Hand Stretching Exercises for Piano Players

Stiffness in shoulders, wrists and arms is one of the biggest complaints in piano players. In order to overcome this problem, pianists must fully involve their arms and shoulders in every note to re-train coordination.

Proper technique and positioning will permit energy to flow from the spine all the way to their fingers. With simple hand stretching exercises, piano players can release unwanted tension by warming up their fingers, hands and shoulders.

There are four stages to hand stretching exercises: releasing tension and warming up arms, shoulders and fingers.

Prior to seating yourself in front of a piano, it is best to stretch your whole body. Stretch your limbs, jump up and down, touch your toes and do whatever feels good to you. While stretching you should always take deep breaths in and out to release any excess tension.

A perfect warm up includes bending down from the waist and letting your arms hang low, slowly raising yourself up to extend your hands straight above your head. Repeat this step a few times until your back and arm muscles have relaxed.

Once you are standing straight, shake your arms from your shoulders, loosening the entire arm and shoulder. These exercises will enable you to warm up by removing any muscle kinks.

It is now time to specifically warm up your arms and shoulders. Stand upright with your arms stretched out away and create small circles in the air. Do 5 circles in both directions with either one arm at a time or both at once. Shake them out. Afterwards, create figure eights in the air with your arms, 5 in each direction. These exercises are specifically designed to stretch out your shoulder muscles.

Once you are sitting at the piano comfortably bend over from the waist and roll the shoulders over to touch the floor. Lift your hands up leading with the shoulders and place them onto the keyboard. Always make sure to lead with your shoulders, not with your arms and hands.

It is now time to warm up the fingers. Drop both hands onto the keyboard and stroke your fingers up and down the keyboard using the black keys. After a few minutes, stand up once again and roll the shoulders.

Sit back down and use one hand to massage the other. Carefully massage every finger to warm up their muscles. You are not ready to begin playing piano. Your back, shoulders, arms and fingers have stretched and are now loose.

It is very important to stretch prior to every session and during long piano practices. In order to protect yourself from muscles cramps and severe medical conditions, it is vital to routinely stretch your muscles. Common health concerns, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, can be avoided with simple warm ups.

If you are playing for an extended period of time, stand up and shake your arms and shoulders multiple times during the session. Roll your shoulders back and forth to release any built up tension. These hand stretching exercises will also help you with coordination while playing and are vital to any healthy pianist.

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