Isolate —> integrate —> improvise

My general approach to proper alignment at the piano is based on common sense: If your body feels relaxed, that’s usually a good sign, but if it feels tense, it’s likely not. Similarly, if your hands appear relaxed, that’s probably a good sign, but if they look tense and awkward on the piano, it’s probably not so good. Fundamentally, playing a piece of music at the piano involves two tasks: pressing the keys down and moving your hands left and right over the keys.

However, there is much more to say about proper technique and alignment at the piano. Various schools teach different approaches regarding the most efficient techniques for holding your body, hands, and fingers, playing notes, rotating your hands, etc. It’s not uncommon to design an entire choreography that you will perform with your body while playing a certain piece—considering where your torso will be when you start a piece, how much weight you are going to put on your legs to keep yourself balanced, how you are going to lift your wrist, and so on.

We will keep things simple in this course, but just so you know, beyond my own piano-playing and teaching experience, the things you will hear from me are mostly rooted in the Taubman approach and insights I’ve picked up from Fred Hersch.

Before we dive deep into proper alignment and piano technique, there are two important things to mention:

1. Gradual Introduction of Technique: In my private lessons with absolute beginners, I spread this information over several months to avoid overwhelming them. I want my students to experience the joy of playing music as soon as possible. I only introduce these technical aspects when I notice significant issues with their fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder, or legs. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the details of proper technique before even playing a note, that’s completely understandable. You don’t need to memorize everything now. Just read through the material once to get a general understanding, and then move on to the next lesson.

2. Patience with Technique Mastery: Even if you memorize all the technical details, don’t expect to play perfectly right away. In my lessons, we spend about five minutes at the start focusing intensely on proper technique while playing five notes slowly up and down. During this time, students usually correct most of their technical mistakes. However, once we move on to reading music or improvising, those good techniques often slip away—and that’s okay! Correcting every mistake would mean stopping every few seconds, which is unnecessary. Over time, your fingers will strengthen just by playing and practicing, especially with daily five-minute technical scale exercises that I will show you later. As your fingers grow stronger, proper technique will become more natural. So, don’t worry too much in the first few months if your hands feel a bit tense. It will improve. You can record yourself at the end of each module, review the principles of proper technique, and analyze your playing then. Until then, give yourself a break and enjoy playing the piano, no matter how it looks.