If you want to play relaxed, your back, shoulders, arms and hands must be able to move completely freely.
Your back must be as straight as when you go for a walk or dance, because only in this way it will remain elastic to the shoulders. This gives your hands the freedom to make wonderful music.
First, sit on the piano bench, but only on the front half. The thighs do not rest on the seat surface.
Slide the piano bench close enough to the piano so that your knees are just below the front edge of the keys.
Now adjust the height of the piano bench so that the elbows are slightly higher than the keys, but only a few centimeters. The feet are flat on the floor.
Now, if you sit up straight and your upper arms hang straight down, your fingers will rest on the level of the white keys.
To play, you will bend forward slightly, but always from the hip joint. When you start doing a “cat hump”, you throw your back out of balance and lose a large part of its flexibility.
You can go through these steps again and again, finding the fine-tuning that fits your body exactly.
The height of the piano bench determines the position of your forearms in relation to the keyboard. Small changes can have a significant impact on individual game dynamics.
I have observed many professionals who slightly change their seat height in concert between their pieces, thus optimally adjusting their arm and hand position. Of course, this is only possible if the piano bench can be adjusted very easily and quickly.
