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Kerry V., Australia

I have never had this as an issue as both student and teacher. I rarely mention anything about the position of wrists, or any other position of the body and hands. Why? Because I have noticed that the students start to correct these themselves in their own experience.

The only two reasons I talk about this is when:

Sometimes, when we first start, a parent may ask about the way a student is positioning their wrists, and I tell them that I will monitor this and if it does not self correct, then I will soon address it. I have never had to do this, as the student just starts to lift the wrists up themselves after their experiences with the keyboard playing.

or:

The student themselves, after some lessons, question it themselves. That is when I know they are ready to learn about the wrist and then they pick this up immediately, possibly because of the very need to question it showed they were ready.

From my personal experience as a student and a teacher, it does not seem to be an issue.

Ginny W., Western Australia

It struck me after reading other’s posts that working on ‘wrist position’ has been largely irrelevant since discovering Simply Music – yet it was hugely present in my experience of traditional lessons and teaching.

When I reflect on the whole issue of positions, sitting upright, holding wrists correctly, etc., I have unpleasant memories of my own traditional piano lessons as a child. My teacher had a worn-down ruler which she routinely tapped rather severely against the palm of my hand to encourage me to arch my hands more while I was playing. I found this unachievable and felt I was being asked to be a contortionist. I was suspicious of her actions because she herself had quite arthritic, gnarled hands, so there was a lack of credibility in her forcing this on her students. She certainly inspired fear in me, but not respect. I came away from 8 years of piano lessons scarcely able to remember anything because I was so busy holding my breath and rigidly attempting to ‘get it right’ that not much of the music really got absorbed in a lasting way!

I agree that there are benefits to having people sit in a way that is comfortable and doesn’t strain any part of the body, and in guiding hands in a gentle, subtle way. Nonetheless, I feel that time can be ‘wasted’ focusing on and making a huge issue of these things. They can be taken on board in a negative way by the student, since it sets up a ‘right way/wrong way’ environment, rather than providing a positive experience and validation – in short, just getting on with the learning and having fun with the music.

In my experience, hands self-correct with time, and a person who is relaxed and happy seems less likely to adopt problematic posture than someone who is intimidated and trying to get it ‘right’. Isn’t that what we are seeking to achieve as Simply Music teachers?

Joanne J., Western Australia

I too have an extensive traditional background and was very curious at first about how posture (including hand positions) would unravel with the Simply Music approach – extremely skeptical would not be too strong a way to put it!!!!

What a wonderful surprise I have had. It is a joy to watch how most students figure it out for themselves. It becomes one less thing for me to be concerned about, and therefore allows them to be freer with their approach to the music in general. I have also appreciated how powerful Simply Music is in only asking them to focus on one element at a time. I feel that allowing them to learn the initial songs without having to think about body positions plays an important role in achieving this.

If, however, position is proving to be inhibiting, after they have mastered the ‘what’ to play, I have been amazed at how students (young and old) adjust easily when I share how much easier it is to access the keys when the wrist is higher (if that is causing a problem), or how much easier it is to bring strength to the ‘blues’ when they sit straighter if that is an issue.