Collapse Finger Joints

Dear Alan, I have a 7 years old student she is a beginner and her finger joints collapse. I have just started reading The Craft Of Piano Playing and when I reached the part that you telling about Fingerstands on the wall I wondered if that is a good finger exercise for young children or is there any other technique that you suggest me to help her to play with curved round fingers. Kind Regards Alina

Go to Youtube and put in keyword -skeletal therapy- This absolutely worked wonders for me. I swear by it.

Hello Sean, Glad to hear that clip was so useful. And Alina, a good question. You zeroed in on one potential problem: some children do not have a developed enough hand to withstand the stress of fingerstands. You have to play it by ear - perhaps try them and see if they are working or not. You will quickly sense if the child is simply not up to it. In that case, try something more along the lines of skeletal therapy. A third option would be to have her LIFT HER FINGERS vigorously before each note she plays. You can make a 'marching' game out of it. I have seen children's hands that seem too unweildy to bear any stresses get into very good shape very quickly with this approach. Interesting that three radically different approaches are prescribed here to address a single problem. This highlights the fact that we must always monitor the student's present state and capabilities to figure out which path is the best choice... AFF

Alan, I'm reading your book now, it is really excellent. I learned a lot of very effective method from it. My daughter has been practicing piano for about one year. While she has made great progress, I kept worrying about her pinkies: the tip of her pinkies bent inward, and the second joint always collapse (see pics here ). And also her pinkies are very short and weak comparing to other fingers. I worry that if she keep playing like this, it wll result in serious injury (or have they been injured already?). I'm thinking to stop her piano lessons and regular practice, and have her do some special practices for the pinkies, till they can correctly press the keys and play some simple stuff. She is very talented otherwise, I'm really desperate to find effeactive solutions to her situation. And the first thing came to my mind is to ask for help from great experts like you. Any advice and suggestions will be highly appreciated. Thank you very much in advance. Bin Wei

Thank you Bin Wei for your apposite question and very clear photo illustration. Obviously your daugher's pinky does not yet have the strength to flex the second joint. From what I see, it doesn't look like there is any injury. I assume she is feeling no pain? If there is pain let me know and I might change what I am going to say. She needs to do a few exercises. One is to roll forward onto the pinkie so it curls itself. This can be found in my second MTNA Published Article at . She also needs to do the total opposite, which is 5th Finger Pullups from The Craft of Piano Playing. Thirdly, she needs to do the Cliffhanging exercise, which somehow managed not to get into . I really am mystified as to how I managed to omit that... I enclose the entire cliffhanging lesson which will be included in Kiddie Craft, due for release next year. Have your daughter do this with her pinkie alone, after she has tried it a few times with some of her stronger fingers. PLEASE MAKE SURE SHE DOES IT VERY GENTLY!!! This is not muscle building, it is muscle AWAKENING. She must discover this movement which is not a part of her self-image at the moment. Keep me posted! Best wishes, AFF "CLIFFHANGING" LESSON FROM KIDDIE CRAFT It’s important not to overdo this lesson, which aims to stimulate, not strain the flexor muscles. Some of you need to go very gently; others can use a more robust movement – but never make so strenuous an effort as to cause stress. Try to gauge how much effort is right for you. • Lay your hand on the table and then slide backwards until your hand falls off the table edge but your fingers are still hanging on, like in lesson #2 from the last section. • Now keep going – slide a little more so that only the last two finger joints are on the table. You have to try even harder not to fall off completely! • Now slide even further, till only the very tips of your fingers are hanging on to the table edge. It’s like hanging from a cliff! • In this precarious position, curl your fingers a little more to pull yourself upwards slightly. You can’t pull yourself right back on to the top of the precipice, but at least you can prevent yourself from falling right off! Do this several times to exercise that other finger muscle – not the lumbrical but the flexor. • Try this last movement with different combinations of fingers: 2, 3, 4 and 5 each alone, then 2&3, 3&4, 4&5, 2&4, 3&5, 2&5, 2,3&4, and finally 3,4&5.

Alan, thank you so much for prompt reply with such excellent suggestions. I will have her try them immediately. She does not feel pain yet, but maybe somewhat not comfortable. Her pinkies will just be like that whenever she plays, so is it neccessary to stop her piano lesson temporarily and focus on finger excercises without playing pieces? I worry her pinkies will get hurt if she keep playing. Also is the bent-inward of the fingertip a big problem? Any good excercise or massage that can cure it? Thanks again for your help. Bin

Dear Bin Wei, I wouldn't stop the lessons for now, just do the exercises 'by the side.' As for the tip turning in, try these exercises for awhile, and it might begin to improve. Perhaps she's just built that way - I'm not sure it needs to be perceived as a problem. As you know, I don't worry so much about shape as about All the best, AFF

Alan, I'll take your suggestion and have her continue lessons, and meanwhile alocate more time to do the excercises you suggested. It's really great to know that your 'Kiddie Craft' will be published next year. I just cannot wait to read it! I have no doubt it will be another masterpiece. Thank you for all your advices and suggestions! This forum is now my #1 choice for consulting piano-related issues and questions. Bin

Alan, Here are some videos I took when she was practicing. She started regular piano lessons and practice at the beginning of this year (she is 6 yrs and 8 months old now). Before that, she can play some simple Beyer and easy Thompson, but did not practice seriously. Now she reached Czerny 599 #58-59, played most Burgmuller Opus 100, quite a few easy Bach, and several sonatinas, with Clementi Op 36 #4 and Kuhlau Op 55 #3 as the highest difficulty. I hope hear your comments about her achievement so far. I'm very satisfied with her progress I will report to you the result of doing the excercises you recommended. Bin

Thank you Bin Wei for your apposite question and very clear photo illustration. Obviously your daugher's pinky does not yet have the strength to flex the second joint. From what I see, it doesn't look like there is any injury. I assume she is feeling no pain? If there is pain let me know and I might change what I am going to say. She needs to do a few exercises. One is to roll forward onto the pinkie so it curls itself. This can be found in my second MTNA Published Article at . She also needs to do the total opposite, which is 5th Finger Pullups from The Craft of Piano Playing. Thirdly, she needs to do the Cliffhanging exercise, which somehow managed not to get into . I really am mystified as to how I managed to omit that... Funnily enough, I have always had exactly the same thing myself. It's not necessarily any particular hindrance at all- or at least, other problems have been a far greater concern than this. I'm not sure whether there may be some physical reason, or if it's purely down to awareness and lack of habit. I'm wondering if it may even be linked to that thing where if you attempt to move the finger in the line of the key, there's a tendency to straighten that joint- in order to direct the motion straight through the key, rather than allow it to pull back. I can't honestly detect whether I'm making it straighten though, or whether it's just happening in response to the stronger pull at the knuckle. To be honest, I've done a rather similar thing to the cliff hanging exercise very frequently for many years. Although my last joint works just fine, somehow it never spilled over into activating any shape in the next one. However, I was trying it again just now and there is a way of doing an extremely light version. I normally release rather more weight when practising hanging from the tips, but I found that if I lighten the arm considerably, I can just about get that joint to activate rather than collapse, and feel it acting inwards. To get this, I have to lighten the arm to the point the weight acting on the finger feels absolutely tiny, though. Quite honestly, this has never been a big worry for me, although I think I might try this more over a few weeks and see if it does become possible to get that joint involved in normal playing.