Breathe into Better Piano Playing in 2017

​Yoga...it's become more and more popular in the past decade at least in the US more than ever before. Chances are, you know at least a few people that have done yoga at least once and may still do on a regular basis. 

So what do you think Yoga is exactly? A lot of people think that it's just a bunch of awkward poses that you twist your body into for some agonizing length of time in a room full of sweaty people. While that may be true for some, (ouch) it's actually much simpler than that. 

• The definition of Yoga is "to join together".
• The practice of Yoga invovles joining the breath together with the body. 

This means in reality, that anytime you breath with your body while doing anything, not just strange poses with your body, you are practicing yoga. 

Ahh, so does this mean that you can practice Yoga without having to go to a Yoga class? Yes!

It also means that you can practice Yoga while you brush your teeth, get dressed, drive, eat, clean house, shop, and even....play the piano.

​Don't worry, you won't have to do this!

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But you will end up doing this...

Practicing Yoga in your piano playing involves you breathing with your playing. You join your physical movements with your breath.

No twisting of legs behind your head, no playing with your arms behind your neck. It's not about "no pain, no gain" here. It's all about bringing together the "inside" with the "outside"; and doing this will make you a better piano player.

So what does this look like in practical application? 

There are several ways that you can start incorporating Yoga into your piano playing. Here a few good ones to help introduce you to this way of playing. 

1. When you first sit down at your piano, be aware of your breath. Don't try to control it in any way. Just observe it, listen to it, and feel it. Let your hands rest gently on top of your legs instead of on the keyboard when you do this. Breathe in and out several times. If you can, be aware of what your body is feeling while you do this. 
2. Now, move your hands to the keyboard while you remain aware of and focused on your breath, and inhale.  As you place your fingers on the keys, exhale slowly as your fingers connect to the keyboard and press the keys that you need to play. Starting with just one note is fine, and recommended to start with. Do this several times. 
3. This next exercise invovles playing a scale. You can use any scale that you know, and you're going to just play one octave at a time, one hand at a time. Let's pick C major for example. You're going to start on Middle C, and play up one octave to the next C. As you play "up" the scale, inhale. Then when you reach that next C, and start to come back down to the Middle C, exhale. This is one of the easiest ways to connect your breath to your actual playing, so do this several times with different scales. 

Try doing this few examples each day when you sit down to play this week and throughout this coming year. Joining your breath with your physical movements while you play the piano will bring a whole new depth to your playing. Your technical challenges will get better as you have a more centered focus on overcoming them. You will feel the music more and be able to play more expressively as you grow. 

What's even better is that the more you do this in your piano playing, the more you will do it in other areas of your life, without even realizing it! This is a great lesson about realizing that our musical studies help us in everything, not just learning the piano. 

We will explore more ways that you can combine Yoga with your piano practice throughout this year, so stay Tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dreams of playing the Piano!