Levitate!

One of the nifty new tricks I learnt when I started with my teacher was to lean. Not just any-old-how, but to strategically lean my upper body left or right towards the register that I’m playing in. It puzzles me why it took me decades of piano playing to learn that moving my body really does help to facilitate a healthy hand position.

“Position your nose equally between both hands” is the guideline.

In taking his advice, my nose has on some extreme cases had to be as low as F2 or as high as F6! At places where I need a specific reminder of exactly how much I need to move (because I still tend to forget or underestimate, after decades spent sitting mostly vertically on the bench), I would figure out my nose location in advance and jot it on my score, e.g., “nose@D5”.

It’s a reminder for the present and a record for posterity, and it is also a good example of phrasing the instruction as an external focus of attention, with a specific indication of one’s relationship to one’s physical environment. Eschewing the inclination to just say “lean more”, and instead creating a concrete target for where to place one’s physical self (nose) relative to one’s external environment (the keyboard), is known to produce more successful movement outcomes. Think of the analogy of how sportspersons would “aim for the line,” not “throw harder”; or “reach towards the net,” not “stretch further”.

It felt strange, ironically, to have my hands in a comfortable playing position when following my nose. Awkward wrist angles begone! But that came at the expense of feeling like I’m about to fall off the bench from leaning over too far. All those side planks and core strengthening exercises are not for nothing!

“Nose” is my cue for reminding myself to move my body. It is short and sweet, yet encapsulates the requisite movement perfectly. Do you follow your nose too?