These Warm-Ups Will Strengthen Your Piano Playing!

Have you ever heard your piano teacher tell you to warm up before starting to practice? Most good teachers will tell you this. 

What exactly do they mean? Why do we warm up and what are we warming up when we do this?

Just like athletes of the large muscles (musicians are athletes of the small muscles), pianists need to get their bodies in the "mind-frame" of being active and in a specif way. 

We may not be getting ready to run a marathon, but we might be getting ready to play one!

Just as runners stretch out their legs to prevent cramps or shin splints, we pianists need to stretch out our arms, shoulders and other parts of our bodies to prevent injury; especially from repetitive actions. 

Let's take a look at some of the best ways to stretch out and warm up your body before playing the piano.

Keep in mind that your goal here is to stretch gently and breathe at the same time. Using your breath with your body increases the benefits of the stretching and energizes you!

1. Stand up in your practice room straight and tall. Now stretch your arms out to either side of you and just hold them there while you breathe. 
2. Rotate your wrists in round motions (like a circle) several times and move them forwards and backwards several times. 
3. Bend your elbows and let them hang lose for a few seconds. Move them back and forth so that they feel loose and relaxed. 
4. Bring your shoulder blades together while your arms are stretched out and feel the strength in your back as you do this. 
5. Bring your neck down to each shoulder as far as it can go without any tension or pain. Also rotate it from the front to the back, and then do some circular motions. 
6. Now take each finger and gently stretch it back and forth. If it pops, don't worry...that's fine. 
7. Now bring your arms in outstretched in front of you and bending at the hips (instead of curving your back) bend over as far as you can aiming your fingers towards your toes. Just go far enough to allow your spine to stretch out and open up a bit. 
8. Finally, come back to just standing straight and as tall as you can. Stay here for a few minutes and just focus on your breath and relaxation spreading through your body. 

In this final step, it's important to take the time to notice if you feel any pain in your body.

Pain is the biggest indicator that we receive from our bodies telling us that something is wrong or that an injury has occurred. Some pain can be a forewarning of an ongoing issue with inflammation that can manifest as tendinitis, strained muscles, or pinched nerves. Paying attention to pain in your body helps prevent further injury down the road. 

Some ways to handle pain experienced from playing the piano include:

1. Ice down the area that is hurting before and after playing, if you can still play. 
2. Try massaging the area that is hurting; especially if it is the shoulder, neck and upper back area.
3. If the pain occurs while playing your piano, stop playing and consult a physician to help figure out what the problem is and rule out tendinitis. 
4. Make sure you are warming up your body before sitting down at the piano to play. 

Taking care of your body will result in better piano playing! Take time to warm up as it will only take a few extra minutes and will result in hours longer of enjoying your music. 

Stay Tuned to LessonsOnTheWeb to learn much more and achieve your dreams of playing the piano!