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Thread: Hand/Finger Training for Pianists?

  1. #11
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  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by David A. Rowe View Post
    Repetitive finger flexion (guitars, pianos, typing), especially with improper wrist angle, can make it worse. One trick I found was to make a "beak" hand, put a rubberband around the ends of my fingers and thumb, and then do 3 sets of 10-15 reps of finger and thumb extensions while keeping them straight. Helped with the hand and finger pain.
    Far be it for me to be all anecdotal but I agree with this 100%. It’s also good for elbow pain. They make a set of graded rubber bands exactly for this. Do it with the elbow fully extended as that seems to help.

    It also makes sense that fingers work very dominantly in flexion and rarely in extension, especially under much load. Extend them once in a while.

  3. #13
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    7. Exercises — Fundamentals of Piano Practice

    I strongly recommend this book, it's a very Starting Strength-esque approach to the piano.

  4. #14
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    "Pressing piano keys and holding the wrists in pronation is a submaximal effort of sorts, so I wonder if the involved muscles can be strengthened to make those activities easier and/or improve endurance."

    Mark's 2-factor model is definitely applicable here. My piano technique has definitely gotten rusty over the years, but I still try to do the exercises from the Hanon book you mentioned. Although I don't think the fatigue from playing the piano impacts dead-lifting much, I usually don't practice (finger exercises) the day before. Just in case.

    The tremolo exercise at the end of the Hanon book will hit the pronation muscles particularly hard. I usually mix this with other exercises in the book to help keep the hands and fingers limber. A day or two between difficult piano exercise session could be helpful.

    Hope that helps.

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by sascha_herfort View Post
    I‘ll go out on a limb and say that mine‘s bigger than hers.

    My guess is that range of motion plays into this.
    i.e. I‘ve spent most of my youth at the computer and as a result my right wrist won‘t pronate very far and holding it pronated for a long time makes my forearms sore.
    So I‘m wondering if there is a way to specifically strengthen those weak positions.



    Yes, I‘ve been paying attention to staying relaxed and I usually take breaks when my forearms get too tense.

    I‘ve recently added specific finger drills (Hanon etc. if that rings a bell) and maybe I‘m still adjusting, but specifically playing lots of staccato leaves me a bit sore and can lead to crampiness and a sensation of my finger muscles wanting to get stretched.

    It feels like many of the smaller muscles in the hand get exhausted quickly by these exercises and they aren‘t much involved in deads, chins and other exercises that improve grip strength.
    I've never noticed any carryover other than looking better sitting on the piano bench. Practice your scales and Hanon, play every day for about 10 more years, and your forearms will still be burning by the end of the Hungarian Rhapsody #2.

  6. #16
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    I play guitar and I can assert that SS helps a lot with the fingering. And this improvement cames from the deadlift mostly, as RIP says.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by sascha_herfort View Post
    Dear Coach & Team,

    For about a year, I‘ve been taking piano lessons and in recent weeks, the exercises have been getting so intense, that my forearms & fingers get tired quickly and sometimes sore the day after.

    Since strength training has done a lot for my overall wellbeing, I was wondering if the stress-recovery-adaptation principle can be applied to finger/wrist-strength specifically.

    Pressing piano keys and holding the wrists in pronation is a submaximal effort of sorts, so I wonder if the involved muscles can be strengthened to make those activities easier and/or improve endurance.

    Over the years I‘ve experimented with all sorts of rubber bands and other contraptions to manage symptoms from too much mouse/keyboard work, but I didn‘t have the impressions anything got stronger.

    Does anybody have experience with this or ideas about where to look for material?

    Thanks a lot and greetings from Germany!
    -Sascha
    First thing I would examine is piano technique. My experience is with classical guitar, electric guitar, and percussion, and I haven't heard of any method to increase strength for music performance. I don't really see how it could benefit. The only thing I noticed is that once I starting weightlifting for strength, I didn't have any long term soreness or "tendonitis" from playing. May have been a coincidence, or perhaps it was some sort of systemic benefit from strength training.

    As far as technique goes, tension is usually what causes soreness. This should be addressed with your teacher, or there are non-specific methods like the Alexander Technique. Some ideas on reducing tension when playing:

    - use gravity. This may apply more for guitar than piano, but using the weight of hands, arms, etc (your bones actually), is the best way to produce the force necessary to play the instrument.

    - use the bigger muscles for force production, movements, etc. Novice guitarists and pianists tend to just use finger muscles to play their instruments, but arms and shoulders should be involved too, especially when trying to produce more acoustic volume.

    - use a light touch. This is related to using gravity: use the least amount of effort required to play a note. The effort required is probably a lot less than you think, and it's even less when using gravity properly. Almost all beginners use more force than necessary.

    - practice slow and accurately. Playing a piece or exercise too fast will cause tension. Always slow down so that the piece is played accurately and without tension. Speed will eventually come when practiced slow and accurate.

  8. #18
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Barry Charles View Post
    Far be it for me to be all anecdotal but I agree with this 100%. It’s also good for elbow pain. They make a set of graded rubber bands exactly for this. Do it with the elbow fully extended as that seems to help.

    It also makes sense that fingers work very dominantly in flexion and rarely in extension, especially under much load. Extend them once in a while.
    I have been digging up my old finger trainer bands and you‘re right: some extension against resistance does help relieve soreness a bit.
    Better yet: grabbing my fingers tight with the other hands and trying to open them seems to result in an isometric contraction with a similar effect!

    Quote Originally Posted by gallon_of_cheese_a_day View Post
    7. Exercises — Fundamentals of Piano Practice

    I strongly recommend this book, it's a very Starting Strength-esque approach to the piano.
    The forum always delivers.

    Thank you very much for this!
    I‘ve read a few pages of this and it sounds very promising.
    My Hanon book will be delivered tomorrow, but I may not end up using it as much as I thought I would.

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