On The 4th Finger Knuckle

i have been investigating my technique for quite some time now (especially since i developed tendinitis about a year ago)... reading through various books by hoffman, sandor, giesking, lhevine, and of course alan fraser (along with the vid). i've also been taking awareness training (feldenkrais stuff). i have numerous questions and need A LOT of help as soon as possible... as i am a student of piano at a music school... my question of the moment now, however, is brief and may seem sort of random and directed towards everyone. my fingers, especially my fifth fingers, are crooked, and it creates unusual challenges for myself that i think probably led to my ailment. i've noticed that the knuckles of the last two fingers (4 & 5) actually "come out" when i strike a key. does anyone else experience that?

do you mean "come out" horizontally or vertically?

It appears to come out vertically. My reason for asking is that i'm trying to narrow down the source of all my pianistic deficiencies (assuming there's one simple source, right?) that lead to my tendinitis. My most current observation is the "arch structure" in relation to the two bones of the forearm (a combination of thomas mark and alan fraser). I noticed that my forearm slants slightly outward in its most comfortable position. Whereas if I twist the arm inward, i look and feel like i'm striking the keys more directly. I thought my fourth finger's knuckle ascending vertically, unlike the other knuckles, was a sign that i was doing something wrong and that i'm on to something, although i'm starting to realize that it may be normal. I'm also noticing that when I pull my shoulder back forcefully, it frees up a lot of tension from my forearm (my main problem area). But of course I can't sit with my shoulder pulled back all the time because that means the shoulders would eventually tense up and get fatigue. Maaaaan, there's so much, but i digress.

This is not easy to address in this format of communication. I think we're kind of reaching the limits of what can be achieved by writing and answering posts. My manager Jovan says I should start doing lessons by video podcasts - this kind of question makes me think he may be right! In any case: "get skeletal" would be my short answer. Do some more Feldenkrais to better feel sensorily which skeletal alignments work best on the keyboard. And really study the first, foundational chapter of my film. Try to get that arch working functionally rather than forcing your hand into that position. And also, to help with the tendonitis it is crucial to involve your whole body in generating that arch. So do an exercise where you rock your pelvis forward while holding a chord on the piano, feeling how that forward rocking fills the hand's arch up with air and potency. This feeling of playing with the whole body, with the whole self, is important in overcoming any performance injury. This is "integration." If you're pulling your shoulders back, try sitting higher and further away, so that your shoulder already HAVE that position in space in relation to the keyboard without you pulling them back. In other words, make the piano bench do the work of pulling your shoulders back instead of your shoulder muscles. To line up the arm with the finger, it is not a question of putting the hand on the board with the thumb equal in length to the fifth finger. The thumb should function more like an outrigger strut, and for this, the arm SHOULD be held a LITTLE to the outside so that the thumb is a little closer to the body, and the four fingers form a more or less equal line a little further in on the keyboard. See my last two Blog posts where I shift my stance from what you see in the film. In other words, if you adopt Thomas Mark's "fifth finger orientation," it helps in creating a correct balance in the work of the thumb and the other fingers. And as you say, if your fourth knuckle is rising, this may be good and not a problem (c.f. Horowitz's curling of his pinkie). Well, I hope this helps! AFF

gees... thank you for such a thorough reply. i'm going to go ahead and review the first few chapters of the book and attempt the advice you gave me at the keyboard and see how that goes. it certainly makes sense the way you explained things. hanks again

It's always an interesting challenge to see if one can actually respond in a helpful way when one has never seen or heard the actual problem being addressed. I have to speak from my own experience and map it on to what I think I hear you saying. This is an excellent way of cultivating rigour and exactitude in one's thinking. So: thanks for the opportunity to exercise my grey cells a little bit! AFF