Explore benefits of Piano Yoga

Piano Yoga is a unique piano practicing, playing and performing method that has been created by Russian virtuoso pianist and educator GéNIA. This method can even be used by piano teachers to teach basics of piano music along with the focus on improving skills of students designated at different levels. It is a multi-dimensional method that focuses on basics designed by Russian schools of piano with some Eastern yoga philosophies. The basic idea behind this method is focused on holistic development of a pianist that would aid in making a healthy connection between his mind and body for overall progress and growth in the field of music. With this method, a pianist can experience release from tension and improvement in piano playing techniques.

Benefits of Piano Yoga:

The main attraction with piano yoga is that it doesn’t only prove amicable for improving your piano playing technique but aids in complete personal development of a pianist too. Here are some benefits that pianists can reap from this unique and well-designed method:

Improves concentration of pianists!

Adult piano students are often busy people who doesn’t have much time to devote to regular practice. As piano is all about hand and body practicing with concentration, lack of time often becomes a hurdle during their practices. This is where the main difference appears in a professional pianist and a beginner. When you begin to learn piano and don’t practice regularly, your fingering remains weak along with your muscle strength. It takes time and practice to develop more control on piano so that you can produce good quality sound. This method called Piano Yoga enhances concentration of pianists while learning piano pieces thus enable them to spend minimum amount of time for learning a piece or improving a certain technique.

Enhances flexibility of fingers and hands!

You can explore your complete potential with learning and playing piano particularly with enhanced fingers and hands flexibility. In many situations, where pianists have small and medium sized hands they are seen suffering from inability to play over wide spectrum. This limitation of their fingers and hands give them a feeling of partial success and many people even fail to continue their piano learning process. Thus with enhanced flexibility; a pianist can explore and be as creative as possible.

An interesting and effective warm-up routine!

Before a public performance or even for a piano exam, a pianist would get only few minutes to have their hands on the instrument. So pianists’ warm-up by playing certain scales and arpeggios before going on stage or for exam. Although these are good warm-up exercises but do not work well for your body and mind focus at many times that is needed for such situations. Yoga method works to resolve this and offers you a complete and quick warm-up for your body and mind.

An effective stress management technique!

This method can also serve as an effective stress management technique for piano students, teachers and professionals.

Gives holistic development for pianists!

Piano Yoga is focused on working over all aspects of development of a pianist. It enhances your body and mind co-ordination, fingering, muscle strength and all the other aspects that are basics of learning and performing piano. Moreover, pianists spend a lot of time sitting on the piano and so piano yoga can even be beneficial for their body and physique. With regular piano yoga, you will feel the difference.

This method is for everyone!

It is not correct to think that this method is only reserved for students at advanced level of learning or playing piano but this method is for everyone who wishes to learn to play piano or is already an average or experience piano player. What makes this method a huge success is that this method can be tailored to discipline an individual’s mind and body. Thus it follows the rule that something that suits one may not be suitable for another individual. Piano Yoga is a method where individual learners are advised with guidelines to improve his or her own well-being.

Method works on digital as well as acoustic instrument!

Another benefit of this method is that it is not focused on any one type of instrument and thus pianists can use this method of practicing and improvement on digital piano as well as on an acoustic piano. Although in comparison, it is better to use acoustic piano in terms of sound and touch authenticity that digital piano cannot exactly replicate.

Tips:

Here are some tips related to Piano Yoga that would prove helpful for pianists.

• Professionals are usually busy with their work and routine as stated earlier, so if you are following this yoga method for piano playability improvement; you should be doing exercises advised in this method for 10-15 minutes every day if you really want to witness and feel positive results.
• After this warm-up exercise of few minutes, you should practice two scales and you will witness that playing those scales would now be much easier after yoga warm-up than otherwise.
• Daily practice is important, however if some day you have a strict schedule; you can jump to or skip a session. Piano yoga makes your life easier and is thus flexible.
• Better work with yoga a few minutes on daily basis than hours of practice occasionally.
• This method includes exercises that aids in preparing your hands for technical movements and thus it is recommended that you begin your practice of piano each day with a yoga exercise session.
• Yoga would only prove fruitful along with a balanced good diet, deep breathing, hydrating your body and correct piano practicing methods. Yoga cannot work alone to make you perform well on piano but it works in co-ordination with other simple and positive changes in your lifestyle.
• Take adequate amount of rest between your piano sessions and try to mediate.
• Also make sure that when you practice piano yoga, you are settled in a comfortable environment where you can get plenty of fresh air and positive energy. Thus it is best to perform yoga exercises in morning.

Conclusion

Piano yoga is a method that gives you noticeable improvement with piano only if you utilize and follow its principles well. It would improve your concentration, focus, muscle strength, fingering, and hands co-ordination and would aid in establishing a good posture for learning, practicing and performing piano. With effective use of this method, you will gain more control over your nerves and will be able to form a completely organic approach for playing piano effectively.