ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? POSTURE AT THE PIANO

Posture is a topic that is probably never too far from a piano teacher’s lips. Maintaining a good posture has as much to do with our ongoing ‘piano health’ as our control of the instrument itself. While a well-considered seating position enables a comfortable, tension-free movement of the arms, wrists, hands and fingers, conversely a pianist may encounter aches and pains when posture is permitted to slip. It may be tempting to describe a pianist’s posture as ‘static’, particularly if we find ourselves admiring pianists who appear almost motionless. It would be more appropriate to think of our posture as ‘dynamic’ – i.e. continually adjusting, however subtly, to meet the needs not just of our bodies but of the music being played.

Posture isn’t something we set straight once and then forget about, but it. Just as a hosepipe cannot do its job of spurting water when stymied by kinks and knots, fluidity in the act of piano playing can be thought of as originating somewhere in the brain before travelling south via the neck, shoulders, on through the torso and down to each limb.