UK Piano Page Piano Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm from the UK but I'm working in Baltimore. I'm between teachers and I have recently started doing a lot more work on my piano playing. I have a few questions I hope people can help me with.

1) What are common causes of upper back pain in the muscles just below the shoulder blades when playing?

2) When sight reading scale passages to people read all the notes or the first and the last. If the later do they read by note or interval?

Thanks for any help.

1) Sitting too high always gives me a pain at bra-strap level...you'll have to guess (probably!) whether that's the right area for you! I was told to sit so that the wrists are level with the elbows, not lower than the elbows. And to use only the front half of the stool, and sit at a distance from the piano, not close to. First time I tried it I felt that I was playing with my arms at full stretch to the front and over my head, but now I can't play any other way and no longer get backache. My customers probably hate me because I need the stool low to tune as well...
2) Note by note.

Wow, I didn't realise you could sit too high, I thought you should try to sit with your back as straight as possible...I used to get the same pain from meditating but my teacher said it was corrective because I normally stoop because I am tall.

There are Alexander Technique teachers who specialise in spotting problems for musos - might be worth you trying to find one. Can't tell you how much difference sitting lower and further away made to my playing!
And to my lower backache...