You may or may not have heard this term before. In studying with my father, Morton Estrin, he stressed the concept of playing with a quiet hand years before I left for conservatory and it’s something I’ve incorporated into my playing ever since. This is a great technique for creating expressive playing on the piano and today we are going to learn about what it is and how you can incorporate it into your playing.
When playing the piano there are many different parts of the body that are utilized. For strength you will need to use your arms, for power and speed you’ll need to utilize your wrists but for melodies you will need to utilize your fingers to create a smooth line.
The concept of a quiet hand is about avoiding unnecessary motion in order to achieve control in smooth melodic playing. The most important aspect to playing with a quiet hand is to have as little extraneous motion as possible and to utilize the weight of the arms transferring smoothly from key to key. So how do you achieve this?
You’ll want to practice getting your hands over the correct keys and transferring the weight between your fingers creating an almost seamless musical line. For more information on this topic check out my past video on finger techniques for the piano.
Thanks again for joining me here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any topic at all please contact us directly: Info@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729