pretty useful.

I played around with positioning when I got my PX-350.

I found that the most comfortable vertical height of my seat was when my forearms were horizontal, when my fingers were touching the keys.

I can't really defend it, but it feels good. Natural, and un-cramped.

. Charles

PS -- following the previous link to a piano-positioning guide gets this:




So my "finding" matches that advice.

I think it is best to sit low enough and far back enough to have the arms at an angle which allows for effective use of the back muscles which includes having the inside angle of the elbows quite a bit larger than a right angle.
















M.

Wow, BB! Since when did you become an admin? Congratulations.

Only now. Thanks!

Prior to my piano journey, I investigated carpal tunnel in the workplace. There's a thing called neutral wrist. A height where it's the least likely to develop carpal tunnel. I try to stay close to that neutral. I'm pretty tall. When seated at a standard acoustic piano my thigh height is nearly key bed height. When I first bought my Yamaha P95, I built a bench, because I though I found a good table, height-wise. Then one day I was moving things around, and sat the piano on the bench. Firstly, it was very close height-wise to a standard acoustic.
Secondly, a standard kitchen chair or folding chair fit real good. So happy accident. And when I sit at a standard acoustic piano, there's not that much adapting, other than the touch.

I'm sitting with my elbow level just a little (about an inch) above the keys.