Right Hand Stability

As I was practicing today I noticed a strange thing: both of my hands are quite unstable in the sense that for each finger action there is a tiny "hop" which makes the whole structure jump away from the keyboard. It's not so obvious but the problem is there. The right hand has one more problem. It seems that these finger actions pull the hand towards the point where the keys are connected with the body of the piano. So both of the hands have tiny vertical "hops" but the right hand has horizontal hops too. I think that this faulty motion intensifies when the 2nd finger must play. I feel a collapse tendence and I try to compensate by activating this finger more. Still that doesn't solve the problem completely. Previously I had the same problem with the 4th finger from the same hand and I kind of "recalculated" the pull force and direction and things got better. Should I do the same for the 2nd finger? Should I take into consideration a blend between pulling and pushing? I don't see any possible way to maintain the "just pulling" action and avoid these problems. My right hand lacks counterweight from the arm. What to do?

I noticed a few other things. When my 2nd finger must play the wrist experiences a tiny collapse. If I concentrate myself on the pull and not on the force with which I generate the pull, then the key remains fully pressed. At low tempos I manage to maintain the key fully pressed with little effort. As the tempo increases the keys played with the 2nd finger from the right hand tend to have that gap I was talking about. At the same time the 3rd finger tends to play louder and earlier than it should. I would compare this situation with some kind of stumbling for the feet. I have a question for Alan: Should I practice with or without a metronome?

Forget the metronome, practice with body awareness. And forget arm weight, it only screws you up. And forget the counterpull of the arm, it only confuses you. For you, there is no counterpull. For you, your arm has no weight. It has a SKELETON. Sense your skeleton, the skeleton of the hand and of the whole body per se. Sense bone connections to the keys which allow your finger either to lie down flat on the key or stand up on it, eventually for it to walk on the keys. This has nothing to do with arm weight but everything to do with connecting the bones of the arm to the bones of the wrist to the bones of the hand to the bones of the fingers to the keys. Don't think about pushing or pulling. Just find a movement that connects the bones to your instrument. The little hops indicate parasitic contractions that stem from the confusion I mentioned earlier. Good luck! AFF

sorry, posted this twice

What's the easiest way to post images on here? I have a couple of diagrams from an artist who volunteered to provide diagrams for my blog. I hope to get the post done soon, but I'm sure this is the same issue I've had myself. Basically, I realised that because the pull was retracting my fingers, the reaction to that was constantly drawing my wrist forwards. The chain concept and even active pulling back from the arm helped with this- but it was still the case that the harder the fingers pulled, the more a loose arm and wrist would be dragged out of alignment. Recently, I've been using the extension action to aim slightly forwards- which means that the reaction encourages the wrist not to get dragged out of line, but actively encourages it into alignment. Instead of dragging things forward, the reaction encourages the wrist to hang back, comfortably suspended in the chain. Although you cannot eliminate reactions, you can direct the finger in a path where the reactions are never acting in a way that would destabilise the wrist. I have a couple of images that would make the concept very clear, but I'm not sure how to link them.

I just finished a 2-week Institute with a very fine group of pianists. Some of them will listen to each other and support each other in working with the ideas through the year. I cautioned them, "please do not "infect" the ideas you've heard here with other paradigms, it can really destroy what a pianist gained here." Andrew, I would ask you to please respect what I wrote in my last post. For 'archi,' the counterpull does not exist. Thinking about it makes things worse for him. I wish you would understand, that if you wish to help someone, first you need to know what they need. Your ideas are welcome and a valuable contribution to our forum, but they need to be understood with discrimination. I have mentioned the adverse effect that ideas about arm weight and counterpull have had on 'archi's' playing before - please try to understand my point of view and his needs, and tailor your posts accordingly. Warm wishes, AFF

I just finished a 2-week Institute with a very fine group of pianists. Some of them will listen to each other and support each other in working with the ideas through the year. I cautioned them, "please do not "infect" the ideas you've heard here with other paradigms, it can really destroy what a pianist gained here." Andrew, I would ask you to please respect what I wrote in my last post. For 'archi,' the counterpull does not exist. Thinking about it makes things worse for him. I wish you would understand, that if you wish to help someone, first you need to know what they need. Your ideas are welcome and a valuable contribution to our forum, but they need to be understood with discrimination. I have mentioned the adverse effect that ideas about arm weight and counterpull have had on 'archi's' playing before - please try to understand my point of view and his needs, and tailor your posts accordingly. Warm wishes, AFF Hi, I think you misunderstand my point. What i'm talking about is exactly what makes it possible to flourish without a counter-force. Before, the knuckle arc was always dragging things forwards and a lightened arm couldn't stay stable- without something to balance the reaction. What i'm talking about is a slight correction to the path of the arc- that means reactions push the wrist back. It competely eliminates any need for a force to counter-because the wrist is never being dragged by anything.

I tried for many many years to stabilize my right hand (the left never had any problem) and did not succeed. There are a few things which finally helped me solving the problem: - Practising single finger strokes and single chords in every possible way you can imagine. - Giving up trying to be stable. The body has built in intelligence for equilibrium which cannot be controlled. Instead striving for flexibility and adaptibility. - Doing physical exercises, including the hands. - Never using passive weight from the arm. Always float. - Giving up the thoughts how it should look / feel / sound. - Accepting accepting accepting.

Forgot one: Finish your movements in a natural way, going with the direction. Law of Isaac Newton

I tried for many many years to stabilize my right hand (the left never had any problem) and did not succeed. There are a few things which finally helped me solving the problem: - Practising single finger strokes and single chords in every possible way you can imagine. - Giving up trying to be stable. The body has built in intelligence for equilibrium which cannot be controlled. Instead striving for flexibility and adaptibility. - Doing physical exercises, including the hands. - Never using passive weight from the arm. Always float. - Giving up the thoughts how it should look / feel / sound. - Accepting accepting accepting. Interesting. Sounds similar to my own experience recently. Basically, I've had to experiment with different finger paths- ranging from the purest knuckle pulls that slip back across the key, to severe extensions that slide forwards. From doing this, with a light arm and no expectations, I got used to the natural reactions upon the arm that different finger actions cause. Pulling back draws the wrist up, and whereas aiming forward allows it to lower. I feel sure that, like myself, arhi's fingers are pulling back in a path that is too indirect (rather than activating more directly through the line of the key) - hence severe reactions are pulling him forward. By going through this observation stage, you can observe what path of finger movement is required to avoid reactions that drag you forwards. The direction of reactions is literally reversed from forwards to backwards- so not only do they not drag the wrist forwards, but they actively encourage it to stay back. I've had to start getting used to that path as my default for finger actions. Only from there has it becomes possible to truly float the arm- without it either getting thrown around all over the place or being kept steady by a pull back from the upper arm.