Shaking Fingers

Hi Alan, I have a problem of shaking fingers, mainly in my left hand. I think I am on the right track of solving it, but I wanted to get your feedback to make sure of it and maybe get some additional suggestions. My problem is mainly with the 2nd finger of the left hand, but it happens with other fingers as well sometimes. Whenever another finger is playing, the 2nd finger either jumps up in the air or just hovers over a key and shakes. In chapter 8 in the film you actually recommend lifting the fingers that are not playing as high as possible to create maximum finger action, but I assume that I should be able to play a relaxed "taichi" legato before moving on to that stage, am I correct? When I practice overholding with all 5 fingers pressed down it is easier to keep the 2nd finger more relaxed because it is pressing against a key, but when trying to play just a single note I feel like the entire left hand is unstable. I have gone back to chapter 1 of the DVD and I think that my left hand has not found its effective structural standing position, especially when the 5th figner is on a black key and other figners are on white keys. For example, an alberti pattern F#,D,A,D (figners 5131) makes my 2nd finger shake up and down and to the sides. I am trying several things to practise: 1) Standing on all 5 fingers in this position (F#,G,A,B,D) and be as relaxed as possible while maintaining structure. 2) Standing in the same position playing the all the keys. 3) Moving the writst up and down while maintaining the arch and contact with the keys 4) Practise the alberti pattern while overholding all 5 fingers down 5) Practise (very slowly) the pattern while fingers rest on the keys without playing. Am I on the right track? Any commnets or suggestions? Thanks for your help Zack

What you describe is what some people label as a mild form of focal dystonia - but I don't like "creating" an "illness" by attaching that kind of label so easily. I prefer to simply deal with the function. You are on the right track, but I would also do stuff that more directly cultivates the unstable equilibrium-type of skeletality. My sense is that you need to stand on one finger and feel its bone structure holding you up - holding your hand up, that is - rather than muscular effort. If you find it hard to do, try rocking forward and back on your finger and letting that rocking "seep through" to your body so your pelvis rocks gently forward and back as well in "resonance." The movement transmits all the way from fingertip to sitz bones and creates an organic unity through your whole frame. As you do this you may notice some muscular effort creeping into the standing finger, helping it to continue to stand well, but this muscular effort has a different quality to it. There is something organic about it that makes it good - a contribution to the movement of the finger rather than a holding that impairs movement... I'm not being that clear here but it's the best I can do at this distance and with that little actual knowledge of what your problem is. AFF

I think I understand what you are talking about. Is it something similar to what you do with your student in the video bellow? Another question - when standing on 1 finger, should it play a key all the way to bottom? what about the other fingers - should they rest on a key or float in the air?

I think I understand what you are talking about. Is it something similar to what you do with your student in the video below? Another question - when standing on 1 finger, should it play a key all the way to bottom? what about the other fingers - should they rest on a key or float in the air? The material of this teaching video is an excellent place for you to start. When you master what you see here then I would get slightly more vigorous - adding a little more muscular effort to the mix without any negative effect on the skeletal feel. And yes, for you, for now, standing on key should be done completely to the key bottom. Remember however not to dig in to the keybed so much that you create compression through your hand's skeletal frame. Your other fingers should rest on key, UNLESS you are specifically doing the vigorous, skeletal finger lifting from my film, chapter 8... Later on you'll learn a way of standing on key where you don't go all the way to the bottom but if you try that now you risk re-evoking the presenting problem. All the best, AFF

Your other fingers should rest on key, UNLESS you are specifically doing the vigorous, skeletal finger lifting from my film, chapter 8... AFF I have been practising some of my problematic passages and started applying the vigorous finger lifting movement recently. I still don't get it right 100% of the time, but when I do, it feels very liberating - the hand feels very light but in full contact with the key all the time, and the scale just flies through easily and evenly. I still have 1 question about finger lifting. Do you recommende vigorously lifting the thumb as well? You seem to be doing that in chapter 8 of the film, but is that not the same thing you are recommending to avoid in an earlier chapter about pianistic co-dependence? Wouldn't it make more sense when playing a scale to vigoursly move the thumb sideways (with a slight wrist rotation) so it's ready for it's next note?

Thanks for the question which clarifies something important. I rightly criticize thumb lifting in the secion on pianistic co-dependence because in that instance the lifting is a symptom of an important dysfunction. However, you see me blithely lifting my thumb in chapter 8 to great effect - the scale whizzes smoothly and brilliantly. If I didn't raise my thumb equally to raising my fingers, the brilliance of the thumb's notes might have suffered, creating an unevenness in the sound. However your point is well taken and entirely logical. Yes, it would seem to make more sense to aim the thumb to one side or the other, getting it to its key ahead of time. However if you overdo also getting it to its key on time - it just may not be visually apparent, perhaps because I achieve it more with a movement of my arm and wrist than with a thumb movement per se. AFF

Thank you Alan, Lifting the thumb indeed helps the evenness of the sound. After practising slowly for a few more weeks I can comfortably play these passages at tempo. When I play at tempo, the finger lifting no longer seems that vigorous, but practising maximal lifting at slower tempo really helped to imprint the correct movements. Regarding standing on the bottom of the key, I have realized that until recently I had been playing to "bellow" the bottom of the key, meaning, I had been pressing to hard into the keys and create unecessary tension. After watching your film again and some of the master class videos I realized that properly standing on a key means the finger (and the arch) move up when the key reaches the bottom, so the motion doesn't end in a "bang" that creates tension (and ugly tone). To do it properly I had to unlock the arm and shoulder so that it can follow the fingers and the arch can be as high as possible. So now I perceive the motion as more fluid - it never really ends anywhere - the key reaches down, the arch keeps moving up, and then the next finger starts playing.

I have only one thing to say: BRAVO! AFF

I have only one thing to say: BRAVO! AFF Thank you very much Alan. The piece I have been studying is a Clementi Sonatina (Op. 36, No. 1, sheet music available here: ) Now that I can finally play it evenly at a good tempo, I would like to focus on imroving the tone, especially in the forte runs at the vivace movement (starting measures 25, and 62). These runs start with an ascending scale using fingers 3,4,5 and then a scale going down. I am trying to bring out the top note (finger 5) - I assume it should be loudest note and the rest of the run should have a gradual decrescendo (with some emphasize on downbeat notes). I was trying to create a nice fotre with the 5th finger by making it flat , but I ended up destroying the arch many times and even when I managed to keep the arch stable, the tone was harsh, especially for the high D. Also, after practising just a few repetitions I feel pain in the outer edge of my palm, wrist and forearm (on the side that is close to the pinky finger). I am trying to figure out how to integrate all the various concepts from the DVD into healthy vigourous practise, I have a few question I would like to clarify. I am sorry if this is a bit long and I understand that these kinds of questions may not be easy to answer from distance, but I will give it a try. Concept 1: the arch needs to be as high as possible If I play ascending scale using 3-4-5, and I rais the arch as high as possible during finger 4 playing, then finger 5 cannot reach the the bottom of its key (I would have the same problem with fingers 3 and 4 if 3 plays a black key and 4 plays a white key). So I am not actually raising the arch as high as possible for the individual finger, but instead as high as possible for entire group of fingers. I am also using slight wrist rotation and arm movement to help the fingers. This is quite a muscular action that is supposed to help me get a "juicy" forte, and it sometimes does, but it also transmits jolts of pain through my upper arm. I have managed to eliminate most of the feeling of pressing when playing with curved fingers, but can't figure out how to do a "5th finger push-up" without feeling this pain. I even get pain from practising this motion just a few times on an office desk. Another thing I am confused about when doing this vigorous motion is how to maintain physical legato. In the tai-chi waling chapter you show how you gently touch one key and gradualy transfer the weight. With the flat 5th finger it feels like it is lifting the entire hand as soon as it reaches the key, I don't feel any gradual weight transfer. Thank you very much for all the advice so far Zack

i have the same problem. at least the symptoms you describe are almost similar. is it a neurologycal/pathologycal disorder or is this happening because you are nervous when performing? a while ago i thought that the hand is trembling because the muscles don't have the necessary strength yet to sustain the weight of the arm...i guess i couldn't find an answer yet...