Exceptional technique is achieved by understanding the mechanics of the piano and the way you physically execute your performance on this remarkable instrument.

Interesting facts about the piano:

• The Piano was invented in 1698 by an Italian, Bartolomeo Cristofori.

 
• The name piano is an abbreviation of the original name for the instrument: piano et forte or soft and loud.

 
• There are over 12,000 parts in a piano, 10,000 which are moving .

 
• Each note in a grand piano has more than 35 points of adjustment. Over 3,080 adjustments for the entire piano.
  

 
• There is approximately 18 tons of pressure being exerted by the stretched steel piano strings. In a concert grand, it is close to 30 tons of pressure. The average string having about 160 pounds of tension. There are about 230 strings inside a typical piano.

 
• The action of a grand is superior in many ways to a vertical piano, one being that any key can be repeated (reset) faster than any vertical upright (regardless of the name given by manufacturers i.e.: upright grand, studio grand, inverted grand, etc.).

 
• If all of the strings were of the same thickness and under the same tension, with high C being the usual two inches, low C would have to be about thirty feet long. For this reason, lower strings are weighted by wrapping copper or iron wire around the core wire. The lowest octave having two wrappings.

 
• If a piano hammer were attached directly to the back end of a key, when the key was depressed, the hammer would hit the string and stay there, damping out all vibration and sound. For this reason, all piano actions have some kind of escapement mechanism for each key, allowing the hammer to be released from the key just before hitting the string. When the key is released, the action returns to its original position and resets itself for another cycle.

Basic parts of a piano action, include: Key - A ; Escapement - B (sticker & whippen); Hammer - C; Damper - D; String - E

Most pianos have two to three pedals. 

• The right pedal is always the sustaining pedal (damper pedal), it raises all of the dampers at once, allowing all notes which are played to continue sounding after the keys are released.

 
• The left pedal is always some type of soft pedal. In vertical pianos, and some grand’s, it moves the hammers at rest closer to the strings, decreasing their travel, and thus striking force. In most grand’s, the soft pedal shifts the entire action sideways, causing the treble hammers to hit only two of their three strings. The lower strings shifting the two strings to one. The shifting type of soft pedal is called the una corda pedal.

 
• The third or middle pedal is usually called the sostenuto pedal. It sustains only those notes which are depressed prior to and while holding the pedal down, and does not sustain any notes depressed after holding it down. This is like having a third hand to sustain certain notes, while playing others.

 
• In some instances, the middle pedal is the bass sustaining pedal, which lifts only the bass dampers. Some uprights use the middle pedal as a practice pedal, which lowers a thick piece of felt between the hammers and strings, muffling the tone. Once in awhile, you will see the middle pedal being used to lower metal studded tap strips between the hammer and the string, creating a tinny honky-tonk type sound. This is often called a Zither, Harp or Mandolin.

• When seated at the piano you should be able to perfectly balance your arms and hands without playing the notes or feeling any tension at all.

 
• Fingers should be naturally curved, playing on the tips of the fingers or fleshy part next to your fingernails (Naturally keep your fingernails trimmed).

 
• You should form a "paw". Knuckles should not be caved in or too high. Knuckles could be fairly flat, but just slightly up, like a bridge. The same with the wrists and elbows.

 
• Wrists should be even with the white keys, never too high or low.

 
• Elbows should be out from the body, allowing the weight of your arm to travel freely to your wrists and allowing for horizontal movement across the keys.

 
• Always sit up straight, shoulders back, create a small arch in the middle of your back. Imagine a string going up through the center of your body, out of your head. Your pelvic bone slightly turned in towards the piano.

 
• You should sit far enough from the piano so that your elbows are slightly towards the front of your chest. 

 
• Sit no more than one half to three quarters on the bench. Both feet flat on the floor or pedals.

 
• When each part of your body is doing its job, playing is effortless. If it doesn’t feel good and wonderful, it is wrong. Going to the extreme range of motion is the main cause of most performance injuries.

There are two considerations that you need to understand in order to develop a beautiful tone and wonderful technique.

1. Weight behind each note. This produces your volume, controlled by your shoulder, arms and forearms. Learning to control the weight creates effortless playing. Tension, and strain using the muscles of your arm create fatigue, and cramps. Practice just dropping your arms into your lap, then onto the keys. Controlled movement, using the weight of your arm is all you need to play effortlessly with a full range of dynamics.

2. Speed behind each note. This creates the speed in the hammer, so it rebounds quickly off the string allowing it to vibrate more freely, producing all of the rich overtones that it is capable of.

If you were to strike a stretched wire with a pencil, even as you hit the wire, the pencil would be dampening the wire. If you could get your pencil away from the wire fast enough, your wire would vibrate more fully, creating more overtones in the process thus creating a wonderful tone quality.

When a key is depressed, the escapement mechanism releases the hammer before it strikes the string. Your "point of sound" (the little bump) is before you hit the key bed. Power does not produce speed. Hitting a key hard retards speed. Aim for the point of sound, use your arm weight and simply let your fingers fall.

Good technique is effortless because everything is at it’s absolute minimum.