That explains it.

[velvetpage]

I was having some trouble with the chords in a few of the pieces I was playing. They seemed to be stretching my hands in ways they didn't want to go. But I know that I could have played them once with no trouble.

It occurred to me that since I was using the piano to build strength in my hands and arms, perhaps I should try some of the exercises I used to do. So I ran through my major scales and four-note major chord formations plus arpeggios. This was the first part of my technique run I used to do when I was still taking lessons - all the way through the four-octave major scales, then the four-note triads, then the broken triads, then the arpeggios, then repeat for the minors, then I'd do dominants. I'd spend twenty minutes at a time just on technique before I got to the pieces.

Now I'm remembering what it means to have a really good range of motion in my hands. It didn't quite hurt - I would have stopped if it had - but it certainly stretched. I couldn't play them smoothly, especially the arpeggios - I started them at C and went up by semitones, and only got to E before giving up on them for the time being. I think I only got to about F with the solid chords, too, and didn't try minors or dominants at all.

Then I pulled out Chopin's Waltz in C# Major and played it better than I ever have.

One thing is clear: if I'm going to use the piano as exercise, it pays to do the exercises properly. I guess this means I just added ten minutes of piano technique to my daily routine.

Comments

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

This makes me think of stretching exercises before dance or karate lessons. Do you think there's any similarity?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Probably. The piano ones have two purposes: the first is to stretch and strengthen, the second is to go through the more common chord patterns so that when you encounter them in music, your fingers already know what they feel like. The second part came back to me pretty readily - it was the stretch part I was missing.

I'm reminded of the scene in Karate Kid where the teacher makes the kid paint a fence with a certain motion, then do two other laborious tasks in certain motions, and then eventually shows the kid that those three motions are crucial to karate, and they're now second nature to him.