The Arch

HELLO ALAN- I have some problems with the arch strucutre-i understand that its important to have the sensation of the arch but i feel that when my hand is in that structure ,and the mcp joint are pointing up,knowing that i dont compress the arm down,the flexors under the forearm are more relaxed when the knuckles of the mcp joint are not pointing up but yet they are a bit down. the problem is when i watch Rubinstein playing, his knuckles appear to be pointing up,so why do I feel that they are less tense when they are a bit down and not in the full arch strcture that is like in the vidoes on the website? -as far as playing with the grasp motion a split second before playing octaves or chords-i found that now i am less secure playing the octaves or chords because my hand is in the grasping motion before i hit the keys and so the hand isnt opening up completely to catch the notes. what am i missing? again with octaves- is it normal if i feel pain in the flexors under the forearm if im not used to play with the grasping motion ( i do make sure that i am not pressing),or i should i not feel any pain at all? thank you very much

The flexors become a bit tense because the lumbrical muscle originates in the very same tendon that flexes the fingertip. Some tension is unavoidable. But this is far less tension that the contraction needed to flex the fingertip. Open the hand more, and don't begin the grasp THAT much before the sounding of the note. When I say a split second I really mean a thousandth of a second or two. You should feel no pain at all. If you feel pain there, you are doing something wrong. Pain in the hand itself is likely muscles developing that need to. Likewise for pain in the upper arm. Not so for pain in the forearm or shoulder blade. AFF