Greg Tuner reacts to technique videos

pseudonym58 · 2026-05-06T03:21:58+00:00

Pianist Greg Turner discusses some tutorial videos that demonstrate unhelpful and possibly dangerous techniques, as well as others that he finds useful (apologies if this video has been linked before; I found it worthwhile and thought others here might as well).

ranjit

LifelongBeginner I'm wondering about his advice for the short at 6:08, specifically his suggestion at 7:10. He says much hand tension stems from not using the whole arm and instead relying too much on just the fingers to depress the keys. I get how using the whole arm's weight would help for big jumps or octaves, but how much does your whole arm/gravity really help holding the keys down otherwise?

I think what he says here is imprecise at best. Maybe he means you shouldn't use the grabbing motion of the fingers to grip the keys hard. Instead, you could sort of suspend the arm while having just enough weight to depress the keys to hold down notes. But in my experience, if you take this literally, you will have to work fairly hard with the forearm muscles to keep them up. So instead, I think you put through slightly more arm weight so you can relax the arm somewhat while also feeling like you're standing on your fingers a little. This would balance feeling tense in the arm vs the wrist/fingers.

LifelongBeginner

Late reply here. Iternabe, when I first submitted my post I thought of you and the Feuchtwanger method. It's not my teacher's approach, but I should look into it more...

ranjit But in my experience, if you take this literally, you will have to work fairly hard with the forearm muscles to keep them up.

Yes. My body type isn't helping (curse my long arms!). I don't think my body and limbs would ever have picturesque form to impress a teacher. If I rigidly adhered to "90 degree elbows" AND "fingers holding a ball" rules, I don't think I could do it without introducing tension somewhere.

TulipAcid

There must have been something in the water in the late 60s-70s when I took piano as a young person. I took lessons for 12 years, not that I was aiming for a career in music. Just because I enjoyed it and wasn’t too bad at it. 😉

I never once saw (until I was with my last piano teacher) my teacher lay hands on the keyboard. Aside from fingering on scales, there was little in the way of mention of what I was doing right or wrong physically.

As a 60+ year old returning to the piano, with infinite (almost) time to practice and the privacy of headphones, I’ve definitely noticed there are ways to create discomfort.

I encountered Turner’s videos at just the right time to make some corrections. Learning how to play mandolin family instruments as an adult already attuned me to posture and form and situations leading to discomfort and where that could lead (trigger thumb, shoulder issues with the larger instruments.)

What I like about Turner’s videos is his inclusion of information gleaned from the world of sports training and medicine.

TC3

TulipAcid There must have been something in the water in the late 60s-70s when I took piano as a young person. I took lessons for 12 years, not that I was aiming for a career in music. Just because I enjoyed it and wasn’t too bad at it. 😉

I never once saw (until I was with my last piano teacher) my teacher lay hands on the keyboard. Aside from fingering on scales, there was little in the way of mention of what I was doing right or wrong physically.

If what I hear / read is correct, there's still a lot of that going around!

ranjit

TulipAcid What I like about Turner’s videos is his inclusion of information gleaned from the world of sports training and medicine.

A lot of this information was taught in the 60s and 70s at conservatories. It just didn't trickle down to the masses (and still doesn't, to be fair).

thepianoplayer416

Piano teachers don't graduate from the same universities. Not all graduated from a music degree in pedagogy. Professional pianists play the same pieces in different ways and they also teach in different ways.

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