Ytdyklly

I have started recently and want to become good at piano, but what is hindering me is the pain that follows up, when I play piano. I think it's frustrating. I don't know if it is technique or posture.
The pain is in my forearms. Should I post a video of myself playing? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Heng

Height of seat in comparison to height of keys. If it's an electronic keyboard, it's easy to change the height. If it's an acoustic piano, not so! Elbows need to be slightly higher than hands, so the forearms are slightly dipping downwards from horizontal. This way, your fingers can be bent so the tips play the keys, more than the pads. Having said that, some players prefer to play with flatter fingers and use their pads. Personally, I find it's not as good.

It may be that the keys are stiff, and hard to press down. It could be that you're tensed up, as a beginner you need to relax more. It could be that your back is slouching, making the elbows too low. Since we're all different in body dimensions . posture, physiology, etc., we need to try out different playing positions. One sure thing, your body doesn't like how it's being used at the piano!

Tension, possibly made worse by bad seat height and posture. Can be difficult to sort out by yourself. Do you have a teacher? We MAY be able to help from seeing a video of you playing. YOU may be able to help yourself from seeing a video of you playing. Good idea, make one.

Describe "Pain". Sharp shooting pain? Dull ache? In the muscle, the meat closer to the elbow? Or near the wrist?

This is very important as pain in the muscle could be the muscles developing to accommodate the new activity while pain closer to the wrist could be carpel tunnel syndrome and a sign that your hand posture is causing nerve damage.

I would refrain from taking (or giving) any advice on this until you the OP post more detailed information. So, please answer some of these questions by editing your post:

1. How long have you been playing? (months, years)




2. Are you taking lessons?




3. Describe the "pain" in more detail. Is it high in the arm or close to the hand? Is it burning, tingling, numb, dull ache?




4. Does it go away when you are not playing or do other things aggravate it, like being on the computer?

If you are not taking lessons my first piece of advice would be take lessons. An experienced instructor/performer would likely be able to correct you posture and technique. If that's all it is it will get better quick.

what is helping against a systremma (charley horse): stand with all the weight on the feet.

In analogy to the arms and shoulder:

stem your body with your arms on the floor (press-up)

However a tendinitis would be a sign that you did practice too hard, then you should rest your arms and your hands, and consider all advises given respecting your seat position, level of your chair, posture. take care!

I'll add more to the already existing answers! There are some aspects that might be causing your pain:

Firstly, in terms of posture, as widely said, the elbow height. I think it's a bit flexible, but it should be always close to the height of your hands.

Secondly, in terms technique, your forearm should never do any work, that's why it's not reasonable to feel pain. While playing, your arm must be mostly loose, so that if you poke it, it must swing a little. All work must be done by your fingers and hand, that sustain you arm while it hangs loose. But, you never should use your finger's force to press down the notes, only to sustain your arm. What presses the note is your arm's weight.

Another technical aspect can be your hand's posture. It's position should be a subtle arch. If it's too low or too high, the movement is less optimal and you end up doing unnecessary work.

Last but not least, you fingers must always be relaxed while not playing. It is very common to strain your middle fingers while doing an octave, or your last fingers while doing something fast with the first 3 or 4 ones. This ends up just creating extra tension.

So, as said, the best would be to have a teacher, at least temporarily, because he will be the best person to correct you posture.

Whilst body and hand posture are very important, I'd like to suggest a different reason for your discomfort.

When you practise the piano there's a correspondence between the physical effort you put in and the sound volume that comes out. If you're playing an electronic piano you might have the volume knob set too low, and you're compensating by physically playing harder.

I've been in this exact situation - my piano level in the foldback wedge was too low. I couldn't communicate with the sound man and the volume slider on the piano was set at max. I played harder to try and play louder and ended up with hand pain.