A piano bench is something you use and learn how to sit properly at the piano, and by doing so it forms an essential part of every pianist's technique. It is a very important, overlooked aspect of your playing.
Pianists usually sit at the edge of the piano bench to allow their legs to comfortably use the pedals. Sitting at the edge of the piano bench depending on the height of person you are cuts off the blood circulation to one or both of your legs.
There is a reason why piano benches do not have backs. Sliding forward, so that the legs are completely free and not necessary to stabilize the torso is very important for piano playing. Office chairs are not good for this, because they are not level.
The more comfortable you are, the more you'll practice; the more you practice, the faster you'll progress in your playing. A well-designed bench allows for ease of movement. The right bench height fosters good posture habits and, in turn, good technique.
A major benefit of a stool or bench is that you can't lean back. Use pillows or cushions to raise yourself if you are too low. An adjustable stool is perfect for playing the piano. You can alter the height and you'll also be able to keep your back straight and your hips flexible.
Generally, piano players are quiet, intelligent, inquisitive and analytical. It also helps if they have larger hands, longer fingers and great dexterity.
As you progress in your piano playing you will begin to notice that your fingers don't always do as you intend. Sometimes they do strange things. Sometimes after practising for a while your fingers and wrists can become strained even painful. This is can be a sign of bad posture, overuse and/or insufficient warm-up.
Curving your fingers when playing the piano allows your hands to be flexible enough to rotate in the direction that you are playing. This is beneficial because it allows you to play with more freedom and less tension.
Playing the piano also makes your hands and arm muscles much stronger than the average person.
Piano benches are important because of the role they play as a “driver's seat” where the pianist can organize all the movements he has to do while playing and pedaling. The most important contribution of a piano bench is the maintenance of comfort and posture of the pianist.
The longstanding recommendation has been to avoid placing a piano against external walls since the temperature fluctuations will make it go out of tune. In today's modern, well-insulated homes, this is less of an issue.
Ideally, a piano player should play piano on a bare floor—not on a rug or carpet (unless they live in an apartment building and need to dampen the sound). The natural way to listen to orchestral instruments, including a piano, is on a hard floor. The ear simply wants to hear the reverberation off hard surfaces.
It's partly in response to the emotion of the music, but also when you move your head you get a pleasing Doppler effect, as the frequency of the total sound shifts slightly, and it gets warm and liquid instead of dry. You're implying that the head movement (and body movement by the way) is specific to pianists.
It is not a piano-related injury as such, but it can be exacerbated by high-intensity wear and tear (overuse) of joints in professional pianists who practise intensely. Moderate piano playing, however, is often recommended as a healthy, therapeutic activity which keeps the joints supple.
Practice slowly and consistently
Slow practice is an effective method for reducing musical mistakes. The reason behind it is that slow practice allows pianists to work out a consistent rhythm, which is almost always the first element lost when mistakes start happening.
Most piano teachers recommend practicing anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours daily. To facilitate this, consider making a schedule for when you'll play and for how long. You may find that some days you may be able to dedicate more time than others.
Studies show that practicing more than four hours a day is just way too much. Additional time doesn't make any difference in your progress, even with deliberate practice.
Do pianists look at the keys while they play? The short answer to that last question is: YES! It's perfectly acceptable and normal for a pianist to look at their hands while they play. An important part of the design of any musical instrument is the necessary range of movement for the player in order to produce sound.
90% of all accomplished pianist can and do play the piano with eyes closed. As well as some blind artists that perform on the piano. It is a mode that helps the artist transcend into the piece they are performing. Nearly all pianists close their eyes when they are practicing in order to get the feel of the tide.
But did you know it's considered to be sexy too? A Vanity Fair/60 Minutes survey ranking the sexiest instruments to play has the piano at number three—just behind the guitar and the saxophone. They found that the top instrument was the guitar at 26 percent, followed closely by the saxophone at 25 percent.
So, can piano cause hearing loss? While not typical, playing the piano can in fact cause hearing loss. The hearing damage a pianist might suffer from revolves around many factors.
There is no hard rule about nail length; they should be cut just at the right length, so that we can feel the keys with the ball of our fingers. We should not have to reposition our hands, wrists or arms. If this happens, it means the nails are too long and will affect our playing.
It is more common for piano players to develop osteoarthritis. However, research has shown that playing the piano is never the cause of developing arthritis.