Sliding And Grasping Motion

Hi, I watched many of the videos on the pianotechnique site,and something wasn't quite clear to me:when doing the sliding motion (meaning the palm of the hand touching the keys and tempo is slow),i find it is impossible to do the grasping motion of the fingers with the sliding,because they are contrary motions.Sliding on the keys ,meaning, the hand moving forward and the grapsing motion takes the fingers backwards. The only thing that i have found possible is to play the sliding motion and keeping the structure of the hand ,thus making sure the second interossei is not collapsing. Hope i made myself clear-an example for that is Liszt Anne de Pellegrini-the first few bars of both the left and the right hand ,i am doing the sliding motion and cant do the grasping at the same time,mu right hand goes inwards and the left hand is doing the in and out sliding motion,but cant seem to do the grasping or standing with my hand. Am i right? -Also,would you suggest i would play the melody of the left hand at the beginning of the piece with very hight tonus within the hand? Is that the right place to do so?,that specific technique seemed to make the sound more intense right? Thanks a lot

This is a very perceptive post. Yes, grasping and sliding are opposite functions. But sliding brings the palm in touch with the keys. It stimulates the palm. Therefore it also stimulates the metacarpal bones nestled within the palm. Therefore the metacarpals are now brought into the game more in grasping. It is now a FOUR-boned finger that grasps, not a three-boned finger. Does this help? AFF

Although this post starts about how to cure collapsing joints, you'll find a large amount of relevant information. There are two types of finger action that are discussed in the post. The lengthening action is triggered when you slide forwards, rather than the purer style of grasping. Even when using a grasp (either with the fingertip curling mentioned in the post, or with the finger acting like one bone) there's a strong likelihood that after moving the key you'll find an easier balance by switching to the lengthening action. It's largely unconscious in the end, but you first need to be well acquainted with both to find ease. Grasping alone is good for an extremely energised contact but it can risk overwork. After a certain point, if your finger doesn't switch to the lengthening action, any grasping would literally be taking you in a horizontal direction. At that point, you either have to dig in slightly with the arm, or switch to an alternative style of finger action for a simpler balance. It's a much lighter and more gentle contact if you know the feel of lengthening.