Most people know the feeling of being rushed, stressed out, tired - and often one ends up with shoulders close to one's ears, forward, with a hunched back. One muscle which is involved in this position is the Musculus trapezius descendens, in short UPPER TRAP.

For German-speaking readers, look at this site for muscle details,  for the English-speaking community, look here. The UPPER trap is the one that forms the outlines of your shoulders.

In piano playing, this muscle is involved in pulling up the shoulders when you play difficult passages, when you play heavy chords, or it can be just a habit of playing with shoulders up, even if the things you play are not that difficult...

The easiest way to reduce tension in the long run is to remind yourself to actively lower the shoulders in a circular motion BACKWARDS (forwards, we do most things anyway - we do not have to strengthen that pattern!). This exercise also strengthens the counter players (antagonists) of the trapezius descendens/upper trap, which in turn will "silence" the upper trap, so it cannot pull as stronly any more. (If a muscle is active that supports good posture, it's antagonist - which might be a trouble maker - is deactivated physiologically). So the following exercise is good for a number of reasons: it stretches the trouble makers and strengthens the do-gooders (sorry for the Germism here, I could not help it!).

Doing a cicular motion with your shoulders backwards, you focus on the backwards-lower quarter of the movement. (Envision the face of a watch: pull your shoulders up to 12 o'clock, then move backwards to 11 - 10 - 9; then enforce the motion to 8 - 7 - 6 !!!! most important and then proceed to 5 - 4 - 3 => back to 12, this half is not that important).

Incorporate the exercise into your daily activities - and don't forgert to HAVE FUN doing it and feeling the tension melting away!