extending the idea of arms

I promised I would write more about the mechanics of playing the piano and/or potting on plants. So here are a few thoughts you might like to mull over…

Where do your arms start and stop? Do they start at the shoulder and stop abrubtly at the wrist? Or do they start way down in your lower back and end somewhere just beyond your fingertips? The way you think about your anatomy affects the way you use it. When your idea of how your body works is in sync with your natural design, then movement becomes easy and effortless.

When we think about muscles that move the arms, we tend to go for biceps and triceps. But the deep movers of the arms come from the back, from your lats (latissimus dorsi).

Do an experiment and notice if there is a difference in how it feels: Stand with your arms hanging loosely by your side. Now lift your arms by engaging your upper arm and neck muscles. Rest for a moment. Secondly, look at the picture and visualise your back muscles, allow your arms to float up and away from your sides. Is one way more effort than the other? Is there a point where you feel different muscle groups engage?

I found a piano and AT teacher who has made a series of youtube videos on applying AT to piano teaching and practice. Here’s a link to one about getting the arms to work from the back to avoid shoulder pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=051FAkl8lW8&list=PLH6IjvSvlcPbOOzctJcRuPAWBCyxKDOpr&t=92s

Allowing my arms to be part of my back and using the strength that comes from there, I can use them to shovel potting mix without hurting myself. Of course I need to be using my back well too. That’s another story…The same principle applies to using arms for playing the piano. As I’m sure you will be aware by now, everything is connected.