Hello

I just had a random thought while watching a friend play the piano. As many of you know, certain pianist (ahem, Lang Lang) are amazingly expressive when they play. It occurred to me that perhaps the body rocking, head-thrashing motions may in fact have quite utilitarian origins. Here is my thought process. When pianists practice from those pesky binded books that will not stay still, the pages are liable to stick out at some angle rather than lie flat. Thus, pianists often have to turn their heads to see the notes rather than lift their hands to push the page down. Furthermore, I would also venture to guess that at least one pianist in history has used his or her head to push down an errant page. It would be reasonable to assume that some of these motions would carry over during performances, even when the pianist is playing from memory.

One could always default to the romantic notion that pianists are simply expressing their overwhelming emotions as they play, but why stick to the obvious?

Whether you completely agree or diagree with me, do yourself a favor and watch the video of Lang Lang below.