In our teacher’s training course, we’ve been questioned about whether we should train children to play piano with stylistic hand positions. You can find examples of lifting the hands high after each phrase in certain piano tutorials on YouTube.
I do not oppose teaching stylistic hand posture in kids piano lessons, but it should be done selectively and when needed. Stylistically lifting the hand can contribute to a richer interpretation of tone colors in specific piano works.
When coming to the end of phrase in romantic piano works, the note value is short but we don’t want to end the phrase abruptly, we can lift up the hand gradually by lifting up the wrist gracefully, this interpretation will lead to stylistic hand posture appropriately.
When there is a big gap or interval between two musical phrases in a piano work, I would encourage the students to lift up the hand gracefully with an arch shape when travelling to another end of keyboard to start a new phrase.
When a passage in piano work end with extremely loud and big cluster of chords, students will need to apply large amount of shoulder weight in order to produce loud and grand sounds, and it is important to remind them to lift the hands high up in order to reduce the impact of the weight on hands muscle to prevent pulling of ligament and cause injury. Instead of causing disruptions in the music phrases with excessive movements, the above three scenarios present situations where I would advocate for aesthetically lifting hands high to interpret the piano works accurately.
Discouraging excessive hand movement during piano performances helps preserve the fluidity of lyrical phrases and prevents students from mistakenly positioning themselves for the next phrase, thus preserving the expressive quality of the musical line. Moreover, renowned piano maestros like Murray Perahia, Martha Argerich, or Vlademir Horowitz don’t incorporate unnecessary hand movements, as the audience is meant to concentrate on the composer’s essence rather than the pianist’s dramatic gestures.
If your kids are keen on learning piano, feel free to reach out to us for a trial lesson. She’s incredibly helpful and will arrange a teacher near you based on your preferences.
