What's a good way to incorporate more emotion in to my piano playing?

Question

I can tell that I play too stiffly but I'm very, very technically minded and not that emotional anyway. Not to mention I'm still playing pieces out of books with themed characters, so it's not like I have very emotional pieces anyway.

I don't know if this is really a question that can be answered. Saying, "Just get in to it" or something to that effect is completely useless. I know it gets you two points but please hold back.

By themed characters I mean I'm almost fifteen years old and my books are based around 'Party Cat and Spike in Music City," which really doesn't help. I know it shouldn't bother me but it does.

I'm starting to get the feeling that I've got some emotion in there, and good instincts, but I'm too reserved to let it out. Also, I can improvise -and apparently am pretty good, and have good instincts- but I just feel like a dumbass.

I took piano lessons for a couple years with a terrible teacher who made it all about pressure to memorize the written notes. I remember wanting to spend time getting emotion in then, but all the teacher wanted me to do was regurgitate the sheet music. Now, five years later, I'm working with my new teacher on loosening up and just having fun. Problem is I'm working myself in to a self-perpetuating cycle of impossibility since I really don't care about pieces with names like "The Clockwork Ballerina" but I have to so I can move on to anything decent.

Answer 1

As a teacher I try to explain to my students that playing the piano is not about the keys on the keyboard, the notes and rhythm on the page or the dynamics written on the music. If you follow all the instructions perfectly you will still be stiff and the music will sound stiff.

Music is a living breathing expression of one's self. Once you learn the notes you need to throw it all away and visit the music with a different perspective. Picture a singer and an actor and let the music be an extension of your heart and soul. 15 actors and singers can read the same lines and music but it will be different in every case. I suggest watching some great artists sing... and I don't mean Pop music, watch the classical singers... listen to how they will caress a legato line and provide a fireworks display in coloratura scales and watch how they sing a final cadenza. If you watch closely you will see that they don't follow the music exactly... they approach the cadenza and then let the music stream out like hot chocolate over a sundae or a 4th of July fireworks display little by little before the climax at the end....
I also suggest watching a Puccini Opera.... no composer was better at making music breathe than Puccini. Each musical phrase had its own breath and pace....and each character has their own unique characteristics...

Remember Music isn't about the notes written on the page... it's about your interpretation of the music that was written by the composer and making that musical interpretation you own. Forget everything you have learned and remember that performing isn't about you.....it's about the audience... the people that have come to see you perform. Make a connection with them. Tell them the composers story from your heart.

Please know that this ability doesn't happen over night...but... it does get better with life experience. This is why certain music shouldn't be played until you have the life experience and ability to interpret that music.

Break a leg ... and go out into the world and experience life as if you have just been reborn!

Answer 2

To me, it's all about musicality. It's very subtle, but it's the difference between a lousy performance and a great one. If a truly talented, musical person plays the piano, they express emotion. It's hard to explain how to do it, because some people have it, and some don't. If you don't have it, you can still learn it, but it's harder. When I play piano, I think about what I'm playing. What's the mood of the piece I'm playing? Is it sad, happy? Sometimes musicality means adding rubato, but it's also just truly feeling the emotion of your piece. There's the exercise my teacher does, which I think really helps. You divide the piece you're playing up into sections (however it naturally divides) and you think of what emotion each piece signifies. And not just things like 'happy' or 'sad'. Try thinking more complicated. Is it haunting, or perhaps frustrated? Think about it. Once a pianist feels the emotion of their piece, and plays it that way, THAT is musicality. And musicality is something machines lack.

Answer 3

I've been playing piano for a long, long time...since I was five, and am now teaching it. Anywho...I sometimes have this problem as well, don't worry about it to much. If you try to hard the piece will sound even worse. I suggest slowly adding in any written dynamics, such as stacattos (sp?), crescendos, decrescendos, and any pedal work. It also helps to lean into the piano on accenuated notes to get more feeling into them. If it's a slower piece (or not, depending on your taste) you can slowly begin to improvise some pedal and dynamic work...it takes practice though, so don't beat yourself up if you don't get it right away. Slowly start to experiment more and more and soon enough you will be adding dynamics without having to think about it.

One last thing that I'm always having to remind beginning students of is to relax your shoulders, if they are pulled up to your ears you can get some major arm, wrist, and hand cramps. If you need to have a friend or someone stand next to you while you play and put their hand on you shoulder when they notice you doing it. This is a terrible habit to get into, since it can cause many problems later on.

Hope that's kind of the answer you were looking for :)

Answer 4

To play with feeling is something that can't be learned. I know this isn't the answer that you want, but its true.

It could be that you are too new to playing? Have you taken lessons for less than, say, a year? If this is the case, then right now you are learning the mechanics of it all, the technique, and that's what is absorbing you. I suspect this might be the case. You use the term "stiffly", which is something all beginners feel. Also, playing out of books, well, that's normally for beginners, also. though I can't for the life of me figure out what you mean by themed characters.

If not, and you truly are motivated by what you call the "technical" aspect then to play with emotion is something you may never learn. You're right, you can't "just get into it"...it is something that comes form inside out...not something that you can make happen with good technique.

IF, as I suspect, you are a beginner, then just relax a bit. While learning technique is essential to playing, it is not something to stress about. The more you practice, the more familiar you become with the melding of the notes on the paper and the motion of your fingers, the more confident you become that your fingers will be where they are supposed to be, then, you will let yourself begin to feel the music.
Sorry, seems like this is a negative answer, I'm sure...but this is very near and dear to my heart.


Well, thats answers a lot! You can lose feeling for music with a teacher like your original one. And your age, well, thats a factor too. Appears you didn't start playing until your teens? About 12/13? Well, thats a rough time in anyones life, and emotion is just something you aren't sure about yet...though your parents would tell you thats all you are!
As to the pieces you are playing now? Well, ti sounds like you have a good teacher, and that he/she is aware that you feel, well, stifled and unsatisfied because of your past teacher. It also sounds like he/she is trying to get the technique straight, and thats a VERY good thign. though you may not like the pieces you play, you can find some emotion in them. think back to childhood. Ever have a music box with a ballerina that spun when you opened it? Did you love it? How about a favortie pet? Put yourself, not INSIDE the music, but standing BESIDE of it, and see what it is...through younger eyes. That might be the key. You, at your age, aren't emotionally mature enough to even begin to try to play with angst, longing,, all-encompasing love. That will come...if, IF, you loosen up, stop castigating yourself, give yourself time to let the music find a path TO YOU! All music, from Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to Beethoven is MUSIC!

Answer 5

As an artist I can tell you that you cannot put emotion into something if you don't feel it. That would be like telling "I love you" to a boy you don't like. May be the kind of music your are playing is not the kind of music you really love. Find music that move you, like if you see a movie and you like the music; some movie scores are sold on cd, and others you can buy or download the sheet music. Also try different styles, maybe the pieces you play are not for you, try Charles Ray's, Elthon John's, Alisha Key's, or Jerry Lee Lewis's piano, the point is that you need to find what you really love in music. Piano is not only for clasical music, try something you really like. Do not try to please others.

Buy and listen all the piano music you can, soon you'll find something that you really like.

The first step to put emotion into something is to find something you like.

Answer 6

I have trouble with emotion as well. Except when I am doing something I really love. Are you sure this is what you want to be doing? If so, find a song that you've heard on the radio that really pumps you up or makes you cry. Find the music for it and play it. If that doesn't work consider playing a different instrument.

Answer 7

analyze the music. ask yourself 'what's this dude trying to get across? anger? calm? intensity? is it a picture? a story?' get involved. make it mean something to you. then, let that emotion or picture play through you brain and convert itself into dynamics. loosen up your arms, shoulders, and hands. it's fun (not that i'm any good at piano, but it IS fun... lol)

Answer 8

i've been playing piano for almost 6 years now, and i was like that too, i never wanted to move around (feel emotion) cause i thought i would look like and idiot. all i have to say is you need to LOVE what your playing, imagine yourself in the desert with no one around you. it's just you and your music that you love.

hope i helped you!

Answer 9

run your hands through your hair like you are emotionally spent when there's a pause and act like you're nodding off while you're playing. It will be mistaken for emotion. :)

Answer 10

Fall in love. Get your heart broken. That will make you deeper in front of the piano. Seriously.