Playing with arm weight – free course

The piano is not played "with the fingers" in the way people often imagine. A lone finger striking from a great height produces a hard sound, poor in overtones, and tires the hand quickly. Great pianists obtain a round, powerful tone with minimal visible effort because they transmit the weight of the arm right to the bottom of the key, through fingers that act like firm yet supple pillars.

What happens inside the piano

When you press a key, you throw a hammer towards the strings. At the last moment the hammer is released (this is the escapement) and bounces off the string. The crucial consequence: only the speed of the hammer at the moment of impact matters. Once the key is down, you can change nothing. A "beautiful sound" therefore comes from a controlled acceleration of the key, not from crushing the keyboard afterwards.

Weight is free gravity: a relaxed arm weighs 3 to 4 kg. Used well, it is enough to play mezzo forte with no muscular effort from the fingers at all.

Exercise 1 — free fall

Sitting correctly (see arm weight), raise your right forearm about twenty centimetres above middle C, wrist supple, hand rounded.
Let the arm drop as if it were an inert object: the 3rd finger, supported by the thumb and 2nd finger, receives the fall and takes the key to the bottom.
At the moment of impact the finger stays firm (it does not "buckle"), but the wrist absorbs the shock like a shock absorber, then settles.
Stay on the key and feel the weight resting on the key bed. Then release the whole forearm without lifting the finger: the key does not come up, the arm is simply hanging on it.
Repeat ten times per hand, with every finger (the 5th and the thumb are the most instructive).

Exercise 2 — transferring weight from finger to finger

Pianistic legato is a weight transfer: the weight passes from one finger to the next just as it passes from one foot to the other when you walk. Play the melody below slowly. On each half note, feel the weight "settle"; on the whole note, let it rest, then release.

M:4/4
L:1/4
Q:1/4=60
K:C
!p!C2 E2 | G4 | !f!c2 G2 | C4 |]

For piano, the arm is almost entirely supported by the shoulder and lets only a little weight through. For forte, let more weight through and accelerate the key. You never "hit": you accompany the key to the bottom.

Common mistakes:

Pressing hard once the key is down (the sound has already gone: that pressure only creates tension).
A finger collapsing at the first joint under the weight: the weight leaks away and the sound becomes woolly.
Raising the wrist or shoulders to "play loud": power must come from the back and arm, not from hunched shoulders.

Tip: put your hand on a table and let your arm rest on it completely. Memorise that feeling of "weight resting on the fingertips": it is exactly what you are looking for at the bottom of the key.

Apply this sensation to a slow piece such as Amazing Grace: every note of the melody should be "carried" by the arm.