I have been spending at least an hour every day meditating, using Holosync® by Centerpointe. One of the unexpected discoveries I have made is how weak my left hand piano playing was. My left wrist was injured years ago, and my left shoulder has been tense and sore ever since. I have tried many therapies and exercises to ease the tense muscles, Holosync® meditation has been the most help. Now, my left hand and arm feel the same flexibility as my right! I am working very carefully at the piano to develop left hand technique, using Bach 2 part Inventions. Sometimes I go over a short phrase many times with the left hand to get the right feeling. I want to make sure that I am always releasing are weight into the keys from the shoulder, and never reaching for the keys with the fingers. I am discovering many new sensations in the left hand, especially at the bridge, the base of the fingers. I must have been holding my arm and hand very rigidly. I have been looking through music to find left hand sections to use to practice. One of them is from Debussy’s 1st Arabesque: In the past, I was holding the bottom note and reaching with stiff, straight fingers, and was always struggling with this section. Starting with the 3rd bar, I concentrate on moving the whole arm to the first note of each phrase, and lifting at the end of each. I make sure that I am moving the hand and arm to reach the keys as I hold the half notes. I make sure that my fingers are curved under as the hand rolls back and forth through each phrase. I have worked on improving left hand technique for many years, but with little success. Now my left hand feels like it is waking up. I can’t know for certain, but I am sure that Holosync® meditation from Centerpointe has made the difference.

One of the most common mistakes piano players make is to reach for the keys with the fingers. Of course, the fingers are “playing” the notes because they are in direct contact with the keys, but the fingers must be supported by the arm and hand at all times. When practicing, ask yourself: Are you holding the arm and hand rigidly and striking the keys with the fingers? Watch this video of Daniel Baremboim, notice the hand position. The hands are always moved over the keys by the arms, the fingers are never reaching to hit the notes:

When a pianist first looks at a new piece, there are usually technical challenges that must be figured out before the piece can be performed. In Debussy’s Clair de Lune, there are several: - the dynamic markings are all piano or quieter, with only one forte which lasts for one bar. This tells us that Debussy wants an impressionistic wash of sound rather than big, loud effects, even when there are many notes. One pitfall for the performer is to hold back, tensing up the arms, trying and keep the sound soft!! Dynamics need to be considered in relation to each other - the forte needs to be louder than the piano. Also, this piece provides the pianist with an opportunity to play with a soft, but very projected sound. Controlling the playing with the entire arm from the shoulders enables the player to build up a rich wash of sound. - The top melody note in the 3rds needs to ring out more than the lower harmony note. This is very much easier when the pianist’s shoulders and arms are free from tension. Throughout this piece, the pianist should feel the entire weight of their arm sinking into the keys from the shoulders. - the most difficult challenge is in the middle section. The RH must bring out the top melody and play part of the inner accompanying figure. The difficulty is at the end of the phrase: There is an A flat that is part of the inner accompaniment, and the very next note is a repeat of that note, but this time in the melody. The clue to playing this is to observe the phrasing, and to play each phrase with one sweep of the arm. The first inner A flat will slip in on the upward motion that finishes off the phrase. Then there is a new downward sweep, which will bring out the second A flat, the first note of the next phrase. To learn how to coordinate these motions, it helps to exaggerate the free sweeping motion while playing the phrases. Make a big down motion from the shoulders to start each phrase, and don’t worry about missing notes at first. Once the big whole arm motion is comfortable, getting the fingers to play the notes accurately becomes easy!

After getting my shoulders into a big knot, I have been experimenting to find out what the causes were. Obviously, it is easy to say, “OK, Stop Holding the Shoulders Up While Playing”… I have taught many adults to play the piano, and remember how difficult it is to change habits of posture!! I started with the bench height. Being long in the torso, I could see that my elbows were high, forcing some tension in the wrists. Sitting on a chair is a huge improvement, now my forearms are parallel to the floor. Here is a short video demonstrating help with sitting posture: