Arm Weight Exercises at the Piano (5 Steps) [Foundations of Technique, Part 4]

[@simonhiaubeng6689]

I was practicing using arm weight to play ‘Drink … with thine eyes’. then searching for guidance finds me your video. Thanks for your explanation ❤

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Wonderful! Glad it was helpful!

[@dexyandzaneyustwo4421]

Thank you Ms.Kate! I had trouble using arm weight when playing but these were such amazing and effective exercises!! Keep on Teaching :) Sincerely, Panda 😊

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

You're very welcome! 😊

[@sunchang9079]

Dear Dr. Boyd, I'm a pianist / piano teacher and I love all your videos. I teach your piano technique foundation concepts to all my students and I'm glad I can now refer them to your expertly done videos!! I am wondering if you can talk about how to make / maintain ergonomic hand shapes for different chords as well as tips for voicing them. Thank you!!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Thanks so much for your comment! I'm glad you're finding the videos helpful. I'll work on videos on those topics - great idea!

[@simonhiaubeng6689]

‘daily for a while’ is the key. at least a couple weeks: my intention!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

You can do it! Happy practicing! 😊👏🏻

[@simonhiaubeng6689]

@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thanks for your encouragement. I practice arm weight with another song-slowly and after arm weight F# scale-and perceive the benefits.

[@Linda-learns-piano]

Oh my gosh-- what a revelation-I completely feel the difference in my fingers, hand , arm and body--😘

[@Aiden.G]

Thanks for the video👍 many people don’t cover the topic sadly and it was really helpful

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! Good luck with your practicing!

[@donghunlee8387]

there are thousands pianist who teaches us but always dr. boyd is always best and teaches us like we are her students

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Awww, thanks! 😊 Glad you're here!

[@Csharpflat5]

Great I am trying hard to employ this in my playing

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Great! Good luck with it!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

I'd love to hear from you - let me know your thoughts in the comments! What video topic are YOU interested in seeing me make?

[@lidiahamalis3471]

So constructive, thank you!!!!!!!!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bluepearl4806]

Thank you so so much for your wonderful intelligent explanations and for you giving us so valueble information!!! You are resquing my fingers I could never get those informations otherwise.Thank you!!!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Wow, thank you! Glad to help!

[@edzielinski]

Excellent- thank you.

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@jeffsims5683]

Thanks, I think I need this exercise because my left arm elbow area has been over worked and tense, and I notice discomfort. My style is usually jazz/gospel, so my left hand is fairly busy with chords/comping or walking bass...etc.

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Like this video? Watch this one next: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHPSc4F9bZeceac

[@marilynjshirts8243]

I love all your videos! Great and helpful information! Thank you for all your time and effort to help everyone! Do you have ideas on helping a few beginning, elementary, and early intermediate students who have trouble remembering all the notes of the treble and bass clef? Flash cards are somewhat helpful but tiring after awhile. Landmarks help some. I would love to have more really good effective ideas, strategies, motivation, etc. to eliminate this ongoing issue that some students struggle with.

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Thanks for watching and for your comment! I haven't worked with that level of student for quite a long time, so I wish I could be more helpful. But one concept that I have found useful in the past is the idea that you turn the staff sideways and then overlay that onto the keys, so the student can visualize the lines and spaces on the actual keys. You can see the visual for this in this post, and scrolling down to the graphic called "The Grand Staff and the Keyboard." rebeccaspianokeys.com/how-to-read-music-staff/

[@normajiron2433]

Could you show how to align and use arm weight when playing 4 note chords?

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Thanks for your question! When you play chords or octaves (or anything requiring multiple notes at a time) you have to look at the specific context to determine how you'll be aligned. Usually if I have a big 4-note chord, I have a more supported, higher hand bridge and I'm basically aligning my 2nd or 3rd finger (depending on the specific notes within the chord). For example, for a root position C Major chord, I align my index finger to the key. Hope this is helpful! I'll try to include this in a future video. Thanks for watching, and happy practicing!

[@anesthesiabeyond8519]

Wow! It is so helpful! Finally I experienced relaxed arms after a year of trying. But now I found my 5th fingers can’t support my arms weight🥺. A working progress! Thanks professor 🙏 Subscribed and liked 👍👍👍

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Wonderful! I'm so glad it helped! 😊You've also given me the idea to make a video about the 5th finger... 🤔 🎹 🖐

[@jakes5425]

Hi Dr. Boyd, I have 2 questions, if I may ofc😇. When we press a piano key all the way down using our arm weight, you mention that we need to release afterward. So, do we still use our full arm weight once the key is fully pressed all the way down, does this still qualify as resting on the key? This part is a bit confusing to me. I don't keep pressing/pushing, but, I do continue to use the weight of my arm on my fingertips even after pressing the key down fully.. This is correct right? I just want to be sure I'm doing it correctly. And I have one more question, (sorry😅), when we need to play lightly on the surface of the keys, how can we ensure we still use our arm weight without isolating our fingers? It's challenging to use just a small amount of arm weight to press down the keys. Do you have any exercises to learn this effectively? It's easy to end up isolating the fingers when playing lightly. Thank you so much for the videos, by the way! You are great.😁

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

These are great questions. In answer to your first question, you will feel a heavy arm and like you are resting on the fingertip. You will not engage the tricep or bicep. "Pressing" into the key is when you continue to contract muscles in the arm to increase pressure on the finger. In answer to your second question: hard to write out without "showing" but basically, you can control the "weight" of your arm by having a feeling of suspending it over the keys to varying degrees and engaging the tricep muscle. Playing lightly on the keys is accomplished by holding your arm slightly higher relative to the keys. One way to think about this (for pieces that have a melody in the RH and accompaniment in the LH) is to imagine you are playing an organ or harpsichord that has more than one manual, instead of the piano. Imagine that the right hand is playing on a lower manual and that the left hand is playing on a higher manual. The fingers move the same way but one arm feels physically higher than the other. Hope this helps!

[@pinocesi8402]

Congratulations🎹

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Thank you! 😃

[@darcya7991]

I heard somewhere along the way that when practicing with arm weight, we should practice dropping down onto every single individual note, even though the passage wouldn’t necessarily be played that way in real time. This sounds similar to your step 5, except doing this with actual repertoire that I’ve already learned to play (with a lot of tension lol). Do you agree with applying this practice method to existing repertoire? TIA!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

You can definitely apply this method to repertoire you have already been working on! Happy practicing! 😊

[@martinstraka4363]

Thx a lot for your wonderful videos! I've been playing piano with predominantly hovering hands (like one does on a PC) for 20 years and its causing a lot of issues. As I'm now aware and eager to change this, I sit on the piano and wonder: Do you mean that all of the arm weight (the 8-10 pounds) rests on the fingers or if there's still some amount of weight covered by the exteriou forearm muscles itself (like if I'm hovering). Putting everything on the fingers feels very heavy, leaving me unable to remain a loose wrist. But maybe this is just what I'll have to get used to. Thx in advance and greetings from Berlin!

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Grüße aus Indianapolis! (Ich habe 4 Jahre in Deutschland gelebt: sehr schöne Erinnerungen!) This is a very good question, and I'll do my best to answer it in writing. I think the place where it would be helpful for you to first focus your attention is the back and shoulders. It can be helpful to think of the arms as SUSPENDED out to the sides of the body. Thinking of finding that place of equilibrium in the shoulders and collarbone, where you are not pulling down with the shoulders and also not lifting up, and also where you are not curving forward with the shoulders and also not pushing back. There is a natural place you can find where the shoulder blade and collarbone are balanced. (To find this place, try exaggerating each of the four motions I just described, and find your place of optimal ease.) From there, you can start to experience a feeling of the arms being suspended from the sides of your body, with a supported core and an awareness of the back muscles regulating the arms. Now, when you rest your hand on the keyboard, there will be a looseness and definitely still a feeling of weight, but it won't feel like 8-10 pounds of your arm are hanging just on one finger and immobilizing your wrist. This is definitely harder to write about than to show in a lesson, but hopefully this can get you started. An excellent resource for these concepts is a book called "What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body." amzn.to/3vbcytH The author, Thomas Mark, uses the image of a suspension bridge when talking about finding equilibrium and balance in the arms.

[@martinstraka4363]

@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Herzlichen Dank! This is another very helpful advide. Thx for taking the time to answer all of our questions!

[@imsutoshijamir4190]

Okayy.. So does it also mean that every fast pieces like fantasie imprompto is played with arm weight? Or in debussy pieces which require a lot of softness but playing it fast at the same time..

[@conniejacks7485]

I had to re-train myself from playing with high shoulders and tension.

[@ThePianoProfKateBoyd]

Yes, that's a really common habit pianists have. Keep up the good work!😊🎹