The thumb

Just a little update i would like to post. the previous week when i started to experiment with the interossei and lumbricals muscles whenever i wanted to use them the forearm muscles beneath the hand seemed to activate too. After a week or so of practicing i noticed that i can use the interossei muscles more and the finger moves a little and my forearm stays ready for action without being contracted,i put my fingers of my other hand a little bellow the wrist area to check and to my surprise there was no noticeable movement and no contraction of the forearm muscles (at least not noticeable to me!).Right now i am experimenting to feel the support of the triceps in the arm as i contract the interrosei and lumbricals. I feel that those muscles in the palm are now much stronger! Also on my other hand (my left) i have not tried so much with interossei contraction and when i try to do the same actions i do with my right, the forearm muscles tend to contract below the arm a little.Maybe i need more mental thought and effort to activate only the palm muscles:) It's really a wonderful feeling doing all these experiments,i feel as if i "rediscovered" my self or rather parts of myself that were not active. The bad thing is that i feel there is always some change here and there always something that i have not seen before and it comes to my attention. I would like to thank Proffesor Alan Fraser for his really great support and advice in this forum. I am sorry for the long reply.I hope i am not flooding the forum with my questions and replies. Regards

Notice as well that the effort of the lumbricals and interosseous is mirrored by a clear effort somewhere in the upper arm - some part of the triceps. ----Very good point! I feel this is part of the "energetic stillness" described in the book.

It's really a wonderful feeling doing all these experiments,i feel as if i "rediscovered" my self or rather parts of myself that were not active. The bad thing is that i feel there is always some change here and there always something that i have not seen before and it comes to my attention. When I completed my Feldenkrais training - four years of intensive work where we FELT the method first of all in our own brains and bodies - our trainer said, "Be prepared to feel uncomfortable for a long time, because things will keep changing and your sense of self will be relatively unfamiliar to you." He was right, that did happen. But that discomfort is rich, it's an indication of constant new growth. So I am glad you noticed this, but don't say it's bad! Hey, if you want to go back to sleep be my guest, but this new awareness is worth it, even if at times it is frustrating. Another way of saying it: there are cycles of acquisition of new information and integration of that information - when you integrate the new, you'll feel comfortable with it... enjoy! AFF

Hello!After reading several chapters of the book and gaining a good information regarding tension in my playing,i tried to fix those technical problems i have. After many years i noticed that in my elbow that muscles were tense and contracted more than needed.Actually i always tried to follow the rule that the hand and arm should be as much as possible when playing as it is when it is hanging freely in the air. However wherever i placed my hands in the pronated position in the air,the elbow muscle was contracted.No matter what i tried to do there was no way i could have it like when it was hanging freely.There is a strong muscle contraction there whenever the hand was pronated and was ready to be placed in the keyboard. Again when i tried to play the last days,i followed your exercises about the thumb.The one specific telling to stand on the thumb with as much weight as possible ,with much force and try to touch the ceiling with other fingers by lifting them up. When i tried to do that i finally managed to have no tension at all in my elbow area.For the first time the muscles located there were complete like a "muscle soup" without the contraction that exists when arm is on keyboard pronated or in the air pronated. I noticed that the harder i pushed and the more weight i used on my thumb the more relaxed my elbow area was.As long as i pressed and stood on the thumb ,there was not tension at all in the elbow.Of course i noticed different contractions in the triceps and bicep area,different kind of contractions that were not present before. My question is what should i do now?Which chapters should i continue with?I have read the book numerous of times.And because i have been fixing many things and all the time discovering new things,which chapter should i read next ? Am i correct when i think that the thumb muscle should help me release the tension in the elbow area when pressing? Best regards

Dear Nicholas, I wish I knew!!! A great question. My first response is to say that I cannot really say without seeing you play. My second response, when I think about it a bit, would be to say probably go back to the Legato chapter and see if you can recreate that let-go in the elbow while overholding. Transfer what your system learned in thumb pushups to standing on all five and overholding. There's a Hanon exercise that I recommend doing ff -pp - ff, try that one... Good luck and let me know! AFF

Thank you for your fast reply sir!I will go and practice that exercise and will post my progress in the next days.And will try to apply it in repertoire with legato passages. That exercise with the thumb push ups really made feel and understand the meaning of your original post in this thread "that the thumb is virtually a hand in itself".Many difficult passages seem much easier now thanks to a more functional thumb.I felt that the tension i had in elbow was transformed into an active and energetic muscle activity in my arm.One that assists me great when i play. Again i would like to thank you so much professor for your fast reply!. Best regards

lately I have been experimenting with a more Feldenkrais version of thumb pushups that minimize the effort with which you do the movement but keep the function of the movement. I find reducing effort without reducing range too much increases the learning and helps you feel even more clearly the complex and potent relationship of thumb to the rest... AFF

Update: The last days i have been practicing with the thought that the muscle thumb should support the whole arm,and in a sense that the elbow area the shoulder and back area to remain free without much contraction. The truth is to my horror that i noticed that most of the times in many technical passages my thumb was not so active. Right now when i practice difficult passages with chords or octaves i lift the arm and hand a little from the elbow area and at the moment fingers 1,5 touch the keys i activate the thumb and have the elbow and up arm muscles stop being contracted, and are completely free with no contractions at all (this requires sometimes strong pressing of the keys though). The moment the thumb muscle gets contracted i feel as though as if the power of the uparm muscles travel to the wrist and passes to the thumb with the elbow and forearm being like a muscle soup without inhibiting. Now i remember the advice of my teachers that when the hand is on play position the upper arm should remain like when it is freely hanging on the floor. However if the hand hovers above the keyboard then the muscles in the elbow and uparm have to keep the arm in such playing position by being contracted a little.If i really want my uparm and elbow to be like when the hand is freely hanging then i have to use the thumb and my whole palm as a standing point. Otherwise there is always a small contraction of the elbow area and the up arm.I noticed that my thumb now is a little stronger however i sense a small tension in the wrist ,not tension in the sense that i feel pain but rather that in the effort to completely have my elbow uparm and shoulder free from contractions,the thumb and wrist seize up a little.In a sense i feel a never stoping transfer of force and power from the upper arm and elbow to the palm of the hand to the thumb through the wrist. My question is am i doing something wrong if my wrist seizes up a little in the thumb area?The contraction is strong and i feel that these last days i have been pressing the keys more than i ever did in my studying before. Also when i started to do thumb pushups while playing some melodies i noticed my thumb and wrist were low,i now try to have my thumb much higher while still having the thumb muscle contracted.Is this wrong? Best regards

Dear Nicholas, I am repeatedly impressed with the accuracy of your perceptions and the way you describe them. Very nice work! I forget, I believe you are reading my book but haven't yet seen the film, right? The film addresses this question... sort of... You are on the right track, and perhaps we could reduce your "running around in circles" feeling if we put the whole issue into the context of FUNCTION. THe basic function in question here is 1) joining you to the piano and 2) manipulating the keys. Standing on the board and increasing the activity of the thumb all wake up parts of the mechanism so it can better do its job (see 1 & 2 above). Ideally your wrist won't have much tension but you'll probably go through a phase when you are 'waking things up' when it does feel slightly tense. As long as this does not become chronic, it's OK. The upper arm won't be entirely free from contraction - there are subsidiary contractions up there that support the right activation of the fingers. The sense of arm weight was developed to ensure that we don't overdo those supporting contractions - the main effort comes from the fingers, thumb and palm of the hand itself. Try to diffentiate between contractions that HOLD and contractions that MOVE - the latter won't necessarily even feel like contraction! When you say you are raising your thumb, could this be an effort in the thumb to lift it away from the key rather than move it in? If so, please give it up, it probably is not helping and likely screwing things up. See the film, opening of the chapter on the thumb - Pianistic Co-Dependence. All in all, tremendously difficult to discuss these matters in a written forum, but we're doing our best, and hopefully arriving at a clearer understanding! best wishes, AFF

Thank you for your replies sir.I will be trying it as you said.I noticed that contractions that move are actually a lot different that those that hold the hand in place.. I will post about my overall progress in a few days. Best regards