PRACTICE TIPS #36: The Rebound Method

[Brent Hugh <bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu>]

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PRACTICE TIPS is an occasional email newsletter with practical

piano practice tips and ideas, by Brent Hugh



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PRACTICE TIPS #36: The Rebound Method

-------------------------------------

High on every pianist's priority list is (or should be!) learning to play 

with as little tension as possible.  This not only makes for more enjoyable 

practicing (who wants to end up with back-aches, neck-aches, arm-aches, and 

so on?) but also, almost invariably, leads to a more coordinated, flexible, 

and powerful piano technique.



Muscles, whether active or at rest, always have a certain amount of "muscle 

tone".  That simply means that a certain percentage of muscle fibers are 

firing off (contracting) at ALL times.  This is true even when we *think* 

that we are completely relaxed.



And when we are tense, a lot *more* of these muscle fibers--many more than 

necessary--are firing off all the time.  When muscles are tense in this 

way, we just can't seem to find any way to make them relax.  Just telling 

yourself to relax might help some, but this kind of tension seems to be 

beyond our immediate conscious control.



Here is a way to help your muscles find a more relaxed and less tense 

level.  It is based on the so-called "Rebound Effect".  The idea behind the 

Rebound Effect, is that after you tense a muscle strongly, it 

"rebounds"--it returns to a level of relaxation *lower* than where it started.



By alternately contracting a certain set of muscles strongly, then relaxing 

them, several times in turn, you can end up in a state of relaxation quite 

a bit deeper than where you started.



There is a neuro-biological explanation for the that is too complicated to 

get into here.  But just *try it* and you will see that it 

works--alternately tense and relax your arms (shoulders, neck, upper back, 

lower back, legs, abdomen, etc.) several times and you will find that they 

end up quite a lot more relaxed than when you started.



This suggests a useful procedure to follow while practicing:



    1. Pick a particular area of your body to concentrate on--perhaps,

       one that tends to feel tired, tense, or sore after you have

       practiced a while.  Let's say you decide to pick your shoulders.



    2. Play a short Practice Section.



    3. Before repeating the section (or moving on to the next Practice

       Section), "rebound" your shoulders (tense & relax them) once

       or twice.



    4. Proceed this way for your entire practice period, "rebounding"

       your shoulders after each Practice Section.  By the time you

       finish practicing, you have "rebounded" your shoulders

       several dozen times.



Of course, you can concentrate on one or two particular problem areas, as 

in this example, or you can "rebound" several different different areas of 

your body within a single practice period.





Give the "Rebound Method" a try--it really works for me.  I find I can 

finish a practice period feeling more relaxed and refreshed than when I 

started.  And the benefits last beyond a single practice session--the more 

relaxed technique that I am cultivating in these practice sessions becomes 

an integral part of the way I play that piece.  Soon it is easier to play 

the piece in a relaxed way than with tension.  Instead of making the 

*tension* habitual (which happens all too often in practicing!) I have made 

the *relaxation and ease* habitual.





Happy Practicing!



--Brent





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PRACTICE TIPS is by pianist, teacher, composer, and internet nerd

Brent Hugh.  Brent knows about practicing mostly because he *does*

it, and in fact is toddling off to do some of it just about now . . .



Please remember that this tip is but a small spot near the middle of the

elephant's left ear--it's not even close to the whole elephant that is

"how everyone in the whole world should practice the piano".



Practice Tips Archives (updated about once a month):



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++++++++++++ Brent Hugh / bhugh@griffon.mwsc.edu ++++++++++++++

+  Missouri Western St College Dept of Music, St. Joseph, MO  +

+         Piano Home Page: http://www.mwsc.edu/~bhugh         +

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