Arm weight and release

A human arm weighs about three to four kilos. That is a wonderful resource: used well, that weight effortlessly produces a deep, warm sound. Used badly — held back by tense shoulders or locked in a rigid wrist — it turns into tension, fatigue and eventually pain. Learning to let the arm hang is therefore the pianist's very first technique.

The principle

Picture a chain running from the shoulder down to the fingertip: shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand joints, finger. For the weight to reach the key, every link must be supple, except the last one, the fingertip, which must be firm like a table leg. Supple everywhere, firm at the point of contact: that is the golden rule.

Exercise 1: the rag-doll arm

1. Standing, arms by your sides. Gently shake your hands until they feel heavy and floppy.
2. Ask someone to lift your forearm by the wrist and let go without warning. If it drops at once like a dead weight, you are relaxed. If it stays in the air for a split second, you are still "holding" it.
3. Repeat sitting at the piano: your lifted arm drops back onto your thigh.

Exercise 2: dropping onto the key

1. Right hand about 10 cm above middle C. The third finger is slightly forward, firm at the tip.
2. Let the arm fall (do not push it). The finger lands on the key, the key goes to the bottom, and the wrist dips slightly to absorb the landing, like a car's shock absorber.
3. Stay at the bottom of the key without pressing: the weight simply rests there. Count three seconds and listen.
4. Gently raise the wrist; the key comes up with the finger. Start again on D, E, then with the left hand.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=60
K:C
!3!C4 | !3!D4 | !3!E4 | !3!D4 | !3!C4 |]

Every note in this example is a "drop": listen to the difference between a pushed sound (hard, short) and a placed sound (round, singing).

Exercise 3: checking the release

Play a C and hold the key down. While holding it, make small circles with your wrist, then move your elbow gently back and forth. If the note does not come up and everything moves freely, your finger is firm and your arm supple: well done. If everything locks, you have "jammed" the chain.