Piano players please help!!!!!?

Question

Sometimes when I play, my wrists ( and sometimes my thumbs) hurt, even though I try to relax. What am I doing wrong??? Any help would be apreciated.

Answer 1

If you feel pain, it means that you are tense. If you learn to play without tension, you could play for hours, without feeling pain (although you might get tired).
Plauing the piano, is exactly like playing a sport, it involves the use of your muscles, you have to warm up before playing, as sportsmes (women) do.

NOw, the hard part, is, what to do?
Ive had many piano students that play with excessive tension, most of them solved this problem with a simple, easy,yet boring excercise.

Put your forearms in a flat surface, such as a table, or the piano lid, and start "playing" trills, use the next fingerin... 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, , 3, 4, 3, 4, etc...

Being on a hard flat surface, will help you feel if your fore arm, is doing any pressure down, and you shouldnt do that.
Do that for about 10 minutes, with each hands, for a few weeks, then when you feel like you are in control of the movement of your fingers, do the same exercise, but now on the piano keys.

dont forget:
1. lift your fingers before striking each key.
2. do it VERY slowly, like at mm=60, doing half notes ( two seconds for every note)

you should feel like your fingers are floating on the keys, the sound will be soft, because fingers are weak, it will never get very loud, dont worry about that.

When you learn to control that, and you play your music, the fingers will know when to move, and when to "accept" help from the rest of your body.

I think that your problem is that you use more strenght than what you need, hence, you feel pain, because you are overusing your muscles.

hope that helps/.

Answer 2

I played the organ at church for years and do transcription work full time. I learned a simple exercise - place your hands on a firm desk or table and while standing up (more effective) gently push on them and try to stretch your arms up to your elbows, do this about 20 times a couple times a day. Also you can take Ibuprofen as it has an anti-inflammatory effect that can bring down any swelling and/or inflammation in your wrists and hands. I have also used a hot rice bag at times. Try this and see if it helps some. Good luck!

Answer 3

those symptoms can be caused if 1. your bench is to low in relation to you piano. 2. If you have bad circulation. 3. if you play to long at a increased rate of speed in a incorrect manner the best way to fix this problem is to practise you scales to prefect you technique. hope that helped.

Answer 4

You may need to exercise your fingers and thumbs. When I was in highschool playing, that happened a lot. My teacher told me a few exercises, but I can't remember them now.

Answer 5

try exercises frequently. Also, are you holding your hands/arms in the correct position? Relax.