ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Piano: Hand Positioning

Updated on January 12, 2011

 


When you play the piano or keyboard it is very important to position your hands, fingers, wrist, arm and the whole rest of your body correctly. Following these simple suggestions on positioning allows for better playing. This in turn, maintaining the hand, arms and posture relaxed allows you to play the piano for many hours.


Moving the fingers in a correct way and positioning the hand and the wrist in the best way guarantees you, the pianist the possibility to play the chords correctly and in turns minimizes mistakes. A large range of piano music are near impossible to be played and poor hand posture can cause your performance to suffer. If your hands are in an awkward position you may not be able to access the keys and the possibility for cramping may occur.

First rule of thumb for all pianists is to cut them nails! Yes you read correctly, I said cut your nails. Not only will long nails hinder your performance it sounds weird when all you can hear (and it's so distracting!) is clicking of nails against the keys. That certainly doesn't complement beautiful music.

Let me guide you and show you which would be regarded as the correct position.


General suggestions of piano positions:

  • Sit centrally to your piano

  • Sit slightly forward in comparison to the center of your instrument

  • Make sure you're back is upright, straight and relaxed

  • Relax your neck

  • Extend your arms and allow your elbows to be at the height of the keyboard

  • You need to sit just right (not too high and not too low) your arms, forearms, wrists and hands have to be on the same axle to the height of your piano

  • Arch your fingers

  • Your feet must be situated close to the pedals

In sitting correctly as explained above in front of your piano, placing your hands on your keys, you must keep your hands arched and your fingers slightly curled. This benefits you and pays off in the long run. Your hands don't tire as easily, are less likely to cramp and your fingers can reach the keys more easily.

A little exercise of sorts that you can do at home...grab a tennis ball and firmly hold it in your hand. Don't stress the hand and hold it tight! This is only to give you an indication of how your hands should be arched (-minus the tennis ball!) when playing your piano or keyboard.

Hand Articulation...minus the ball
Hand Articulation...minus the ball

Not only is it important to keep your hands arched during playing, but for those of you who aren't familiar with reading music, it would be vital to mention that certain sheet music (not all of them) has fingerings marked in them. It is an aid to help you plan which finger is used to execute a particular note/key.

Scale finger for the right hand (top staff) and for the left hand (bottom staff)
Scale finger for the right hand (top staff) and for the left hand (bottom staff)

Think of your fingers of each individual hand as being numbered from one to five. Start with your thumbs as number 1 and then move towards your pinkie, number 5.

Thumb: 1

Index Finger: 2

Middle Finger: 3

Ring Finger: 4

Pinky Finger: 5

When you begin playing with your left hand, you’ll notice that the fingering is often the same for both hands. Look at picture to your right: The same fingers play the same notes in both triad scales, but the numbers are inverted.

I trust and hope that these few tips will help you in your performance in being a better pianist. For more articles on playing the piano, refer below.

Happy learning :)

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)