Dear our online piano Teacher! Thank you for your effort in providing this thoughtful material for us. I pray for you and your family’s health and happiness! Keep inspiring! 🌻
Craig: Another extremely helpful and valuable lesson delivered with your usual low key, substance packed subject material, which develops trust, something necessary in the best teaching/learning processes. Release is an ongoing issue, here and in general life. Once we play a note, unless it's meant to be held as a harmony note, I can see how to overhold it results in hand tension, which you are helping us to recognize. Also, need to stop pressing on a held note/key while playing other fingers with it. When I began adopting your techniques a few weeks ago I was still practicing with pedal, which made for sloppy rhythmic holding and release. Now I practice without the pedal and that quickly points up notes to be no longer held, through rests, etc. More relaxing and cleaner playing. Can't thank you enough for your generous sharing. Hope is well with you. Kudos from Oregon, at 75, Dave M
When playing keys from 1 to 5, is it fine for the fingers which are not playing the keys to be lifted up naturally or they should be resting on the keys?
Going through all lessons 5 months on. Good stuff. Lifting fingers too high on release is not only affected but tension holding and energy waste. Releasing is more specific than "relaxing," which sounds impossible to me. I work scales and arps at various tempi from very slow and deliberate where I can watch hands/fingers closely, very revealing, up to speeds approaching 350+/bpm on easier ones like CM, GM, FM, and relative minors, where I start having a little trouble; tempo too fast to think much, fingers get tired, when doing it a lot, I can feel it in the hand. Not much time to release between notes, tension starts to build. Strong posture and leaning become necessary at extreme registers. I have no music that plays at that speed, that repetitive, though they do explore extreme registers. I have some recent success not lifting the fingers as high and more or less floating across the keys, harder on some black note keys. Working those up, D flat M and my toughest key B flat M at speed. Thanks to all who contribute to the effort.
I've seen this recommended elsewhere by prominent teachers but have felt it to be too difficult, not to mention the time necessary to master it. At 84 I'm looking for something simpler. As a result of mind/body aspects that I've been working on for almost ten years, I'm led to using a technique where I strive for constant release which I consider a sort of baseline. Actual playing of a note requires very little effort above this baseline. You might say its a blip on a continuum of the release baseline. I have very little time to practice these days. Despite that, I'm seeing a lot of progress with the approach.
They are linked. Rotation is the means of moving ( or shifting ) from note to note and this 'release' is what happens after we play each note. If the finger which just played doesn't release its tension as we go to the next finger we will have a certain amount of tension that we want to avoid. I hope that makes sense!
Dear our online piano Teacher! Thank you for your effort in providing this thoughtful material for us. I pray for you and your family’s health and happiness! Keep inspiring! 🌻
You're very welcome!
This is really all superduperhelpful for me - thank you!
Craig: Another extremely helpful and valuable lesson delivered with your usual low key, substance packed subject material, which develops trust, something necessary in the best teaching/learning processes. Release is an ongoing issue, here and in general life. Once we play a note, unless it's meant to be held as a harmony note, I can see how to overhold it results in hand tension, which you are helping us to recognize. Also, need to stop pressing on a held note/key while playing other fingers with it. When I began adopting your techniques a few weeks ago I was still practicing with pedal, which made for sloppy rhythmic holding and release. Now I practice without the pedal and that quickly points up notes to be no longer held, through rests, etc. More relaxing and cleaner playing.
Can't thank you enough for your generous sharing. Hope is well with you. Kudos from Oregon, at 75,
Dave M
Very intuitive! Thanks 😊
Thanks man. Valuable information
Needed this info bad, your content is so easy to understand, and very great quality, thank you 😎🙏
Glad it was helpful!
I’m so glad you said release and not relax!!!
Perceptive.
When playing keys from 1 to 5, is it fine for the fingers which are not playing the keys to be lifted up naturally or they should be resting on the keys?
Going through all lessons 5 months on.
Good stuff. Lifting fingers too high on release is not only affected but tension holding and energy waste. Releasing is more specific than "relaxing," which sounds impossible to me.
I work scales and arps at various tempi from very slow and deliberate where I can watch hands/fingers closely, very revealing, up to speeds approaching 350+/bpm on easier ones like CM, GM, FM, and relative minors, where I start having a little trouble; tempo too fast to think much, fingers get tired, when doing it a lot, I can feel it in the hand. Not much time to release between notes, tension starts to build. Strong posture and leaning become necessary at extreme registers. I have no music that plays at that speed, that repetitive, though they do explore extreme registers. I have some recent success not lifting the fingers as high and more or less floating across the keys, harder on some black note keys. Working those up, D flat M and my toughest key B flat M at speed.
Thanks to all who contribute to the effort.
I've seen this recommended elsewhere by prominent teachers but have felt it to be too difficult, not to mention the time necessary to master it. At 84 I'm looking for something simpler. As a result of mind/body aspects that I've been working on for almost ten years, I'm led to using a technique where I strive for constant release which I consider a sort of baseline. Actual playing of a note requires very little effort above this baseline. You might say its a blip on a continuum of the release baseline. I have very little time to practice these days. Despite that, I'm seeing a lot of progress with the approach.
What is ment by "release"??
When playing a cord that is 2-4 measures in length?
Hello Pianolab, thanks for the video! So I guess this is another approach to playing scales then when using rotation or are they linked somehow?
They are linked. Rotation is the means of moving ( or shifting ) from note to note and this 'release' is what happens after we play each note. If the finger which just played doesn't release its tension as we go to the next finger we will have a certain amount of tension that we want to avoid. I hope that makes sense!
Hi! Do you teach piano online?
Yes! My email is in the description of all my videos.
As always very helpful!
could you please make video on how to have a strong and stable bridge?
Great suggestion! I think that would make a great topic! Thank you!
What if you are slurring, thank you.
4:46
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This is my problem releasing the fingers and bring them up to high off the key.
Yes, lifting the fingers too high off the keys can be an issue. I hope the video was helpful!