Resilience & Relaxation: Piano Kinesthetics Online Tutorial

Relieve tension, improve posture, and connect mind and body for holistic piano playing

Created byJanice ChenJu Chiang

Last updated 1/2025

English

What you'll learn

Gentle and intriguing: Learn and integrate movements step by step with an approach of moving your whole body at the piano.
Relaxation: Simple approach for relieving the tension, especially targeted at the shoulder and low back areas.
Resilience: Improve your posture and increase your awareness on how you move at the piano and the ability to find better quality in your movement.
Body of knowledge: Gain a fundamental knowledge on human body's skeletal structure and movement patterns.
Mind and body connection: Learn to use senses to connect your attention and intention as you move.
Kinesthetic learning: Learn a sensorial language that you can use for yourself or for teaching

Course content

5 sections • 34 lectures • 5h 32m total length

1.1 Welcome to the Tutorial!3:11
Welcome to the Tutorial!
1.2 What is this Tutorial about?2:21
Inspired by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais' method and designed for experienced pianists, this Tutorial introduces the contents of movement that associate with pianists' habitual posture and the knowledge of skeletal structure, especially the shoulder girdle and the pelvis. Students will learn to use more of whole self at the end of course, rather than focusing on arms and fingers only as they move at the piano.
1.3 Things to know before learning2:59
Guidance for doing the lessons
Have a small stack of hand towels or a small firm pillow to place under your head as needed.
Go very slowly and gently.
Pause the lesson as needed to give yourself time.
Move within your own comfortable range.
Do NOT push or strain. You will get more benefit by doing less.
Try to let go of doing the movements the “right” way.
Be curious and enjoy the changes.
Follow any healthcare restrictions you have been given.
1.4 Thinking, sensing, feeling movement in your life!2:20
Explore thinking, sensing, and feeling movement in daily life to relax, build neural pathways, and ease muscular tension through daily piano kinesthetics practice.

2.1 Introduction1:56
Explore how sensing pelvis movement links leg, arm, and spine to improve posture, seating distance, and lower-extremity power for freer torso and reduced shoulder tension while playing piano.
2.2 How connected are you with yourself?8:02
Develop self-awareness of spine and pelvis as you explore chair posture, foot placement, and pelvic lifting; observe how different foot positions and pedal use influence movement and piano readiness.
2.3 Get connected with your pelvis!8:56
Learn pelvic grounding by pressing the foot to lift the pelvis and feel the hip joint hinge with the femur. Identify ilium and pubis, sacrum and coccyx anatomy.
2.4 Connect pelvic action with your arm4:56
Connect your pelvic action to your arms by coordinating foot-to-floor presses, hip opening, and torso rotation to guide arm movement with the pelvis.
2.5 Pelvic clock9:06
Explore the pelvic clock movement to activate the pelvis and connect with arm mobility, helping pianists and desk workers relax posture through guided circular and directional pelvis motions.
2.6 Head clock (and pelvic clock)8:55
Move head and pelvis together through head and pelvic clocks to sense how the spine bends, extends, and turns, then explore small circles and breathing.
2.7 Get to know more about your rib cage9:26
Explore how the 12 pairs of ribs attach to the thoracic vertebrae and sternum. Learn rib movements and pelvic guidance to release tension and improve breathing capacity.
2.8 Use the ground to move yourself4:28
2.9 Lift the pelvis with more of yourself44:54
This is a full movement lesson that can help you to integrate what you have learned so far. There's an audio recording available for download. Lesson source: Alan Questel.

3.1 Introduction4:00
Please download the audio file for scanning the upper extremities.
3.2 Sensing the shoulders' fundamental movements12:29
Learn a shoulder movement sequence—forward, backward, up, down, and circular—within piano kinesthetics to sense the top shoulder, elbow, and arm, feel breathing, connect to your nervous system, and relieve tension.
3.3 Pelvis and shoulder coordination #110:20
3.4 Pelvis and shoulder coordination #28:59
Coordinate shoulder and pelvic movements in opposite directions to free the torso, improving piano technique as you move across the keyboard with controlled, circular patterns.
3.5 Reach your arm forward with your pelvis7:28
Lie on your side, keep the arm straight with palms touching, slide forward and back to connect arm, shoulder, and pelvis movement. Let the head move freely, then switch sides.
3.6 Move your shoulders with the uppermost part of ribs7:59
practice a hugging movement that connects the shoulder girdle to the upper ribs, then twist and release with coordinated head and armpit motion to calm the torso after piano practice.
3.7 Coordination of extensors and flexors8:17
Coordinate the extensors and flexors with leg and arm movements to twist your torso and ribs, keep your arms straight, and involve your pelvis as you rotate left and right.
3.8 Preparing for a flexible spine9:58
3.9 Twisting further through you40:39
This is a great lesson to feel the sensations occurred in your torso when your head's movement is being constrained. This is similar to when we are at the piano moving our arms and fingers but often our head needs to stay in the middle to see the music. When that happens, the body twists more. We forget that our torso still has certain abilities to move slightly to coordinate with arms' movements or adjust the angles of our knees and feet. Source: Alan Questel

4.1 Introduction0:33
4.1a The image of the shoulder girdle1:06
4.2 Sensing the shoulder blades movement5:39
Explore tiny shoulder blade sliding and compare sides, then practice seesaw breathing—expanding the chest and lowering the belly—to relax the body and sense shoulder blade movement.
4.3 Tapping the shoulder blades9:11
Discover how tapping the shoulder blades and coordinating the clavicles with the pelvis release back tension and guide relaxed arm movement in piano kinesthetics.
4.4 Feeling shoulder blades and chest7:32
Lie on your side and sense how the shoulder blade, clavicle, ribs, and chest move together as you move your arm, feeling intercostal expansion and sternum changes.
4.5 Lengthening arms with more of yourself5:53
4.6 Sensing arm rotation in relation to the spine12:07
4.7 Thinking and moving more flexibly11:45
Use your WHOLE self while thinking of your arms13:09
Exploring ribs movement with breathing3:53
4.9 Turning your head with the rest of yourself37:25
This lesson offers an opposite perspective from the second audio lesson. It is to sense what happens to the rest of your body when you turn your head and move your arms at the same time. Think more flexibly. Would you choose to coordinate your head and shoulders or choose to coordinate your head and torso more? The answer is "depends." Lesson Source: Anat Baniel/Paris Kern

Requirements

No experience needed. All you need is a quiet space and a mat, and bring a curious mind for learning!

Description

Inspired by Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais' method, this online resource is designed for experienced pianists to relieve tension through learning movement and to enhance posture towards relaxation and resilience. This Tutorial offers the patterns of movement that are strongly associated with the movements involved in piano playing. It is not teaching you how to play piano, but the movements you learn will help you to apply at the piano.

The coordination required for a piano player is extremely complicated. To become a satisfying professional pianist, it requires one to learn playing the piano from an early age when a child is still undergoing a developing stage for almost everything: senses, movement, cognition, etc. The movement patterns used at the piano would have been built and grown as part of this child's comprehension as how to move in general and become as "habits." In the efforts of trying and experimenting through the process of practicing, tension would occur regardless of whether the training is appropriate or not. Therefore, sometimes tension could take much longer time to let go of. It may be deeply rooted in our brain and nervous system, particularly if one is also dealing with high level of stress daily.

This Tutorial has total of 24 short video lessons and 3 complete audio movement lessons that can give you a fundamental understanding of feeling, sensing, and thinking about using movements to relieve your tension and stress, learning to move in a way that can enhance mind and body connections and furthermore, improving the overall control at the piano.

Testimonials:

“I have learned so many unknown aspects of our brain and body through Dr. Chiang’s excellent explanation and teaching. I could always figure out a more efficient sensation of engaging my body after each session. Each session is an amazing self-discovery journey. As a musician, it is important for us to have this valuable image of ourselves. ”

---Woan Ching Lim, Pianist

"I worked with Janice during a low back injury. I was nervous to meet with her in a time that I was experiencing intense physical pain; however, she suggested that even imagery while listening to her instructions can be just as effective as movement. Her sessions helped me to feel less pain and more mobility in a short amount of time. Janice is extremely knowledgeable in this field and is extremely patient while sharing her passion with others. "

---Dr. Amy Burmeister, Trumpeter

Disclaimer:

All the contents in the Piano Kinesthetics Online Tutorial are for educational purposes only. Anything shared on this website is not a substitute for professional help or medical treatment nor is intended to diagnose or treat any pathology or disease of any kind. All media files found on this website and the creator of any and all of these files, and anyone featured on these files, cannot be held responsible for any injuries or discomfort that occur. Before doing any of the movement lessons or movements described or portrayed, be sure to consult your medical doctor.

Who this course is for:

Experienced pianists curious about a kinesthetic approach on tension relief and overall control improvement.

Resilience & Relaxation: Piano Kinesthetics Online Tutorial

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction4 lectures • 11min

Sensing your posture9 lectures • 1hr 41min

Connect the shoulder girdle with the rest of yourself Part I9 lectures • 1hr 50min

Connect the shoulder girdle with the rest of yourself Part 211 lectures • 1hr 48min

Congratulations!1 lecture • 3min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: