Fifth Finger Exercises

Thank you sir Alan, for enlightening me! Since i started to play the piano 3 years ago, I've always had troubles using my fifth finger properly. With the lack of viable teachers locally, I've never been able to pinpoint the specific problem, and whenever I've been adressing this problem, people just say it's natural to struggle with the fifth fingers. Since I left comepetetive gaming and picked up the piano I've quite naturally learned a solid approach to playing with most of my fingers, EXCEPT the littlefingers... But with your approach to understanding our anathomy, I see that the arch in my hand has no structure and confidence in my fifth finger, and the outer joint in my littlefingers "collapses", by a small amount of pressure. But what kind of exercises could fit me? So far, I've been daily doing 1. the "finger pushup", with a straight finger, pushing the whole hand up with the natural gripping position. 2. Statically support the weight of my hand on only the littlefinger, trying to maintain the natural arch. 3. Forth and fifth finger playing one note at the time on the piano, repeatedly within the range of 6~ keys. 4. Gripping a ball trying to focus extra weight on my fifth fingers. Am I on the right track, is there maybe something I could add?

I just read a fascinating blog talking about brachiation, that is, hanging from tree branches using your hands and arms. It turns out, monkeys always reach for the branch 5th finger first, not the "stronger" 2nd finger. AND, even more important, the 2nd is not stronger at all. The 5th has way more supportive muscular activity going all the way to the shoulder blade. The 2nd's supportive activity in the arm goes only to the deltoids. See if you can use this information to improve you 5th's power. Orient your entire arm and hand more to lead with your 5th! For more info visit this blog: AFF

What a funny coincidence that you bring that up, as I've just tried indoor climbing! Apart from scratched fingers and stiff muscles, It gave me almost instant improvement to the pinky weakness, both my hands felt way more connected. Will continue doing that, and probably also do the static hanging exercise, with focus on proper grasping. Thanks Alan, It's incredible to get professional tips by simply posting a question on the web!

We've all got to earn a living but I like keeping a sense of collegiality in what I do, at least in some way shape or form... Perhaps it runs in my family: Thanks for your comments! AFF