Pain When Trying To Prctice Octave

dear Alain, i try to practice octaves (alla turka, Mozart) but i always feel the pain in the center of my hand, specially when i try to grab the keys and keep that arch form, note : i have small hands

Hello! While i don't have the experiance and knowledge of Proffesor Fraser,i would suggest that you go and watch the dvd section when he talks about octaves and small hands. Drop your hand in the white keys and literally mash the the keys that are under your palm,try to reach for octave without caring about touching the inbetween notes with your other fingers or palm,when you do that try to raise with as little muscular effort as possible your palm and touch only the octave notes after that. Try to imitate a relaxed yet movable hand,one that your joints are not stiff and you can manipulate the keys easily.Usually when we try to play octaves we rigidify the hand for the sake of having security,and since your hands are small you may be exaggerating this too.That exercise trains you to literally let go of that extra stiffness that we all sometimes have when we play octaves. Generally i think that a large hand has to be placed differently on the keyboard.A small hand also differently to reach the chords or octaves. After you do this don't forget to incorporate grasping action when you try to play the octave. Try to practice all these slowly,there is no need for speed now.If you integrate the grasping action you can move on and try to sense the structure of your hand and try to feel the lumbricals and your interroseus taking a more active role.

Excellent answer, Niko, I don't have much to add. We keep trying different descriptions because an image that works for one person might be anathema for someone else. Try this one: imagine that each finger is like an individual chain snaking out from your hand. Flop your 1st & 5th finger-chains into their keys. Make no effort to play the keys, but let the inertia of your fingers depress them. It may even feel as if your arm weight plays them. But at a crucial moment there will be an instant's action of your lumbrical muscle that clamps your finger pad into its key. It's a momentary effort and then you are loose again. The trick is to coordinate all this - we tend to be too loose and miss that instant of galvanization, or else we let the instant last too long and begin to develop continual tension. The tolerances are very fine, and there are several physical elements involved - it's all in the timing and it's not simple! Anyway good luck and do read and watch what I've said about this elsewhere. Try to free yourself from whatever habit of movement has perpetuated the sense that your hand is working to overcome its liability instead of just behaving like a hand. AFF