Piano Technique Tutorial: Wrist Circles and Arm Motion [Feat. Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
- This video is a piano technique tutorial that is designed to show you how to do wrist circles at the piano. Learning how to do wrist circles at the piano that incorporate natural arm motion will help you play the piano with more ease and efficiency.
This is the final video in the series “5 Principles of Piano Technique” - or, the Top 5 Technical things I teach my students.
0:00 Intro
2:21 Wrist circles and Piano Technique
3:04 Tutorial: how to do wrist circles at the piano
8:25 Using wrist circles to group notes at the piano: Beethoven "Moonlight" Sonata, Mvmt 3
9:03 Using wrist circles to span large intervals at the piano: Chopin Nocturne, Op. 9, No. 1
10:55 Using wrist circles to play leaps at the piano: Brahms Rhapsody in G Minor, Op. 79, No. 2
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👉Other videos in this series:
Series Intro: 5 Foundations of Piano Technique Overview: • 5 FOUNDATIONS OF PIANO...
Hand Position: • Hand Position at the P...
Alignment: • Finger Alignment at th...
How to Stop Over-Curving Your Fingers: • How to Stop Over-Curvi...
Forearm Rotation at the Piano: • Forearm Rotation at th...
Arm Weight: • Arm Weight Exercises a...
Weight Transfer: • Natural Arm Motion at ...
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I have probably watched 5 or more videos on wrist circles and thanks to you I finally get it. I am trying to return to keyboard after 12 or more years away. I think I probably always played with tension but now more than before. Your explanation and examples are the best! Thank you.
That's great to hear - I'm so glad I could be helpful! Sometimes it takes hearing things explained multiple ways before it really clicks. Good luck with your keyboard study - enjoy!
Such an important video! I just shared it with my 83 year old student who is working on Beethoven Op. 79 and struggling a bit with some arpeggios. We worked on wrist circles during his lesson and it made 1000% difference for him!
Wonderful! So glad to hear this!
Thank you so much Dr. Boyd. I've been trying to find out why my arpeggio sounds so choppy. Your video is so so helpful. Thanks again.
You're very welcome! I'm glad that you were able to benefit from it. I'm doing an arpeggio video next!
It all makes sense! I am working on some Bach and Czerny pieces, where I have a problem, since while working with my fingers only and without wrist, my notes weren't played with the same length or strength, making the rhythm wrong. Now it all seems easier thanks to that technique! Thank you 💕
Yay!! Glad to hear this!
I’m applying wrist circles to moonlight sonata 1st movement. My first real need and application of wrist circles. Love the video Doctor. I’ve watched ten times. 😃
I learned in high school but didn’t develop good technique. Now I’ve committed a bunch of Chopin etudes and 2 ballades to memory but can’t put them to the keyboard yet because my technique was non-existent and I’ve had pain in my wrists for ~1.5+ years. However I’ve been taking lessons to play correctly and am no longer in pain. So yeah, would have loved to have learned the right way. But you can get away with bad technique at 18. But it will catch up with you in your 30s. Or 20s. And will limit your speed and fluidity! So nice to have good lessons on TH-cam available for free. Listen to this woman!! I’ve been using the taubmen approach. But I think that’s best suited for people who are actively in pain. Most important is to learn the general principles. Which are the same between the two! No isolation, take fingers w you, etc
Thanks for your comment - glad to hear you've found this series helpful! Sorry to hear you have been injured - thank you for sharing your story. How wonderful that you are now no longer in pain. A testament to the extent that personalized instruction with a good teacher will help! Good luck!
Thank you so much
❤🎉🙏 thanks!
I am working on Cruella De Vil--- and I just realized that I use the wrist circles with the jazz swing-- it all makes sense ❤thank you
Very useful, thank you
Finally i'm getting to understand. Thank you!
great video, thank you !😄
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
This is very interesting, thank you. My main teacher was very anti extraneous movements interfering with tone production and technique, and it's something I think about constantly, but your teachings on this topic show me a freedom of movement that doesn't lead to that extra movement that is just showyness or flashy performativity. It helped to see repertoire applications.
Glad it was helpful! Yes, I agree that it's important to distinguish between motions at the piano and "extraneous" movement at the piano. Happy practicing!
the analogy "walking" is so great. thank you
Thanks for watching! Glad it's helpful to you. Happy practicing! 🎹😊
Thank you kindly.
Thanks so much for watching! 😊
Subscribed!
Wonderful! Welcome!! 🎹😊
Very helpful! Now that I’m getting into more advanced intermediate music I’m finding I have a lot of trouble trying to play anything with fast repetitive arpeggios or anything that resembles tremolo. It’s really starting to force me to focus on physical technique because I simply can’t play certain things without my forearms tightening. 30 seconds in and this was already helpful, thanks!
Glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your arpeggios! You might want to check out my video about the thumb, because it sounds like you might be tightening it on your tremolo and arpeggios.
Thank you for these videos.
My pleasure! Glad you like them!
You are such an amazing educator--- you make sense of concepts for even a beginner 🎉
Thanks! Glad to hear it!
Hi I'm learning La Campanella this is really helpful as I am trying to speed it up now. That is definitely the hardest part of learning that piece.
You can do it! Good luck!
Incredibly useful
Glad it was helpful! Thanks!
Great video, thank you!
Glad you liked it! 🎹😊
Dear Prof. Kate thanks to this lesson, now i learned how to do wrist circle and this make my technique better. thanks again
Wonderful! I'm so glad that you are noticing an improvement in your technique!! Happy practicing!
Tnx Maestra!!!!
You're most welcome!
Just binged all of these. Thanks for answering a whole bunch of questions I didn't know I had.
Glad to hear you found it helpful!
This is exactly what I needed. Thank you very much
Glad to hear it!
Very eloquent and thorough explanations . Thank you so much!
Thank you! I'm glad you found it helpful!
Wrist circles sooooo important if you want to preserve your wrist. Thank you Doctor. Very smart video.
Thank you too! So glad it's helpful! Wrist tension is one of the most common forms of tension, so if you can get a handle on it, it should make playing the piano easier.
Now it all makes sense. I had a lot of pain when I played the piano but with these circular movements I feel absolutely nothing. Bravo. Obrigado...
Glad to hear that this helped! Best wishes!
Thank you. Presently working on
Ernesto Lecuona's Malagueña.
Wonderful piece!!
Thanks, I'll make sure I use this in Debussy's Arabesque 2 - it's fast with lots of independent work in both left and right with jumps and runs. Perhaps, subconsciously, I'm using the technique already, which is good, but I will go back and check with some good drills first, Hanon work and then come back to the Arabesque. The Arabesque is for an exam later this year and I'm also learning Chopin's minute waltz for pure fun and I know I need this technique in that piece too for sure.
Amazing technique - I wish I came across this video earlier!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I just discovered your channel and I love the way you present this technique! I am not trying to learn classical music, but I do feel this is a necessary skill for any style of playing. Great video!
Wonderful! Agreed that it's for any style of playing and I'm glad you can apply it to your own technique. Good luck!
Exelente vídeo explicado de forma prativa e objetiva sem mistificação alguma.
Like!
Thank you! 😊
As I watch you demonstrating "wrist" circles I see your forearm also involved not just your wrist, and to some extent your upper arm also. Matthay knew that eventually in faster passages these movements become less obvious...smaller and somewhat "invisible" Your teaching carries on this approach beautifully...and your explanations are wonderful...!!
Thank you! I love all of the connections you're making to Matthay!
I apply this principle in Etude op 25 no 1 by Chopin in both hands, which is exactly the Etude that helps you to improve your left hand in the nocturne that you mentioned. Also I am currently studying that nocturne. It applies for the improvisations on the right hand and as you mentioned, in order to play faster you feel the circles but the motion becomes extremely less
Yes, that's absolutely right - it's a circular motion that gets smaller the faster you play. Good luck with the etude!!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd thank you 🙏
A million times Underestimated Chanel.
Thank you a lot for your talent as a Strong teacher and very understandable playing technics! You # 1 for my education now >.
Thank you so much! Glad you're here!
easier AND the phrasing and tone improves ..Guy Maier expressed this technique in his teaching, and suggested where to use it in shaping a phrase beautifully. Maier extended it to arm circles...involving the forearm especially.
Thank you for the wonderful video. As I learn more technique like this like finger circles and aligning fingers with the wrist and not bending at weird angles.. it's great. I just wish some of these videos were aimed at jazz musicians. It seems like most of them that I find are for classical musicians and it would be cool to see more for jazz musician like myself. Still good information though and I'll use it regardless.
Thanks for watching, and for taking the time to leave a comment! I'm so glad it was helpful to you. My older brother is a professional jazz pianist, and when we were growing up, there was a clear divide between classical and jazz music, even though we both played the piano. Fortunately, I'm starting to see more people doing both these days, which is wonderful because I think developing improv skills in addition to interpretative skills is such a great combination of skill sets to have. I so admire jazz musicians, and I'm really happy to be able to give you food for thought in your own technique. Good luck - and happy practicing! 🎹😊
Dr. Boyd, love your channel 👍
Do the strong fingers( 1st,2nd) always drop? And weak ones( 4th, 5th) always stand up in order to transfer arms weight to fingers more?
Does it apply to Hanon? Any particular direction to rotate?
Thanks 🙏
Thank you for your questions! All fingers sometimes drop and sometimes stand up - it all depends on the arm movements. I address this in the "weight transfer" video when I introduce the Dohnanyi exercise.
You can do wrist circles in either direction, but more often you will probably find that the wrist circles are away from the body: counterclockwise in the right hand, clockwise in the left hand. But it can definitely be reversed, depending on the context!
I don't feel it's necessary to use wrist circles for Hanon, because it causes the fingers to come out of alignment if you use wrist circles for patterns that are stepwise like that. You don't need such a large motion in that kind of pattern. For Hanon, I would focus more on developing the ability to quickly drop weight into the key and release, while keeping the fingers aligned.
Thank you so much indeed 🙏🙏🙏
I’ve been playing piano for over 40 years (I consider myself a late-intermediate / early-advanced pianist). I don’t recall if ANY of my piano teachers ever taught me about wrist circles quite like you did in this video. I feel like I need to start over because I’ve been doing it completely wrong! Octave leaps, for example, have always frightened me, and I just seize up. Now I understand! I was working on Schumman’s Papillons for in college, when I stopped taking formal lessons. There are a LOT of octave scales and leaps in that piece. Learning how to do wrist circles correctly and apply them to my practicing feels a bit overwhelming, to be honest. I’ll have to carefully study this video. I have some current pieces I’m working on that I believe will greatly benefit if I can learn this (Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, Bortkiewicz’s Prelude Op.33 No.7, Bach’s French Suite No.5 in G major, to name a few). Thank you so much!!!
Thanks for your comment! I'm so happy to hear that something "clicked" for you when you saw this video. When incorporating a new gesture at the piano, I always recommend spending a few focused minutes per practice session on it, but not fixating on it too much. Over time you'll start to notice that it feels easier to do it the new way and it will gradually become incorporated into your playing. Hope this helps. Good luck and happy practicing!
Professor Kate I absolutely love your Piano Fundamentals series. For me as a complete beginner they have been extremely useful. I am a bit unclear on something though. When playing the piano, do the fundamental principles overlap all the time ? Do we need to apply them simultaneously? (apart from weight transfer which I think needs to happen all the time) One example that comes to mind when practicing Hanon Exercise 1 (does the in and out motion of the arm on the keyboard needs to be done simultaneously with the wrist circles)? Should in this case also forearm rotation be applied ?
Thanks for your question! The answer is yes and no! In other words, there are some passages or musical figures that require a specific technique (e.g., rotation or wrist circles) and you wouldn't swap one for the other or try to do both at the same time. At the advanced level, there are some passages or musical figures that would require you to combine, layer, or rapidly perform different techniques in sequence, such as doing rotation while also doing a big arm circle.
But at the beginning level, I think it's all about learning each of the technical skills so that you can execute them in context, and then applying them to all the places that require that specific skill. Three examples I'm thinking of are the two-note slur (drop and hoist), Alberti bass (rotation) and broken 3- or 4-note chords (wrist circles). Getting really good at each of those skills individually then allows you to layer them or do them sequentially in a more complicated passage.
FWIW I would not use wrist circles to play Hanon Exercise #1. I would use that exercise to practice dropping and hoisting arm weight, like I talk about in this video: th-cam.com/video/RBoBNG82iCE/w-d-xo.html
and this video: th-cam.com/video/XzrTSjbmzWo/w-d-xo.html (just substituting Hanon for the Dohnanyi exercise)
I hope this reply is helpful - I'm thinking of taking some of these questions and doing a Q&A video in the future. In the meantime, good luck!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thank you so much. I'm very grateful for your huuuge response. I will focus from now one on the main three techniques and master them first.
Thank you for this! I've been playing for years with no training and this really helped, I am trying to learn chopin revolutionary etude (again), but trying to get accurate and faster tempo, I'm much better at playing slow and no pedal now, but I still lose accuracy at faster tempo
Thanks for your comment. If you haven't already, you might try practicing in rhythms by groups of four: play the first note in a group of 16th notes long, then the next three notes quickly into the first note of the next group of 16ths and pause there, and repeat every beat. That can sometimes help with accuracy at a faster tempo. Good luck!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd thanks so much! this really is making a difference!
Thank you Dr Boyd for your great sharing. Would uou share if there is any rules on when the motion should be clockwise and when it should be anti clockwise ？
There are no hard and fast rules, but generally it works pretty well to rotate counterclockwise: down and under when you go up, and up and over when you come down. Here's a little short I made explaining that: th-cam.com/users/shortsA4HICeQotjM
Im practicing hanon no 1, and I just learned it, and it is very useful. My teacher told me that when you wanna go from 1 to 5 you go from below and vice versa.
Yes, you can use wrist circles to play Hanon, too! th-cam.com/users/shortsA4HICeQotjM
Thank you so much. This caused an epiphany!
Wow - so glad it helped!
Could you do a viedo on nessecery skills to be able to read sheet music fluently
Thanks for the suggestion! I am planning on making a video on improving sightreading skills, so will incorporate this idea. Happy practicing!
Hi Professor Kate, thank you very much for a really informative lesson. You mentioned you keep the shoulder and elbow loose, I was playing my arpeggios with a circular motion in the wrist but didn't realise I was only somewhat letting my forearm loose and not at all my elbow. As a result of this I was experiencing pain in my wrist. I watched a video on TH-cam where someone instructed to guide the circular motion with your elbow (and the wrist will follow the circle) whereas someone else instructed you keep the elbow from any movement. I tried to see in your video but I struggled a little bit, are you, essentially leading with your elbow in the circular motion? Thank you again, great content.
Great questions! This is probably more than I can fit into a comment, but basically the idea is that you sometimes will use "wrist circles" and at other times you'll use "arm circles." Wrist circles will originate from the wrist and the elbow will be loose follow. Arm circles will originate more from elbow (usually when the music spans a larger distance), and the wrist will also be loose and follow.
So, it's highly context-dependent. Do you have a piece you're working on that you're curious about? Let me know; I'll have a look and tell you the kind of wrist/elbow motion I would do; hopefully that can help!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd What a lovely answer, thank you so much for taking the time to individually address my question Professor Kate. That makes perfect sense, I think the problem was my elbow was totally stationary which was causing tension in my wrist and I think it was made even worse because I hadn't learned to actively release it? The piece is Bach's C Minor Prelude BWV 999. Thank you again for your time and help!
@@user-nv2wt4hi8t Yeah, I personally wouldn't use wrist circles to play that prelude. Along with playing each individual finger from the 3rd knuckle, I'd use more of a "rocking hand" motion, letting your wrist move up and down with each musical gesture in the right hand, but staying aligned with the keys on every note. The elbow should stay loose and follow the motion of the wrist. The elbow should not initiate the motion. Hope this helps! Check out my alignment video - it might help clarify what I mean. th-cam.com/video/1uZzAMCbCiM/w-d-xo.html
Oh, and also: be sure to practice this prelude by blocking the chords in the right hand, to make sure you are getting into the correct hand position for each beat.
Good luck!
I wonder how wrist circles can help me with mm. 25-26 of Chopin's Revolutionary étude (Op.10, n.12). There is a challenge to the flow of round movement in each bit. I thank you in advance!
👍
How can you apply that to 4 voice hymns playing? It's great one note at a time. I just don't know how to translate that with hymns where each hands are playing 2 notes if not three.
This is a very good topic to bring up! Hymn-playing requires legato playing and finger substitution, and the primary technique used will typically not be wrist circles. I am going to think about how to make a video about this. Thank you for asking about it. Meanwhile, you might find some help by checking out my video on legato playing: th-cam.com/video/ZNW3QDFHo24/w-d-xo.html
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd For now I simply abuse the sustain pedal.
I second this! I play for a church and it would be cool of you to talk about this.
@@josiahlemay2660 Hymn playing on piano or organ?
8:37
Hello! I was wondering if you have any tips for wrist circles in the left hand! I am able to practice wrist circles in my right hand pretty well, but when I try with my left hand, I struggle. I feel like i dont know which direction i need to make the circles in. For reference, I am currently learning Chopin's Nocturne no.2 op.9 and im trying to get the left hand chords to flow better. The last bit at the end helped a little but im afraid i cant seem to mimic it with the left hand. Thank you and great video!
I suggest doing counter-clockwise wrist circles in the LH on the upper chords. Does that help?
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd yes! It made it feel like it was all one gesture. Thank you so much!
wrist circles feel good, especially in the examples. I was just trying to play Schumann's "Glueckes Genug" (Kinderszenen) - and still not quite sure how to get the pain off the wrists with wrist circles?
I wouldn't necessarily use wrist circles as my main approach to that piece - there's a lot of back and forth and the melody is in the outside of the RH, so think of anchoring yourself with your fifth finger and dropping to the bottom of the keys with a relaxed arm (don't press into the keys after you reach the bottom - just rest) and then play the inner chords on the surface of the keys. Hope this is helpful - good luck!
Exactly what ai was looking for
I use wrist circles for La Campanella but I feel my problem is accuracy. I keep hitting the wrong notes. -_-
For really large intervals you will want to use "arm circles" - similar concept except involving the whole arm. That can certainly help with accuracy. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thank you Kate
I actually watched a truly awful video yesterday about wrist circles (I shan't mention the name), and saw this one and thought "oh no, not more of the same please!" What a lovely surprise to have an erudite and easy to understand explanation! The comment about walking the fingers is nice.
I am working on Clara Wieck's (Schumann's) Notturno... it has some biggish broken chords which I am trying to figure out... I wonder if... :)) Plus there are all sorts of possible circles on the first page; bar (measure) 18 looks to me like a RH clockwise circle... I think that helps the stretch there... this is going to be interesting!!
Hi! I'm going to see if I can make a short demonstrating m 18. Stay tuned....! 😊
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I am staying tuned! Look forward to it!
Here you go- lmk if this helps! th-cam.com/users/shortsSmqvWeCHo18?feature=share
I see, you are bringing the hand over for the stretch rather than under - that makes more sense with the beat and the slight accent on the fourth note! I wouldn't have thought of that... thanks! Feels nice after I got used to it!
@@hippophile Great! Glad it helps!
I learned so much from this video. Thank you.
I do have one observation and a question.
Perhaps the terminology needs to be tweaked, like when you say "don't isolate your fingers", this description has little intuitive meaning, same as "take your fingers with you" I think I know what you mean but a more intuitive terminology would have been better IMHO.
Now the question, and this is very, very important to me. I've been told a thousand times to curve my fingers as if I was holding a tennis ball, when you do the demo, near the end of the video your fingers are flat. Seems to me hand circles lend themselves to a flat finger position rather than otherwise.
Looking forward to your reply
Thanks so much for this video once again.
Thanks for your reply and feedback about terminology! I will think about additional ways to describe these techniques.
I did a video on overcurving fingers - this might answer some of your questions if you haven't checked it out: th-cam.com/video/drMQ9NKFXGc/w-d-xo.html
The overall hand position should be rounded but not overly so as that puts tension on the fingers. I like to imagine playing on the pads of the fingers while maintaining a rounded hand position. Perhaps imagine yourself holding a grapefruit rather than a tennis ball.
Sometimes the fingers will be more curved than at other times, depending on the context. Good luck!!
Thank you for your reply, I'll remember the grapefruit vs tennis ball analogy.
Now please, I hate to insist on one point because, as I remarked, it's quite important to me.
Towards the end of the video your hands are nearly flat as you play.
Are there instances when it is ok to do so? May be switch positions to relax?
I was watching another teacher and she gave the instructions to lift the hand over as it moves towards the body, and move it under as it moves away from the body, so if the hands are both moving up the keyboard together the left hand would be moving in a clockwise motion while the right would be moving in an anticlockwise motion. Is this correct?
I have found that wrist circles can go in either direction in either hand, and that it just depends on the context of the piece you're playing. For example, if you're playing a bass note on the beat in the left hand and then an ascending arpeggio that you're grouping with your wrist, I'd be inclined to do a counter-clockwise circle. But if you're grouping with your wrist to a strong beat on your thumb in the left hand, I'd do a clockwise circle. Hope this is helpful - feel free to share a specific piece or spot you are thinking of and I can give you a more detailed answer.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Hi Dr. Boyd, is it ok both hand do a counter-clockwise circle at the same time?
For example Mozart K545 mov1 section 11 (left hand arpeggio G B D G, G C E G, G B D G, G C E G...)
Or both hand must do an opposite direction movement?
Both hands do not need to do opposite directions. Sometimes they might move in the same direction. In the example you gave, I would use a counterclockwise motion in the RH, and in the LH I would probably not be thinking in terms of wrist circles as much as dropping and hoisting my weight out of the pinky and keeping the fingers aligned to the keys.
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd Thanks for your info Dr. Boyd.
Now i feel what it is to play the piano i have s question does yhis means if i dont play with the right technique i will keep failing? Because i feel when i practise the piano i keep failing and failing this is disgusting i keep the hope that your tipd could help me because i want to be a good pianist
Finding a good teacher who can work with you and help you pinpoint your specific issues can help you move past a point where you feel stuck or like you're not improving. Good luck with your playing!
(impromptu n2 schubert)
Hi Professor, for sure I would love to see and hear YOUR TAKE on CHOPIN'S WATERFALL! I of course have visited ' a thousand videos' but I'm pretty sure that YOU will be able TO BRING SOMETHING NEW to the table. As far as the tutorials are concerned, I hereby name a few: NIEMCZUK; BARTON, PIANO SECRETS, JOS WRIGHT and NAHRE SOL: th-cam.com/video/_QJ8FO-UU4A/w-d-xo.html
a
🏌️Bingo 👀 a hole in one! Thanks
Thanks! Glad you're here!
@@ThePianoProfKateBoyd I'm glad too!
So interesting video. Thanks a lot !
You are welcome!