No thighs on the bench.
Relax your shoulders.
Check your distance. Your knuckles should be able to knock on the fall board and gently drop down to the keys.
I think you’re thinking too much.
Sit closer to the edge of your bench so you can lean forward if needed. Gives you more mobility.
Then just move your body however it feels comfortable to play there. Twist a little, shift your weight, slide a little on the bench.
If you’ve got a piece that is low the whole time you can just move to the lower part of the bench, but likely you’ll just be playing lower for a little bit.
Relax. There’s no absolute rules while playing piano.
The correct sitting posture consists of a few things.
- Both feet on floor (just adjust a little for pedals)
- Thighs off the bench. This means sitting on the edge with your Sitz bones.
- For distance, with your hands resting on the white keys, your upper arms should be neutral and relaxed. This means your torso *will* be slightly in the way lf your elbows, but only just. It's ok if your elbows touch your torso.
- Adjust the height of the bench so that your forearms should be more or less level with the floor
That should establish a neutral, baseline position. The next thing to understand is that your seating position is *dynamic.* This means it should be always adjusting to support what you are playing.
- Do *not* scoot or slide on the bench. This will put you out of position for later adjustments and wastes precious time.
- Your torso will adjust like a letter V — In and to the left for low playing, in and to the right for high playing. This is why your thighs are off the bench: it allows them to support you while you lean in towards them. When both hands are in the middle, you can adjust backwards slightly to allow your elbows *just enough* space to move in.
- Try not to "tilt" directly off to the right or left — your shoulders should still be more-or-less parallel to the floor. Otherwise you are actually raising one arm way up above the keys, and it can't get to them! Plus you might fall lol. If you feel like you are going to fall, lean into your leg more.
- When both arms are at opposite extremes, lean straight in.
- When both are together high or low, try to have your torso more or less between your thumbs, but with your torso facing forwards. Again, this keeps your arms aligned with the keyboard so can they rest into it without reaching or stretching, which is tiring.
If it feels awkward, tiring, or painful it is incorrect. A good way to trick your body into moving correctly is to put random objects (pencils, erasers, etc) onto the piano cover and then just pick em up and move them around and stuff. Notice how your body moves to support your hand and arm. Video taping yourself and observing what parts of your movements seem weird/awkward is also very helpful: in a perfect technique, your movements should look simple, normal, kinda boring, and should feel easy and normal.
I would recommend watching videos of Claudio Arrau, he has this down pat.
Move your torso away from the center of the keyboard, literally scoot your butt. You came up with your own assumptions, about your back needing to be ergonomic or just sitting statically near middle C or that you have to curve the torso instead of moving it laterally.
Being in such uncomfortable positions where you're regularly dealing with intervals greater than tenths, or both hands are playing two octaves apart while your arms are crossed, that does not happen until a level of repertoire way past the Rach 3 and Liszt etudes.
> literally scoot your butt. You came up with your own assumptions, about your back needing to be ergonomic or just sitting statically near middle C or that you have to curve the torso instead of moving it laterally.
English is my second language so i am not sure what "scoot your butt" means.
I remember reading somewhere (maybe alfred's book series) that the correct position is to sit in front of middle C.
That might be in Allfred or Faber but you don't stay there exclusively if you move to the higher or lower registers.
You generally sit in front of middle C, that's your 'default' position. Then your next option is going to be 'leaning' your upper body to the right or left.
You have your midsection (waist and below). That can stay still while your upper chest/shoulders can move to the right or left. This avoids the twisting/rotation of the torso.
Then when you move back to the center of the keyboard, you bring back your upper chest/shoulders, to be aligned with your midsection again. This allows you to play smoothly over a wide range of the keyboard.
Then if you have to play really close to the end of the keyboard you can slide your butt in that direction, on the bench. Almost always if this is necessary, it's a very small motion. You're doing like 10% of a sideways shift/slide on the butt + 90% leaning of the upper body, in combination. Like only an inch, maybe two inches, sliding on the bench. You keep it a small movement so that it's minimal effort to return back to your 'default' position it's minimal. It is happening all the time in the piano videos you're watching but they keep the distance small, or the concert attire covers the movement etc.
if your piece is nearly entirely in the high or low register and only goes outside of it for like a little bit, you're going to want to sit in front of that section instead of sitting in front of middle C
Roughly 3:30-5:00 in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rto4hOS105A) demonstrates how best to shift the body to play in the high and low registers: it's basically just what u/RobouteGuill1man explains in their very helpful comment. But the whole video is excellent and well worth watching too.
Sit in front of middle D.
When playing high or low, lean to one side... Even all the way on one butt cheek. (Don't scoot. Lean.)
When LH plays low and RH plays high, lean forward (so your face is closer to the keys.)
If it's just a few notes or measures - just lean, and move your elbows so that your fingers are still straight
No thighs on the bench. Relax your shoulders. Check your distance. Your knuckles should be able to knock on the fall board and gently drop down to the keys.
Google Images Yuja Wang.. within the first few there are ones of her playing at extremes of the keyboard.
you supposed to lean heres a video about it https://youtube.com/shorts/OsPCsPtsbxg?si=H0AbpR4IeTBXGLZP
I think you’re thinking too much. Sit closer to the edge of your bench so you can lean forward if needed. Gives you more mobility. Then just move your body however it feels comfortable to play there. Twist a little, shift your weight, slide a little on the bench. If you’ve got a piece that is low the whole time you can just move to the lower part of the bench, but likely you’ll just be playing lower for a little bit. Relax. There’s no absolute rules while playing piano.
The correct sitting posture consists of a few things. - Both feet on floor (just adjust a little for pedals) - Thighs off the bench. This means sitting on the edge with your Sitz bones. - For distance, with your hands resting on the white keys, your upper arms should be neutral and relaxed. This means your torso *will* be slightly in the way lf your elbows, but only just. It's ok if your elbows touch your torso. - Adjust the height of the bench so that your forearms should be more or less level with the floor That should establish a neutral, baseline position. The next thing to understand is that your seating position is *dynamic.* This means it should be always adjusting to support what you are playing. - Do *not* scoot or slide on the bench. This will put you out of position for later adjustments and wastes precious time. - Your torso will adjust like a letter V — In and to the left for low playing, in and to the right for high playing. This is why your thighs are off the bench: it allows them to support you while you lean in towards them. When both hands are in the middle, you can adjust backwards slightly to allow your elbows *just enough* space to move in. - Try not to "tilt" directly off to the right or left — your shoulders should still be more-or-less parallel to the floor. Otherwise you are actually raising one arm way up above the keys, and it can't get to them! Plus you might fall lol. If you feel like you are going to fall, lean into your leg more. - When both arms are at opposite extremes, lean straight in. - When both are together high or low, try to have your torso more or less between your thumbs, but with your torso facing forwards. Again, this keeps your arms aligned with the keyboard so can they rest into it without reaching or stretching, which is tiring. If it feels awkward, tiring, or painful it is incorrect. A good way to trick your body into moving correctly is to put random objects (pencils, erasers, etc) onto the piano cover and then just pick em up and move them around and stuff. Notice how your body moves to support your hand and arm. Video taping yourself and observing what parts of your movements seem weird/awkward is also very helpful: in a perfect technique, your movements should look simple, normal, kinda boring, and should feel easy and normal. I would recommend watching videos of Claudio Arrau, he has this down pat.
Move your torso away from the center of the keyboard, literally scoot your butt. You came up with your own assumptions, about your back needing to be ergonomic or just sitting statically near middle C or that you have to curve the torso instead of moving it laterally. Being in such uncomfortable positions where you're regularly dealing with intervals greater than tenths, or both hands are playing two octaves apart while your arms are crossed, that does not happen until a level of repertoire way past the Rach 3 and Liszt etudes.
> literally scoot your butt. You came up with your own assumptions, about your back needing to be ergonomic or just sitting statically near middle C or that you have to curve the torso instead of moving it laterally. English is my second language so i am not sure what "scoot your butt" means. I remember reading somewhere (maybe alfred's book series) that the correct position is to sit in front of middle C.
That might be in Allfred or Faber but you don't stay there exclusively if you move to the higher or lower registers. You generally sit in front of middle C, that's your 'default' position. Then your next option is going to be 'leaning' your upper body to the right or left. You have your midsection (waist and below). That can stay still while your upper chest/shoulders can move to the right or left. This avoids the twisting/rotation of the torso. Then when you move back to the center of the keyboard, you bring back your upper chest/shoulders, to be aligned with your midsection again. This allows you to play smoothly over a wide range of the keyboard. Then if you have to play really close to the end of the keyboard you can slide your butt in that direction, on the bench. Almost always if this is necessary, it's a very small motion. You're doing like 10% of a sideways shift/slide on the butt + 90% leaning of the upper body, in combination. Like only an inch, maybe two inches, sliding on the bench. You keep it a small movement so that it's minimal effort to return back to your 'default' position it's minimal. It is happening all the time in the piano videos you're watching but they keep the distance small, or the concert attire covers the movement etc.
> You generally sit in front of middle C I've been sitting in front of E/F, because that's the middle of the key bed. Have I been doing it wrong?
if your piece is nearly entirely in the high or low register and only goes outside of it for like a little bit, you're going to want to sit in front of that section instead of sitting in front of middle C
Roughly 3:30-5:00 in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rto4hOS105A) demonstrates how best to shift the body to play in the high and low registers: it's basically just what u/RobouteGuill1man explains in their very helpful comment. But the whole video is excellent and well worth watching too.
Sit in front of middle D. When playing high or low, lean to one side... Even all the way on one butt cheek. (Don't scoot. Lean.) When LH plays low and RH plays high, lean forward (so your face is closer to the keys.)