A friend of mine who plays the piano, told me that when I play I should be making circles with my hands.
The left should go clockwise and the right anticlockwise. He says if I practice in this way then It'll make it easier when I have to play certain types of music.

Is he right or am I getting strung along?

McMan

I'm not too sure what your friend is talking about. Is it like moving your hand up and down the keyboard while pivoting on one finger? It effectively gives you a much larger handspan and can be useful when you have to deal with large arpeggios. You usually have to move your hands in both directions though.

I think he's trying to pull your leg.

Think he might be having a laugh, matey!!

Actually I think there might be something to ponder in there.....!!!

*Goes off to make circular movements with hands*

May get back to you later; if not, the men in the white coats have taken me away...

Maybe the guy's got his violin and piano studies all mixed up! Poor man. VN has had to make circles when beginning initial violin study in the first term. Can't tell why as it's hubby who takes her to lessons. In fact, Sheila Nelson (the most famous violin pedagogue in UK) teaches the same or so we heard.

It sounds too simplistic to me.... I think what he might be trying to explain is the importance of keeping the wrists relaxed and flexible. I understand what he's getting at but I would be careful about just trying to make circles without the underlying relaxed and balanced wrist/arm. I know the best person to ask - who would be able to describe it better than I can......but unfortunately he no longer posts on this forum......(or 'these fora' if you want to be pedantically grammatically correct!!! )

Re last point: he does from time to time, if we're thinking of the same person! I always look out for his posts as they're always helpful.


I'm back now from trying the circular movement bit. I played Fantasie-Impromptu (it being very arpeggiated) whilst thinking about what way my hands were moving, and it did make a difference in the left. Thinking about it somehow got my elbows moving up and down more than usual, which meant that in one particular section that's been giving me bother, there was more clarity and expression, because I was sort of "above" it. And I was more able to emphasise some LH baby finger notes that just haven't been doing the business properly. So you're probably right that he was trying to suggest being more flexible, generally! Especially with something that makes use of the whole keyboard.

Don't understand actually how i can make circles with my hand .

Think three dimensionally!

Me too. I have a glorious mental picture of wrists describing contrary motion semi-circles, regardless of what the player actually has to play. Hysterical.

Arm\wrist movement depends entirely on what the pianist has to achieve.

Take a short run of notes - say C,D,E,F,G. A movement of the wrist in the direction of travel helps. If this pattern is repeated, then a sort of circular movement will result because the wrist will have to return to its starting position. A brilliant example of this is a lh passage from Beethoven't Waldstein sonata, first movement, development section. The left hand has to play a repeated semiguaver GCBA passage for what feels like forever. A circular wrist movement helps hugely here.

Or take a standard Alberti bass. A slight wrist rotation in the direction the notes travel helps a lot.

How about the Chopin Op 25 no 1 study? (Ab - Aeolian Harp) The lh covers huge amounts of space with a forearm-leading-the-wrist movement always in the direction of travel of the notes - side to side rather than circular. Meanwhile, the rh is performing a sort of reverse Alberti bass type movement.

I could go on, but there is no need, because there is a basic principle we can all usefully observe: the wrist travels so as to lie behind the finger actually playing the note, giving that finger support. This movement does not obviate finger action - strong, clean articulation is vital for pianists - but it sure helps a lot.

hmm well i definitely wouldnt be doing any practice involving intentional circular movement of the wrists. It leads to that clicking sound which if happens to often leads to arthritis as the joints are rubbing against each other.

Not too sure that your mate knows what hes on about there

I think that you will have to ask your friend to give you a practical demonstration. I am not quite sure what he has in mind. I has a pupil once, a girl in her teens, who had been told by another teacher to play as if she was trying to brush tiny insects off the piano keys! That wasn't a legpull either.

Haha, I've heard of that one. It actually works!

I'm glad you said that first, Noodelz, as I was going to call in the men in white coats myself (for myself) when I found myself seeing a certain logic in the tiny insects idea. I reckon it would work if you were trying to achieve a certain light, tip-toe effect for short pedalled passages, like in Carroll's "Forest Fantasies". All these analogies that teachers use are probably intended to be specific to certain types of phrases - not to all of the pupils' playing.

They also work very well sometimes on Chopin. I suppose it would work well on Debussy also but I've never really played his pieces before so I don't know.

Isn't that " Cirlcles with hands" is the technique required to play some pieces , like Chopin's Fatasie-Impromptu ?

That's what I'm thinking but you don't actually make circles with your hands. I call it the bicycle movement. Your fingers are like the spokes, your hand the wheel and the keyboard is the ground.

Yes ! Bycicle movement! I forgot the word..
Thank you..

*uncorks the champagne in the realisation that she's not going mad!* Yes, I played this MUCH better after thinking in circles!

The guy came round last night and I asked him to show me. It seems to be very like the bicycle technique. He showed me on some of the Einaudi pieces which are heavily arpeggiated and it did make a difference, there was a lot more clarity and control.

If you look at the wrist as you try it it does make a circle, as it rises and falls. Maybe its as some suggested that it makes you more flexible overall.

Apparently thats the way his teacher taught him to play and he does play very nicely.

McMan

I think there's a lot to be learnt from watching any good player play, to see how they achieve all the musical effects that they get. It's great to sit on the keyboard side at a concert - whether it's amateur or professional.

I absolutely agree , Patricia.

I agree too, and I know that my sight reading improved greatly when I used to do a lot of page turning at festivals in my teens.

Just had a lesson with a new teacher, and he recommended doing circles with the wrist from the elbow, keeping the forearm relaxed. He said that this technical approach was used by Claudio Arrau...so perhaps the idea of circles isn't so risible after all. Will report back if it makes a difference to my playing!

Good luck!