Seven of the Most Expensive Pianos Ever Made

 by Emily E. Hogstad  September 4th, 2026

What makes a piano worth millions? The answer, it turns out, varies wildly.

The most expensive pianos in the world include instruments commissioned for billionaires, built for charity, and used to compose some of the most beloved songs ever written. One hid secret documents in a classic film; another toured sites of American tragedy as a symbol of peace.

Today we’re looking at the stories behind seven of the most expensive pianos ever made, going from least expensive to most expensive.

$1.6 million – Steinway & Sons Sound of Harmony Piano

Steinway Sound of Harmony

In 2008, Steinway announced that it had built its most expensive piano to date.

It was commissioned for Chinese art curator Guo Qingxiang. Guo’s job is to buy, sell, and collect high-end artwork for the Dalian Wanda Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Beijing.

Guo began his career focused solely on Chinese art, but has since expanded into buying Western art.

One of the pieces Guo commissioned was a custom Steinway, featuring inlays consisting of forty different types of wood.

The lid features reproductions of art by Chinese painter Shi Qi.

$1.9 million – The Steinway & Sons (RED) Piano

Steinway & Sons Red Pops for Red Parlor Grand © Houston Piano

Most of the pianos on this list were custom-made for the luxury market, but this particular instrument was built for charity.

In 2006, musician Bono from the band U2 and Bobby Shriver of the Kennedy family teamed up to found an organisation called (RED).

The organisation encouraged companies to launch red products to symbolise both love and AIDS awareness.

In 2013, Sotheby’s hosted a charity auction spearheaded by designers Sir Jonathan Ive and Marc Newson, with proceeds benefiting AIDS research.

(RED): The Very Best of Design and Innovation   

At the 2013 edition of the auction, Bono and Coldplay’s Chris Martin performed on a Steinway at the auction before it sold for nearly $2 million.

The proceeds went to The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Africa.

$2.2 million – John Lennon’s Piano – Steinway Model Z

Imagine

John Lennon was one of the greatest songwriters of all time, so it’s no surprise that one of his pianos is on the list!

In December 1970, shortly after the Beatles’ breakup, he bought an upright Steinway Model Z piano.

He went on to compose his early solo work, including the song “Imagine”, on this instrument.

John Lennon The making of Imagine 1971   

After Lennon’s murder in 1980, the piano found its way to a private collector. When that collector decided to sell it in 2000, the instrument went to auction.

Pop star George Michael submitted the winning bid of £1.45 million, which, in 2000 dollars, was roughly $2.2 million.

Beginning in 2006, the instrument was displayed at various sites of American violence, such as the assassination of President Kennedy, the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building, and the mass shooting at Virginia Tech.

This evolved into the Imagine Piano Peace Project in 2007, and videos were filmed of performers playing “Imagine” on the piano at these sites. Those videos would then be used for fundraising.

The piano has since been on display at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and at the Beatles pilgrimage site, Strawberry Field, outside of Liverpool.

$2.4 million – Steinway & Sons Fibonacci Piano

Fibonacci spiral

In 2013, when Steinway wanted to celebrate the construction of its 600,000th piano, the company turned to artisan furniture maker Frank Pollaro.

He responded with an instrument inspired by the Fibonacci sequence. A Fibonacci sequence is a sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones.

Patterns and proportions dictated by Fibonacci sequences often occur in nature, such as in the spiral of an unfolding fern. Here, they appear as carvings on the piano.

The Fibonacci Piano was created out of six logs of Macassar ebony and took over six thousand hours to craft.

Pollaro said of the project, “Combining the universal languages of music and mathematics suddenly made perfect sense.”    

$2.5 million – Steinway & Sons Pictures at an Exhibition

Pictures at an Exhibition

© steinway.com

Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” is a famous piano suite written in 1874. It was inspired by an exhibit of Viktor Hartmann’s works, the artist friend of Mussorgsky.

To make their “Pictures at an Exhibition” piano, Steinway & Sons took direct inspiration from the suite – and the art that had inspired it.

The Making of “Pictures at an Exhibition” Steinway Piano by Paul Wyse   

Renowned artist Paul Wyse painted reproductions of Hartmann’s surviving works onto the white case of a Steinway. He also added portrayals of viewers strolling past and taking in the art.

The striking interior of the lid features a massive landscape of the Bogatyr Gates in Kyiv, the subject of the famous final movement of “Pictures at an Exhibition,” known as “The Great Gate of Kyiv.”

As of 2026, this piano has been listed for sale at $2.5 million.

$3 million – C. Bechstein Louis XV

Bechstein

In 2013, to celebrate its 160th anniversary, the C. Bechstein piano company designed a sumptuous piano model named the Louis XV.

It was a recreation of an instrument made for the court of Queen Victoria, which has since been lost.

This modern piano boasts a gilded case decorated with carvings and paintings inspired by the Rococo style of artist Antoine Watteau.

A team of highly skilled artisans banded together to create this extraordinary reproduction, and it took a full three years to design and craft.

C. Bechstein “Louis XV” grand piano: Dudana Mazmanishvili performs Barcarole by Chopin   

However, the Bechstein Louis XV has not been without controversy. The piano’s keys, like the original inspiration, are made of ivory – a material banned for sale in many countries, due to its connections with poaching.

At the time of its construction, it was sent to China. Today it is in the Potsdam Palace in Germany.

$3.4 million – The piano from Casablanca

Casablanca

The classic 1942 film Casablanca takes place in a nightclub owned by Rick Blaine (played by Humphrey Bogart).

Rick’s Café Américain is teeming with refugees – as well as the government officials who are seeking to arrest or kill them.

Blaine has chosen the piano’s interior as a hiding place for important papers, called letters of transit, that will allow their carriers to move easily through war-torn Europe.

Blaine’s ex, Ilsa Lund (played by Ingrid Bergman), visits the cafe. She is wistful and still in love with him. She encourages the house pianist Sam to “Play it, Sam. Play ‘As Time Goes By.'” He agrees, reluctantly.  

In November 2014, the piano used in this pivotal scene was sold by Bonhams in New York for $3.4 million as part of a sale of movie memorabilia.

The owner’s identity is unknown, but the price they paid is the highest ever for a piano at auction.

Conclusion

The most expensive pianos in the world are worth far more than their materials or craftsmanship alone. Each one has an unforgettable story.

Whether you’re a pianist, a music lover, or simply someone who appreciates an extraordinary object, these are pianos that reward a second look – or listen.

10 Must-Hear Classical Works by Gay Composers

 by Emily E. Hogstad  August 29th, 2026

The history of classical music is full of gay composers: men whose sexuality was an open secret, a source of torment, a creative engine, or simply a fact of life they navigated as best they could.

We’ve written before about which composers were gay and how we know.

This list takes a different approach: ten must-hear works by gay composers, chosen for their greatness, emotional power, and, in many cases, their direct connection to the composers’ identities.

From Tchaikovsky‘s devastating final symphony to John Corigliano’s AIDS memorial, these are not just great works by gay composers; they’re great works, period.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6   

Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere of his Symphony No. 6 just nine days before he died in 1893.

He dedicated the work to his nephew Vladimir Davydov, whom surviving letters reveal Tchaikovsky had romantic feelings for.

The final movement – a slow, despairing Adagio lamentoso that ultimately fades into silence – breaks every convention of symphonic form.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The music, combined with how quickly he died, has led to speculation over the years. Some believe his death wasn’t due to cholera, but rather was a suicide triggered by shame over his homosexuality. Although there are still holdouts, most scholars today believe the cholera theory.

Regardless of his cause of death, the fact that he died nine days after its premiere makes its emotional nakedness impossible to shake.

Camille Saint-Saëns – Symphony No. 3   

In 1875, Camille Saint-Saëns married a former pupil half his age. The couple had two sons, both of whom died in infancy in 1878.

After these devastating losses, he abandoned her. He began decamping to North Africa for extended periods, never explaining. Algeria was famous at the time for being a haven for men with same-sex attractions, and he would return there repeatedly.

Charles Reutlinger: Saint-Saëns, ca 1880 (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale)

His Symphony No. 3 was written a few years later, between 1885 and 1886. It stands as his most impressive achievement, with the organ taking a starring role that makes the work both unique and grandiose.

Reynaldo Hahn – Chansons grises   

Reynaldo Hahn is best remembered today as the lover of Marcel Proust, whom he began dating in 1894.

But even after their romantic relationship fizzled out, their ensuing friendship endured as one of the most artistically vital of the Belle Époque.

Reynaldo Hahn (1906)

Born in Venezuela and raised in Paris, Hahn moved in the most glittering artistic circles of the era, equally at home in both salon and concert hall.

His Chansons grises, settings of poems by Paul Verlaine (himself a queer artist), are among the most exquisite French mélodies ever written – intimate, melancholy, and intricately crafted. They may be small in scale, but they’re emotionally enormous.

Karol Szymanowski – Symphony No. 3   

Karol Szymanowski‘s homosexuality is well-documented in his diaries and correspondence, and his mature works are infused with a sensuality that feels drawn from life.

His Symphony No. 3, completed in 1916 and subtitled Song of the Night, sets a poem by the Persian mystic Rumi for tenor, chorus, and orchestra.

Karol Szymanowski

Polish conductor Piotr Deptuch describes it as “an ecstatic night-time love song in which eroticism and transcendence meld into an indissoluble whole.”

Francis Poulenc – Dialogues des Carmélites   

Francis Poulenc was one of the first major composers to be openly gay. He was also Catholic, and lived with the tension between those two identities.

That tension is arguably a major animating force behind Dialogues des Carmélites, his 1957 opera about a group of Carmelite nuns who choose martyrdom rather than renounce their faith during the French Revolution.

The final scene, in which the nuns are led one by one to the guillotine while singing, is one of the most devastating conclusions in operatic history.

Francis Poulenc

It is a work about faith, fear, and the courage it takes to hold fast to your identity – written by a man who knew something about all three.

Samuel Barber – Adagio for Strings   

Samuel Barber lived for forty years with fellow composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who wrote the libretti for two of his three operas. It was one of classical music’s great creative partnerships – and one of its great love stories.

Barber wrote his Adagio for Strings in 1936, when he was just twenty-six, and he and Menotti were staying together in Austria.

Conductor Arturo Toscanini asked to see the score of the work, then returned it without comment – which Barber perceived as a snub.

But Menotti followed up with Toscanini to clarify what the gesture had meant. As it happened, Toscanini had already memorised the score and scheduled a performance – he was returning the score as a favour.

It would become Barber’s breakthrough piece, securing a place in American culture; it is often performed at high-profile events commemorating national tragedies.

Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring   

Aaron Copland is often regarded as the great American composer: the man who defined what American classical music sounds like.

His music has often been used in conservative political campaigns, but the irony is that Copland was a gay Jewish man from Brooklyn who was involved with far-left groups during the 1930s and 1940s.

Aaron Copland, 1962

His ballet Appalachian Spring, written in 1944 for Martha Graham, is his most beloved work, and his most quintessentially American.

It depicts a young couple settling on the Pennsylvania frontier, and its central theme – a set of variations on the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” – has become one of the most recognisable melodies in American music.

Benjamin Britten – Peter Grimes   

Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears were personal and professional partners for nearly forty years, and their relationship was one of the most creatively fertile in music history.

Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears

Pears endlessly inspired Britten. He wrote role after role for his distinctive tenor voice, and the two performed together constantly: an artistic partnership so all-encompassing that it becomes impossible to separate Britten’s music from their love story.

Peter Grimes, which premiered in 1945, was the work that announced Britten as a major operatic voice. It tells the story of a fisherman (played by Pears in the premiere) whose inability to conform to his community’s expectations leads to his destruction.

The parallels to Britten’s own experience as a gay man in mid-century England are not subtle – or accidental.

Leonard Bernstein – Symphony No. 2, The Age of Anxiety  

Leonard Bernstein married actress Felicia Montealegre in 1951. Both went into the marriage with their eyes open about the fact that he preferred men.

Bernstein became one of the most charismatic and commanding figures in American musical life, working tirelessly as a conductor, composer, educator, and celebrity. He spent decades navigating the gap between his public image and his private self, fully understanding that no conservative orchestra boards would ever tolerate hiring an openly gay music director.

Leonard Bernstein

His Symphony No. 2, subtitled The Age of Anxiety, is based on W.H. Auden’s poem of the same name. The poem, itself written by a gay man, grapples with questions about modern alienation, isolation, and the search for connection – the same kinds of issues Bernstein himself had dealt with in his personal life.

The symphony is brilliant and ultimately restless, which feels appropriate; Bernstein never totally resolved the questions about identity that Auden raised.

John Corigliano – Symphony No. 1  

John Corigliano composed his Symphony No. 1 in 1988 as a response to the AIDS crisis, dedicating it to friends he had lost – and was losing – to the epidemic.

By that point the death toll in the American gay community was catastrophic, and the silence from the government and mainstream culture was deafening.

John Corigliano

Its first movement is subtitled “Apologue: Of Rage and Remembrance.”

Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1 is one of the few major orchestral works to emerge directly from the AIDS crisis, and one of the most powerful. Its emotional immediacy makes it a must-hear work.

Conclusion

Gay composers have been present at every stage of classical music history, from the courts of Louis XIV to the concert halls of the 20th century.

Their sexuality shaped their music in ways both direct and oblique – sometimes as a source of anguish, sometimes as a quiet fact of life, and sometimes (as with Corigliano) as an explicit subject.

All of these works can stand on their own; no one needs to know their composers were gay to appreciate them.

But knowing more about their stories can help deepen our connection to composers and music alike.

The Enduring Magic of the Harp Top 10 Harp Favourites

by Hermione Lai  August 30th, 2026

The harp is one of the oldest known string instruments, dating back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Although we find many different types and models, the basic shape features a triangular frame with strings running between the neck and the soundboard.

The standard orchestral harp features 47 strings, and it uses seven pedals at the base to alter string pitches and change keys. The instrument is played by plucking the strings with the fingers, usually while seated.

The harp has strong political and symbolic value, especially in Ireland, where it has long served as a national emblem. In Christian tradition, heaven is depicted as populated by angels playing harps. As its corporate logo, the Irish brewer Guinness has used the harp since 1759.

Harps can produce a broad range of intoxicating sounds, from warm plucked notes to shimmering glissandos and arpeggios. The repertoire for the harp is vast, and here is a top 10 list of some of the most beautiful harp music ever written.

Harp

Félix Godefroid

Félix Godefroid (1818-1897) might not be a household name, but several generations of players and listeners have enjoyed his harp compositions and didactic works. In fact, when he made his debut in Paris in 1847, he was quickly dubbed the “Paganini of the harp.”

Félix Godefroid, by Marie-Alexandre Alophe

Godefroid hailed from Namur in Belgium and studied at the Paris Conservatoire and later with Elias Parish-Alvars. He was a travelling harp virtuoso, visiting the Middle East, Spain, England, and Holland. He even wrote an opera titled La harpe d’or, which included a harp fantasy that he himself played from the wings.

His studies for the harp focus on left-hand technique, and many of his 300 pieces have maintained a firm place in 19th-century harp literature.  

The Parisian instrument makers Pleyel and Érard were bitter rivals, and they continually modified and improved their harps’ designs. To showcase their respective technical and musical innovations, both companies commissioned the leading French composers to write music for their new and improved instruments.

Chromatic harp

In 1904, Pleyel asked Claude Debussy to write his Danse sacrée et danse profane (Sacred and profane dances) for harp and orchestra. In turn, Érard commissioned Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) to compose a piece that would showcase the expressive range of the new double-action pedal harp.

Ravel responded with his Introduction and Allegro for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet. This unique composition contrasts the smooth sound of the woodwinds, the percussive sound of the harp, and the warmth of the strings. The work is often described as a miniature harp concerto, with the instrument introducing important themes, providing shimmering accompaniments, and playing a major solo cadenza.

Claude Debussy: Danse sacrée et danse profane  

Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane was commissioned by the firm of Pleyel in 1904. The instrument maker wanted it for use in competitions associated with a newly inaugurated class in the chromatic harp at the Brussels Conservatory.

Claude Debussy, by Atelier Nadar

Pleyel’s chromatic harp featured two rows of strings that cross each other without touching. One side has 7 strings per octave, while the other has 5. Think of it in terms of the piano, with 7 white and 5 black keys per octave.

This particular harp was designed to eliminate the need for pedals by providing 78 separate strings for every note on the chromatic scale. Debussy’s composition contains two movements: a slower sacred dance with slow-moving modal sonorities, contrasted with a lilting waltz.   

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Flute and Harp, KV 299  

The harp was Marie Antoinette’s favourite instrument, and it was also the most popular instrument of the day. As such, the harp had started to replace the harpsichord in the salons of the upper bourgeoisie. It was the instrument of fashion.

Marie Antoinette played the harp every day, and she had several beautifully decorated instruments at her disposal. She composed her own tunes and melodies and encouraged composers to write music for it.

Mozart in Paris

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart arrived in Paris in 1778, and since Marie Antoinette was indisposed, he took on several private students. In April 1778, he was engaged to give composition lessons to Marie-Louise-Philippine Bonnières, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Guînes. His young charge was a capable harpist, and the duke an excellent flautist. As such, the duke commissioned Mozart to compose a concerto for him to perform with his daughter.  

Although Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) never held a teaching position at the Paris Conservatoire, he served on various juries and selection committees. He made sure that his student Gabriel Fauré was appointed director, and that Alphonse Hasselmans was appointed professor of harp in 1884.

Saint-Saëns, circa 1880

In all, Saint-Saëns composed three works for the harp, with the Fantaisie for Solo Harp, Op. 95, dating from 1893. It is one of the best-known pieces for the instrument, and its two movements are still used as a Paris Conservatoire examination piece.

The Fantaisie explores the whole potential of the harp in terms of expression and colour. Because it combined lyrical writing and technical brilliance, it has remained a cornerstone of the repertoire.   

Josef Hasselmans became the first director of the Strasbourg Conservatoire in 1854, and Richard Wagner called him a “very good-natured, amiable fellow.” He is also remembered for two major schools of double-action harp playing.

His son Alphonse Hasselmans (1845-1912) first studied with his father in Strasbourg, and eight successful solo concerts in Paris in 1877 brought him appointments as solo harpist with the Paris orchestras of the Conservatoire, Opéra, and Opéra-Comique.

Alphonse Hasselmans

Hasselmans wrote 54 pieces for the harp, and many of his compositions were inspired by his performance and dedicated to him. His solo harp etude La Source dates from 1898 and is dedicated to his student Hélène Gayat. Often nicknamed “The Brook,” the rippling textures and cantabile line make it one of the most beloved works in the harp repertoire.  

Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) was one of the most versatile musicians of his time, and he could play all instruments of the orchestra, except for the harp. However, his Sonata for Harp is a pioneering example of contemporary harp music.

It is part of a series of 26 sonatas for various wind and string instruments, as well as for piano and organ. Hindemith finished this work in 1939, just weeks after the outbreak of World War II, and just before he departed for the United States.

Paul Hindemith

It is a three-movement work, and the final movement in a slow tempo is inscribed with an ode of mourning by Ludwig Christoph Heinrich Hölty. The poem relates a dying harpist’s last wish that, after his death, the harp be placed behind the church altar as a memorial, to sound of its own accord much like the Aeolian harps of antiquity.    

Eli Parish (1808-1849) hailed from a small port in Devonshire, yet he became one of the most illustrious musical figures of the 19th century. Franz Liszt excitedly wrote, “From beneath his forehead speak his dreamy eyes, expressive of the glowing imagination which lives in his composition.”

Parish Alvars

Not to be outdone, Berlioz stated, “This man is a magician. In his hands the harp becomes a siren, with lovely neck inclined and wild hair flowing, stirred by his passionate embrace to utter the music of another world.”

Elias Parish-Alvars, a name he freely invented, bought his first double-action harp from Pierre Erard in May 1842, and this more robustly constructed and mechanically superior instrument opened up new musical horizons. He developed innovative techniques integrating pedal and manual skills in unprecedented ways. After all, two harps are always better than one.  

Marcel Tournier (1879-1951) was a student of Alphonse Hasselmans at the Paris Conservatory. He would eventually succeed his teacher as professor of harp in 1912, holding that position until 1948.

Tournier composed several solos for harp, and several chamber works that feature the harp prominently. His solo harp suite Images No. 4 is known for its pictorial character, featuring movements with evocative titles such as “La volière magique,” “Cloches sous la neige,” and “La danse du moujik.”

Marcel Tournier

This work is one of his best-known contributions, as it paints contrasting musical scenes with a blend of virtuosity and colour.

Nicolas-Charles Bochsa: Six Preludes

Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa, the harpist

Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (1789-1856) was one of the most prolific composers for the harp.

His reputation as a harpist rested on his compositions for this instrument, as he expanded its technical and expressive range.

Bochsa was appointed harpist to the emperor in 1813, and he was even commissioned to compose a requiem for Louis XVI. He was a busy and shifty man who was appointed professor of harp and general secretary of the RAM in London.

He left behind plenty of bankruptcies and broken hearts in his wake and eventually died in Sydney, Australia, in 1856. And while his compositions for harp are not profound, he constantly discovered new effects and exploited the full possibilities of Erard’s new double-action harp. He also wrote a harp method that was long regarded as a classic.

The harp repertoire is truly vast, and it certainly deserves more attention. Would you please let me know what other works deserve to be featured?

BodyMinded Thinking in the Performance of Music

 by Greg Holdaway  April 28th, 2021

© The Vital Gaitway, Center for Body Education

Musicians contribute so much to the personal and cultural well-being of the community and play music because they love it. Given that, it is a shame that for some, a career and/or long-term love of playing is associated with levels of stress and discomfort – sometimes a great deal of stress and discomfort. There are musicians who have become so injured as a consequence of their playing that they have been unable to continue with their beloved music making. Thankfully that is not everyone, but in the ranks of committed musicians, struggling with well-being while performing at their best is more common than you might realise.

That statement is supported by research into musicians’ wellbeing that is growing year by year1. As a result, physical and psychological struggles with playing, particularly high intensity playing, is being increasingly recognised as a professional problem that needs to be addressed.

This series of articles from BodyMinded in Australia aims to provide a practical guide to preventing and addressing playing related injury and stress, and in the process support development of musical potential at all levels of achievement.

If your focus is on performance, rather than dealing with injury, these articles will also provide support. Musicians move in order to make music, and as an embodied sense of how to cooperate with your own structure and your instrument takes hold, you will find your instrument becoming an integrated extension of the sense of yourself and the music will flow increasingly with ease, power and facility2.

And finally, after years of providing professional development training for music teachers, I’m aware of how deeply teachers take their responsibility for the well-being of their students. Creatively teaching safe body-use as a part of music lessons will help to prevent the kinds of difficulties that often arise when a musician becomes more serious and begins spending many more hours playing.

Treating the instrument as an extension of the self is common amongst long-term instrumentalists. I had a student in a workshop one day who, when I said “hello”, leant sideways to reply to me. Curious about that, I moved to the other side of the person and asked another question. Sure enough, he leant to the other side in order to answer! The next day he came to a musician’s class, with his instrument. A large tuba, which he sat with on his lap…

© K.C. Strings Violin Shop

Let’s get started with a practical illustration. Many instrumentalists experience shoulder and neck stiffness or discomfort, or experience heaviness in the arms after playing for a while. Here is a simple question: where do your arms attach to your body? Take a moment to point or touch that part of your body. Did you point to the outside of your shoulders? This is most usual representation.

Now feel your collarbones, at the top front of your chest. Feel along towards the centre until you find the bump where the collarbone attaches to the breastbone. This is the only bony joint where the arm bones attach to the rest of the skeleton. You can feel this by using one hand to feel how your collarbone moves as you lift the other arm. Can you feel it? When your arm moves the whole shoulder girdle (collarbone and shoulder blade) are involved. The arms are suspended from the spine, via those shoulder and neck muscles that are sometimes so uncomfortable. The shoulder blades are embedded in muscles that mean they can move a whole lot; up, down, forward, back, always in support of and following the movements of the arm.

This means that when you raise or use your arms for any purpose, your shoulder girdle is involved. The collarbones and shoulder blades are arm bones! See what happens if you try to keep your shoulder girdle held still or back while moving your arms, and then compare that to letting the shoulders move with and in response to movements of your arms. Can you feel the difference?  

Thinking about this a pianist comes to mind who complained of long-standing shoulder and arm discomfort while playing. Nothing had made a difference, and she had lived with that for a long time. After exploring how much her shoulder girdle can move the instruction became: “let your shoulders move when you bring your hands to the keyboard”. The result, so much relief she burst into tears.

This story illustrates how discomfort may be a consequence of simple misunderstanding about how things work. The BodyMinded process is to practise conscious cooperation with the way things work. This is sometimes stated as: Let everything move that needs to move in service of your activity.

Each article in this series will cover a specific example of BodyMinded thinking in practise, concluding with a general principle that applies to achieving and teaching good coordination as a musician. In this way I hope to assist you with your enjoyment and wellbeing in playing, and support those who are teaching others.

1 For example, of respondents to an extensive survey of Australia’s 8 full-time orchestras “84% had experienced pain or injuries that had interfered either with playing their instrument or participating in normal orchestral rehearsals and performances” Musculoskeletal Pain and Injury in Professional Orchestral Musicians in Australia B. Ackermann, T. Driscoll, D.T. Kenny https://doi.org/10.21091/mppa.2012.4034

2 There is neurological research which suggests that the brain grows the neurological ‘map’ of the self to include the instrument, in that sense the instrument does actually become an ‘extension of the self’. Coding of modified body schema during tool use by macaque postcentral neurones A. Iriki, M. Tanaka, Y. Iwamura https://doi.org/10.1097/00001756-199610020-00010