In the last lesson I discussed the proper posture for sitting at the piano. In this lesson I am going to go over the proper hand posture for playing the piano. If you play for any extended amount of time, having the proper hand posture not only insures that you are playing the instrument properly, but helps to reduce fatigue.

The first thing to make sure of is that your wrists are level with the piano. If your wrists are to low, you will have more difficulty hitting the keys properly. If your wrists are to high then you won't have quite the control that you need, and may find yourself accidentally bumping the black keys. Make sure when you strike the keys that you push your fingers down straight and with even strength; don't flick at the keys.

Now is also a good time to tell you how pianists number their fingers. You may hear an instructor tell you to hit a key with your first finger or your fifth finger and need to know which fingers those numbers refer to. The first finger is your thumb, and as you may be able to guess, the index finger is two, the middle finger is three, the ring finger is four, and the little finger is five.

That's it for this lesson. Now that you know the proper way to sit at a piano and the proper way to use your hands, we can get back to actually playing music.

Proper posture is an important part of proper piano playing. In this lesson I am going to give you a quick overview of the proper way to sit at the piano bench. The first thing to make sure of is that you do not slouch. Slouching limits your mobility on the keyboard and will have a negative impact on your piano playing. Slouching also doesn't look so attractive when you are on stage playing for thousands of people. So be sure to sit up straight every time you sit down to the piano.

The next thing to make sure of is that your elbows are at a 90 degree angle. If your elbows are outstretched further than that, you have your piano bench set to far back. If your elbows are pushed back behind your body, then your piano bench is to close to the piano. Sitting a proper distance from the piano also insures that you will have the full reach and mobility that is needed to play the instrument.

As you get into a song and the emotion starts flowing, you may find yourself naturally leaning into the piano, or hunkering down to really jam out. This can be called artistic movement, and is perfectly acceptable. The guidelines in this document are designed to make sure that you have a solid foundation when you are starting to learn the instrument, not to limit your expression.