Pain-free Technique

Pain-free Technique

Relying on back and neck muscles to play may stave off injury
By Laura Sanders Web edition : Monday, November 15th, 2010

SAN DIEGO — A strong back may be the key to tickling the ivories pain-free. Highly skilled pianists suffering from playing-related pain use their back and neck muscles less frequently than do players without pain, a new study shows. The result, presented November 14 at the annual Society for Neuroscience meeting, suggests a way for pianists to prevent injury by beefing up their backs.

Errold Reid of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City and colleagues studied piano players who had been playing for at least 10 years. Eleven of the players experienced varying degrees of piano-related discomfort; 21 were pain-free.

No postural differences were evident in the two groups, but the players who were pain-free relied heavily on the strong trapezius muscles that snake from the lower neck while they played C octaves in the lab, the team found. Conversely, players who experienced pain used smaller muscles in their forearms more. Not using the strapping back muscles shifts the work to the smaller, more delicate muscles in the fingers and arms, said study coauthor Preeti Raghavan of New York University School of Medicine. “It’s too hard on those little muscles,” she said …. (you can read the rest at the link above)

My Take - While the study is new and helps to add science to good playing technique, it really just explains what many pianists have known for years. Using your forearms to direct playing instead of relying on finger directed playing not only gives one better control of the sound and overall freedom of playing, it also helps to reduce strain, increase endurance and avoid injury.

Basically, when you use your fingers to direct the playing all of the motion is generated by the muscles in your forearms. These muscles are small and not built for the extended abuse they receive with this type of playing. You get overuse syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injuries. For example, to play loud using finger directed playing, you have to stiffen the fingers, wrist and forearm and use the forearms to hammer the keys. There is not enough strength and weigh in the forearms to create the velocity and force necessary to create a big sound without adding the stiff tension. Tension is where your muscles are actually working and pulling against each other. They wear out very quickly and much of their energy is wasted. If you have a long passage to play loudly, then you have to keep your muscles under strain for long periods of time and they wear out quickly and become much more prone to injury. Plus your sound is awful, wooden and mechanical.

However, when you use your forearms to direct the motion of playing, letting the fingers go along for the ride. The fingers just need to be strong enough to support the weight of the arm. The arms are made for fine movement. The muscles of the neck and shoulders are what control the movement of the arms. They are large and have greater endurance, weight and strength. When you used the weight of the neck and back to play loudly, the forearm, wrist and fingers remain largely loose and tension free. Thus allowing you to play longer and weaken at a slower rate reducing the chance of injury. Plus, your sound is much more round and resonant.

For my cello students and any other instrumentalist out there, this can apply to your instrument as well. Cellists have this problem when they squeeze their fingers and thumb together on the fingerboard or pinch the bow too hard. Same results as pianists, bad sound and higher potential for injury. By using the weight of the back to direct the motion of the bow and buy using the whole arm to pull the fingers back into the fingerboard you can get the same effect as these pianists, nice sound and less injury. Again, something good cellists already knew and now have science to back them up.

If you compare the amount of work required to the capability of the muscle, you find that you are only using a part of what these larger muscles have to offer. Under finger directed playing, the muscles of the forearm are constantly running at the limits of their ability. So when I harp on using your arms at lessons, know that it isn't just because I want it to sound nice, but also because I don't want you to injure yourself.