Pain Relief By Connection To The Keyboard

I received this letter a couple of days ago, from someone who has worked with me on occasion. I thought it would be good to post it along with my reply... "I feel a pain when playing between my neck and shoulder on the right hand side! It's driving me crazy; its a bit better when I sit low, but not for a long time. Do you know why this is happening? When I stop playing and go do something else, it vanishes! As soon as I get back to piano and start playing, here it comes again! Help!!" It is surely a symptom of your old way of playing, which has come back in disguised form. You must figure out, by sensation, where you are NOT CONNECTED to the keyboard. Remember the exercise where you bunch your fingers strongly together, making a bird beak with your hand and placing it on key? Do that, and then gently pull on the bird beak so that you can feel your whole body being pulled forward by your hand. In other words, use the bird beak to try to pull the piano towards yourself. Your finger stays on key but your wrist moves forward to the backboard, pulling your body forward. This is to give you a sense of connection right through your skeletal frame. Then when you play, notice when you lose that sense, and try to change the way you touch the key in order to get it back. Let me know if this helps! Best, AFF