Alan Fraser Standing Playing Vs Sitting

Hi, I just purchased the Alan Fraser "The Craft of Piano Playing". From what I am understanding is that the thumb should be some what flat on the keys or almost. My question is that if I understand this correctly (which I may not), how do I stand and play multiple keyboards at different levels of hight and still keep my thumb and arch in good position to not get tendonitis. I did see other methods where The wrist is raised and the thumb comes back and up a bit. This makes it easier to play at different levels while standing and sitting. This seems to make my hand sore and gives me pain. So please, if I am not understanding the proper technique of alan Fraser, please let me know. I watched the video and saw the string lift of the hand and also the finger pull ups to make the arch and keep the thumb down, but am unsure about playing when I am standing (keyboards at multiple hight levels). So sorry for the confusion, it any..

Hi, I just purchased the Alan Fraser "The Craft of Piano Playing". From what I am understanding is that the thumb should be some what flat on the keys or almost. My question is that if I understand this correctly (which I may not), how do I stand and play multiple keyboards at different levels of hight and still keep my thumb and arch in good position to not get tendonitis. I did see other methods where The wrist is raised and the thumb comes back and up a bit. This makes it easier to play at different levels while standing and sitting. This seems to make my hand sore and gives me pain. So please, if I am not understanding the proper technique of alan Fraser, please let me know. I watched the video and saw the string lift of the hand and also the finger pull ups to make the arch and keep the thumb down, but am unsure about playing when I am standing (keyboards at multiple hight levels). So sorry for the confusion, it any.. I'd imagine that the support of the shoulders would be a very big issue here, if your hand is getting sore. When standing rather than sitting, I'm quite confident that the shoulders would have to work a lot harder to support the arm's weight, if you are to prevent it bearing down heavily between the hand and the keybed. I suspect you are giving the hand too much weight to bear. Beyond the arm's weight, when standing it would be very easy to want to lean some of your whole upper's body weight into the hand and try to use it to support yourself. However, it would also be easy to stray too far and end up locking the shoulders altogether, in a bid to stop the weight of the arm bearing down. I think it's probably far harder to judge a healthy balance than when sitting. If you'd be willing to try the exercise at the end of this post, I'd be very interested to know if it helps. It's intended to make the shoulders much more sensitive to how they can lighten the arm up, without it becoming held too stiffly. I think it would likely be even more relevant to how the shoulders need to behave when standing than when seated.

I have often tried a passage standing up at my normal piano. It's really useful because it neutralizes my habits, forcing my hand to behave differently and find a new way to work. I then try to incorporate the changes that happened back into my playing sitting down. Playing standing up frees the shoulders because the arm can just hang down instead of having to hold itself. The elbow is almost straight instead of bent at 90 degrees. But the wrist has to be way more extended which puts a lot more stress on it. The higher the multiple keyboard, the more your arm stretches out rather than hanging and the less the wrist extends, but the elbow remains relatively straight compared to playing seated. Playing standing it is also much more difficult for the hand to maintain its arch shape, but it's easier to activate the hand to move with potency it, sweeping it under your hand not only when you play a thumb note but also when the other fingers are playing. Think in general of turning your hand into a tube-like structure instead of a flat entity. My advice doesn't take into account arm weight and support from the shoulders for the simple reason that activating the hand supercedes these considerations which fade into the background. I certainly would Let me know if this helps. AFF

Alan, Thank you so much for the reply. I am just a little confused about the sitting part of the hand and wrist. In watching your video; The string pull and the finger pull appears to show that the thumb is some what flat on the keyboard. I find that this position frees my hand from a pain in the elbow and my fingers and wrist and seem to have strength and the sound is considerably more beautiful. Is this implying a some what flatter thumb position than that of a raised wrist making the thumb shorter and less mobile. The raised wrist add pressure on my fingers and seems to cause pain in my fingers, but i can move across the keyboard easier. But what is the purpose of that if there is hand pain involved. Alan, I have played guitar for some time now and ever since I played piano, my hand pain has gotten wore. Almost to the point of not playing guitar at all. If I am correct, this some what lower wrist position has caused less pain on the piano. Am I correct with this. I know that you had stated on the dvd that your piano method is much better on tendonitis. Just confused about the hand posture. Thank you again about the standing posture position. Lou

Hello Lou, I understand your description very well. The problem is that every case is individual, and at this point the internet is not a very good tool for offering you the personal attention needed to get to the root of your problem. The function of the hand is very complex and the source of the pain could be any number of things. The only thing that comes to mind that I could say here is, try learning to play with the lower, flatter position and let your fingers try to find their way around the keyboard in this position. It possible - I know because I did it myself (not for pain avoidance purposes). I'll be in various parts of the States and Canada beginning in June, would be happy to take a look at your situation if it's possible. Go to to see if there's a possible meeting point. By the way, the New York sessions will be given at the studio of a guitarist whose earlier pain problem was solved through our work together. All best, AFF

Alan, Thank you so very much. I really appreciate it. Lou.

My pleasure! AFF