Why are my fingers stiff when playing piano?

teachpianotoday.com - Just Get Crabby! 3 Simple Ways To Fix Your Piano Student's Stiff Pinky ...

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How many of you have a piano student who has a pinky finger that is as stiff as a wet sock in the Arctic? It points up and out as though challenging the fallboard of your piano to some sort of duel, while the rest of your piano student’s fingers curve nicely. And while a stiff pinky finger doesn’t necessarily affect your young piano students’ playing abilities, it does cause tension and visually ruins an otherwise beautiful hand position… so you might as well fix it! I had a student with a particularly rigid pinky. As we worked through the exercises we’ll be sharing below he couldn’t stop giggling. He’s a particularly sunny child, so I didn’t think anything of it until he announced that his hand looked just like a crab. And you know what, it did! So, along the same vein as our uber-popular post How to Fix Piano Student Hand Position With a Goose, here comes…

How To Fix Piano Student Hand Position… With A Crab!

Typically, a stiff five-finger is due to two things: 1) tension and 2) habit. When fixing this issue, look to eliminate tension first. Whenever you have a piano student who is exhibiting any form of tension in their hands or arms, look first to the piano bench. Your piano students’ bench (both in lessons and at home) should be high enough that their arms can be parallel to the floor, and at a distance where they can reach their fists and touch the fallboard. Your student should be able to sit comfortably with a straight back and with their feet flat on the floor. Use a footstool if necessary. Another way to eliminate tension is to properly warm up your piano students’ hands and arms before a lesson or practice session. Warm-ups will help to strengthen finger awareness and will also prevent fatigue or strain. Sometimes you can attribute stiff fingers to other fingers overcompensating for stiff or tired palms and forearms, and warm-ups will help to prevent this. If your piano students’ five-finger is still stiff after tension has been addressed, then you need to focus on breaking the habit. Today we’re sharing three fun “crab-themed” activities to help bring awareness to this finger issue.

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Visual learner? You can check out videos on how to do these exercises in our post here.

1. Crab On The Keys

1. Have your student curl their 4 and 5 fingers under so that the tips of their fingers touch the underside of their hand. This becomes the hermit crab’s “shell”. The “Hermit Crab” is the 1,2 and 3 fingers. If you live in a part of the world where Hermit Crabs are not commonplace, show your student this video for a good visual. 2. Use your “Hermit Crab” fingers to crawl up the keys in a pattern where your student’s fingers play 1,2,3 (tuck thumb under) 1,2,3 (tuck thumb under) etc. or 3,2,1 (cross 3 over) 3,2,1 (cross 3 over). Keep the “shell” fingers curled under throughout the exercise. Try to cover 2 octaves up and back. Then, do the same with the 4 and 5 fingers resting in a normal position. This is a good warm-up to start your lessons as it re-sets your student’s muscles to feel what it’s like to be curved instead of sticking out. Kids love this one! The pattern for this exercise is the same (1,2,3 tuck thumb under and repeat). However, after you play the first 3 keys your student’s thumb and 5 finger “pinch” together 3 times under the palm of your students’ hand (the 3 finger keeps the key depressed forming a little bridge). I sing along and it goes like this “One, Two Three, pinch pinch pinch. One Two Three, pinch pinch pinch!” Your students’ 5 finger will begin to anticipate the “pinch” and will begin to curl under with that anticipation giving them the correct sensation of a naturally curled 5 finger. From now on, all you’ll have to do when you see that stiff finger is whisper “Pinch, pinch, pinch!” and it will fly back to a nicely curved state!

3. Dig The Sand

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The final exercise mimics the end-product of what you hope to achieve – all 5 fingers curled nicely with correct wrist height, no arm tension, and a relaxed pinky finger. The pattern is 1,2,3,4 and then the 5 finger doesn’t play, but rather makes a digging/stroking motion on the last key as though you were sifting through sand. Make sure the 1,2,3,4 remain held down while the 5 finger “digs”. Lift the hand and move up one step to repeat. This gives your students good control over the joint of their 5 fingers. For students who have persistently stiff pinky fingers, these exercises can become a regular part of your warm-ups each lesson. I’ve always found that making a big deal about a particular habit I’d like to fix can often worsen the problem as the child becomes uber-aware and thus over-thinks things too much. With a Hermit Crab theme, the exercises are simply a lot of fun and they’re likely to practice them at home too! Now that the stiff five-finger issue has been eliminated, you can put that nice handshape to good use in the 225 technical exercises found in Andrea and Trevor Dow’s Technical Exercises for Note Reading Success!

teachpianotoday.com - Just Get Crabby! 3 Simple Ways To Fix Your Piano Student's Stiff Pinky ...

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