2 of 4

Write now Article Tools

When playing the piano, maintaining a proper posture is important as this enables the pianist to play his piece better. How to maintain the proper posture? It is done through proper training by a qualified teacher and practice by the piano student. The proper posture needs to be taught right from the beginning when a child takes up his first piano lesson.

Having watched some Classical pianists performing on stage, we may notice that they play their pieces well; controlling the tonality and quality of the sound they produce on their piano. If we observe a little more, we will notice that they generally maintain a good posture with hands that are so agile, nimble and quick, yet relaxed. In order to give a terrific performance, the pianist needs a lot of practice and effort.

Following are some guidelines that I learnt from my piano teacher, read from books and the website. In order to play the piano well, one of the first criteria is to keep a good posture at the piano. We need to be comfortably seated at the piano with our head, body relaxed and our fingers properly curved.

The proper place at the piano is to sit in the middle of the keyboard near the middle C position (Tip: In front of the piano keyhole). The position of bench should be in a middle of the piano and we need to sit towards the front edge of the bench, leaning slightly forward toward the keyboard. This enables our back and hips to provide stable support while we play. We have to remember to keep our back straight, shoulders and arms relaxed and both feet flat and balanced on the floor when we are not using the pedals. When we use pedals, we use our heels as anchor while pedalling. This keeps our balance while playing. (In the case of children whose legs cannot reach the floor, we can place a small stool where the child can rest his or her feet.)

To help us maintain a proper posture, our sitting position on the bench needs to be adjusted to an ideal height. The ideal height will be one which allows our elbow and upper arm to fall freely from the shoulder, and allows the forearm to be parallel to the floor when placed on the piano. We also need to be at an ideal distance from the piano. The best distance is one which enables our elbows to rest slightly in front of our centre line when our hands are in a relaxed position on the keyboard.

Posture also involves how the head is held; we keep our head and chin up and away from our chest and at the same time relax our jaws, neck and shoulders.

We maintain a slightly curved fingers position while playing, like holding a ball. This is also our relaxed normal hand position. The curved finger position will help produce a pleasant rich sounding musical tone and enhance our music when we play.
Tip: Before we start playing (for practice at home only), it helps to do some relaxation exercises. Roll our head slowly from right to left, then left to right. Shrug our shoulders, and then relax. Lift our arms and shake them to loosen any tension. Now, we are ready to be at the keyboard to play the piano while maintaining the proper posture.

The maintaining of a proper posture will become a natural part of us when we consciously sit straight while we practice the piano daily. The maintaining of proper posture will also enable a pianist to reach and play the higher and lower notes with minimum effort.

Learn more about this author, Tammy Lim.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Piano techniques: How to maintain the proper posture?
We want to hear your view. Write now!