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One of my adult students made an extraordinary leap last week! It’s right up there with getting religion and learning to walk.
The hurdle
Just as she finished playing one of the exercises in A Dozen A Day, I happened to glance at her hand. She had developed a bridge!
Why not sooner?
I’ve asked myself that question many times.
Possible contributing factors:
- This student, an adult beginner, has difficulty relaxing at the keyboard.
- She often over-thinks, which leads to a downward spiral.
- Her instrument at home is an electronic keyboard.
My approach
During lessons, we have discussed:
- Hand position.
- Being aware of feeling in the arms, hands and fingers.
- Using weight from the back, shoulders, and upper arm.
- Transferring weight from finger to finger rather than just pushing down the keys.
This seemed to result in a rather vague understanding of what was needed.
The ”aha” moment
Was this a random occurrence?
We were doing an exercise in 3rds from A Dozen A Day. When we worked on it briefly, I demonstrated playing the first 3rd (right hand C and E), keeping the notes depressed, then lifting the fingers for the next 3rd (D and F), and on to the next (E and G).
My student’s response was, ”So I lift my fingers after I’ve played the first chord?”
I said, ”Lift your fingers before you play the next one.” (When playing in a slow tempo, preparing too far in advance creates unnecessary tension.)
Voilà! Something clicked! She did it! No pushing!
And then I looked, and saw the bridge!
What is a “bridge” in the hand?
Having a bridge in the hand means that the hand appears to be holding an imaginary ball. The fingers are rounded, and the palm is arched. Now look at the knuckles across the top of the hand. The knuckles form the ”bridge.” They are the highest part.
Why is the “bridge” important?
- When the hand is in this position, the thumb passes under the hand easily. This is needed in order to play scales and arpeggios.
- The fingers play the keys with the contact points falling in a straight line. When this happens, one has more control of dynamics, speed, and tone quality.
- The hands are stronger with this alignment.
Why did the ”bridge” happen at this moment?
I think the contributing factors were:
- The specific exercise we were working on.
- The acoustic piano my student practices on during her lunch hour (very stiff action).
- Just plain luck.
More about A Dozen A Day
This series is appropriate for some adult beginners.
With this student, my goal is to introduce various problems she will encounter in piano music she plays, both now and in the future. Working on each exercise for an extended period is not helpful to her. The exercise doesn’t get better after a certain point because thinking takes over, and then she becomes frustrated.
I try to ensure that she understands what the exercise is about, and then we move on.
The Instrument
Perhaps this is a good time to repeat my feeling that acoustic pianos are better for developing piano technique, tone quality, pedal technique, dynamic contrast, velocity, sustained phrasing, variety in articulation, and many other things.
Although some electronic keyboards claim to have weighted keys, I have played several. When adjusting the key resistance, I couldn’t feel any difference.
Had my student not had access to an acoustic piano, I question whether the bridge in her hand would have developed.
Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Related post
- Adult beginner sees the light! (gretchenspianos.wordpress.com)
E-books
Goal-oriented Practice
Review by pianist and conductor Andrei Strizek
When You Buy a Piano
How to Maintain Your Piano
Pianist and Vocal Coach
Congrats on’the light dawning.” Like the time, after hearing my student, giving her 3 general directions. “Next piece, “I said, feelig victorious due to instantly dianosing the problem.
Hi Mark,
Thank you!
This was decidedly not instant. The planets must have aligned that day.
[...] Source: GretchensPianos [...]
Thanks so much for the Pingback!
Love it!
Thanks, Jane!
Not luck, not planets, imho.
All sorts of things happen when one isn’t practicing, or even thinking about it.
I’ve seen it in myself. Often.
%%robert
Hi Robert,
Thanks for your comments!
Yes, I’ve seen it in myself, as well. Sometimes it seems like a planetary alignment when teaching, though.
Excellent! I use a bridge when typing on my computer keyboard.
Hi Nancy,
Great! Glad to know that works for typing, too.
Great ideas! I like your description of what a “bridge” in the hand is. One description I often use is to pretend that you are holding a bubble. If you hold it too tight, the bubble will pop. If you hold it too loose, the bubble will float away. It works with the younger children. Thanks for the post!
-Theresa Chen
Hi Theresa,
Thank you!
Yes, I use the “bubble” too. Good thought!
I have “Aha” moments in my writing. They are nothing short of delicious.
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for your comments!
“They are nothing short of delicious.” Aren’t they, though?
Sometimes an acoustic piano isn’t a choice because of thin walls. My teacher guided me in choosing the best digital for developing technique by explaining what to look for. The one I chose had a similar response (not sluggish) and feel to the acoustic nearby. Because of the action, I had to develop a more pianistic technique which the old digital didn’t need. At first playing was “harder”.
Resistance cannot be adjusted. The DP’s *response* is adjusted. In one setting your finger action varies greatly from forte to piano, while in another you don’t need to do much for dynamics. That response helps train technique which you also use on an acoustic. So the “weight” (balance) of the keys give a resistance similar to an acoustic. The response to the speed of “striking” the keys from loud to soft goes toward technique. Both work together.
I think that it is the ** before ** that you mentioned which did the trick, because then we are releasing from the previous note into the next note.
Hi!
Thanks very much for your informative comments!
Yes, I agree that sometimes it is not possible to have an acoustic piano. The student featured in this blog post, for example, has wood heat. So the extreme temperature changes would destroy an acoustic piano very quickly.
A music director I know has an acoustic piano with a feature that quiets it down. So when her kids are asleep, she can still practice. (I don’t remember how the piano works, but think she said it’s a Yamaha.)
In thinking about my electronic keyboard-related comments, I mostly would wonder about developing technique, in someone with an interest in playing an acoustic piano, if the electronic keyboard has iffy resistance. If there’s insufficient resistance, the player wouldn’t need to do much ~ the keys work anyway (similar to organs without tracker action, that is, electrified).
Lots to think about!
Thanks for adding to the discussion.