Collapsing 5th

Hello Alan, Because you put a special focus on hand-/finger-structure and you probably have seen a lot of different hands during your teaching career, I thought asking you about this: I see and (kinesthetically) feel a marked difference in function + form between my left and right 5th finger. For reasons unknown to me, the right 5ths nail-joint doesn't straighten as much and as easily as the left. Also, the right 5ths second joint very much tends to collapse... loosing the arch, if the arch is a 'default base-form'. Is this common and have people succeeded in "re-shaping" the 5th finger ? For me it is without question that thumb and 5th finger are extremely important 'pillars', on which literally to build technique. Many pianists play with a totally straight 5th (moved in the knuckle-joint). Is this to remedy the collapse ?

This is difficult to answer clearly in all its aspects. 1) Any one shape is not ideal. My use of the arch is didactic, at a later stage is it possible to dispense with it. For instance, if you continue to stand up on your arch when you have consolidated it, you will actually inhibit its movement. You need to invoke the action of the lumbricals and interosseous muscles that are generating the arch in a malleable way. Thus many people play with a splayed 5th finger and this is ok - it works. 2) To 'remedy' the collapse - first ascertain whether you need to remedy it. If so, then look for a change in organization somewhere further up the 'bone chain' (finger phalanges, metacarpal, wrist, forearm, upper arm, torso, pelvis) in order to facilitate an improvement in the function of the finger. Try to activate your lumbricals and interosseous, and then investigate the balance between the amount of effort they expend compared to the effort of the long & short flexors that are powering the distal and medial phalanges... Both these groups need to work; it's a question of the degree to which one or the other group takes precedence in any given musical situation. 3) The difference between your left and right pinkies is probably a reflection of differences between the entire left and right sides of your body. This is my own experience. When I first came to Feldenkrais, I discovered I was "dysfunctional" in a completely different way on my two sides. My right side was tense from being stressed out, overworked. My left side was -use! hope this helps! best regards, AFF