How to relax your wrist when playing the piano

Children's education is one of the most concerning issues for parents. Today's parents pay more and more attention to the all-round development of their children. In order to prevent their children from losing at the starting line, many parents not only pay attention to their children's academic performance, but also actively develop their children's professional expertise in some extracurricular aspects, so that their children can achieve all-round development. Playing the piano is one of the specialties that many children learn from childhood. So what should we do to relax our wrists when playing the piano?

1. How to relax your wrist when playing the piano

a. Relax your wrists

First, the teacher supports and lifts the student's wrist, allowing the student to "experience the feeling of the wrist becoming an object, without any effort, and being supported by the teacher." Then, the teacher releases the supporting hand. If the student's wrist naturally droops, it means that the wrist is relaxed; if the wrist does not droop naturally, or droops slowly, it means that the wrist is not relaxed. This training can be done alternately by the teacher or by the students themselves to increase the fun of the training.

b. Elbows completely relaxed

Have students place their first finger on the keypad. After the teacher tells the student to "relax your elbows", he gently lifts the student's elbows and asks the student to play C up and down. If the student can use the 5th finger to play the music smoothly on the keyboard "so" by relying on elasticity, it means that his elbows are relaxed. This training can also be performed alternately by the teacher and the students until the music can be played smoothly.

This exercise will produce immediate results in both the 1-finger-centric playing method and the 5-finger-centric playing method. (When playing with one hand as the axis in Example 8, it is necessary to rotate the wrist left and right.)

c. Complete relaxation of wrists

Ask students to put their wrists on the back of the chair. Keep their wrists level. The teacher reminds students to "relax their wrists" and then releases the hand that is supporting the students' wrists. If the wrist drops immediately, it means the student's wrist is relaxed. Then practice repeatedly without any reminders until the students can completely relax their wrists. In addition, you can also let the students put their fingers on the keyboard, and the teacher slowly lifts the students' elbows. If the wrists are drooping and the fingertips do not easily leave the keyboard, it means that their wrists are relaxed:

After students have mastered how to relax their wrists, they can practice alternating between playing short, crisp staccato notes and soft, smooth legato notes, and grasp the difference between playing staccato notes with the wrist not relaxed and playing staccato notes with the wrist relaxed.

If students have mastered the above methods in advance, then it will be enough to remind them in piano class: "Relax your wrist! Play loud notes! Play legato!"

By relaxing your wrist, you can play smooth musical notes. Similarly, when teaching how to master timbre and other playing techniques, in addition to theoretical explanations, students should also imitate the teacher's demonstration. Many students master various techniques through imitation.