I am wondering what you guys think are the common stresses in piano playing? I believe most of it is caused by poor practice habits and technique. I am noticing a lot of talented people even in Universities play with stiff wrists. It causes their playing to sound choppy and less musical.

Do you mean mental stresses or physical ones? I think both can apply here

Muscular tension creeps up on pianists without them noticing. Before long, the tension feels natural and relaxing it often takes a lot of effort.

I am a victim of this. All the time I play, a part of my attention is on my shoulders, especially. These will hurtle northwards at the drop of a hat . My hands will tighten the moment I take my attention off them

You are dead right about the effect on tone of the muscular tension demonstrated by so many players. Mind you, the cataclysmic din created by some of them shows clearly that their listening is at least as faulty as their technique

Steve

yes.
stress does affects the tone and sound produced when you play a piece.
your song will not flow as well and becomes less musical.
i remembed a few lessons before my piano performance.
i was a little nervous because i slacked during that week.
and when i play, i tried to act calm and composed.
but my teacher saw through my immediately and told my i was nervous and it showed in my music.
it was so true!!

i get stress in my back - from the dent bit and a little below. My teacher explained how piano is a full body thing and how that bone connects to another and another and eventually has an effect on the sound produced.

My piano teacher always notices when I am not relaxed. Apparently it makes the sound more 'edgy' when my shoulders are tense.

It does indeed. Playing sounds as if your not holding the notes down enough, and you play unlike what you're normally up to.

Just relax...... although during a concert, my foot ALWAYS shakes and trembles at the pedal! Even if I'm not nervous! Well my foot gets nervous.

i get that kind of feelings too. sometimes they get really sore even when i just play a little bit (like 20min)

I think mood effects playing quite a lot too.
My teacher was always saying place the piece a little happier !

Before my last piano lesson, I was feeling really happy and relaxed. That was before I had a flat battery in my car, and had to rely on my husband to rescue the children, myself and our fish and chip supper, leaving the car parked somewhere else than outside my house.

Conseqently I was somewhat stressed at the time of the lesson. My teacher urged me to relax, so I told him about the car. Suddenly the reason for my tension was explained and I started to play better. I'm now more relaxed when I practice, and aslong as nothing similar happens before the next lesson I should be all right.

My stress, certainly affected my playing as I started to mess up sections I was secure on and developed a tendency to rush, when otherwise my tempo was rock solid. (not a good idea in Mozart!)

It's a fact that if you're nervous, the sound of your piano will not come out as good, since your nerves get you in a bad gesture of playing, hence affecting the tonal quailty.

And if you're nervous it affects your breathing too, which actually affects your playing.......... And the extra tension means your hands don't quite have the stretch and flexibility, and distance jumps on the keyboard can often fall short because of the extra tension affecting the muscles....... (Believe me , I know all about THAT one!!!! Performing a Beethoven scherzo once I missed nearly ALL the LH crossover jumps, with the result that the particular movement became known affectionately in my family as the "Splat Splat Piece" !!!)

And talking of affectinate nicknames, Poulenc became "Plonkety Plonk" and Liszt's St Francis Walking on the Water became "St Francis Paddling in the Puddle"......... (my dad had a sense of humour!!! )

I had a really serious problem with my 5th finger, it was always up , you know!...
I tried to practice then and do some exercises to make it relaxed and by the time they got really better...

That tension thing was really bad : Trills were extremely bad , fast pieces were worse, as for chromatic scales, they were a nightmare!

Thanks God for now!