Three tips that will help your autism spectrum students

I want to share three tips that will help your autism spectrum students who struggle with technique to stop struggling and start enjoying playing. I have had students on the spectrum who have struggled with technique. Whenever I taught them a new technique, they became overwhelmed and had meltdowns.

I want to give a shout out to my piano teacher, Nancy Reese of Boise, Idaho. Her technique is called the Reese Piano Technique. She has helped me to develop an effortless technique after I recovered from repetitive strain injuries. And I have been able to help my students who are on the spectrum and those who aren’t, play effortlessly.

The three tips are: 1) All movement for technique comes from the shoulder and all the muscles of the shoulder girdle,  2) The thumb is relaxed and played by the muscles of the shoulder girdle and the brachialis muscle, the main flexor of the forearm, 3) The arch of the hand should be pliable, instead of firm. 

First, I help my students discover the shoulders move from the clavicle bones. I have them put an index finger and a thumb of one hand on the tip of each bone of the clavicle, it feels like the top of a “v”, then rotate the other arm and shoulder while noticing the movement underneath the thumb and index finger. It’s a small movement, but it’s there. This is where the movement for playing the piano, or any instrument, comes from, not the fingers.

 We also use our lattisimus muscles and all the muscles of the shoulder girdle. Which brings us to the thumb. The thumb is the barometer of the hand. If the thumb is tight, the whole hand is tight. The thumb should be loose  and pliable and played by the brachialis muscle and the the muscles of the shoulder girdle. 

There is a movement, called “the goose neck” that plays the thumb using the brachialis muscle, the main flexor of the forearem at the elbow joint also fusing with the biceps.  You can see the “goose neck” movement by flexing this muscle, allowing the thumb to be drawn up off the key and you can see the shape of the goose neck in the shape of the arm and wrist and hand.

Another way the thumb can be played is by opening the shoulder to play the thumb, or, by contracting the muscles of the shoulder blade. It all depends on what the shape of the phrase is and what is needed as coreography, so to speak, in order to shape the phrase.

To teach this pliable thumb with young students I have them periodically check the thumb of one hand with the fingers of the other hand. If the thumb moves easily by being gently moved then the thumb is loose and pliable. I also like to call it squishy. My young students understand that image and sensation pretty well.

The third tip, allowing the arch to be pliable instead of firm, is probably the most controversial one.

I was taught to have a firm arch. It wasn’t until I was a senior in high school and on into college that I had teachers who, with certain passages in my music, taught me, not in so many words, to have a pliable arch. 

I like to call it a squishy arch with my students. I have them take the fingers of one hand and put them on the arch of the other and gently depress the arch and let it come back up, and do that over and over. I draw their attention to how the fingers of that hand gently open up. This helps them to get the concept that it’s the palm of the hand that places the fingers into the keys.

So there's no need for developing strength in the fingers and the hands and the arms. Students don't have to have strong fingers because the fingers are not what plays the piano.

This is so important for students on the spectrum who struggle with physical clumsiness or weakness in the hands. These technique tips allow these students, and all students, to release the music inside them.

Many times there is way too much effort going into playing the piano, or other instrument, and that gets in the way of playing from the heart. The ability to play from the heart is what creates the desire to keep playing and practicing

To recap: three tips to an effortless technique are 1) all movment for technique comes from the shoulders and all the muscles of the shoulder girdle, 2) the thumb needs to be loose and pliable and played from the shoulder girdle and the brachialis muscle, 3) the arch of the hand needs to be pliable so the palm, along with the muscles of the shoulders, places the fingers, or propels them into the keys.

If you have any questions or disagreements, I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below.