Thumb- 2nd Finger Assembly And Chopin's ''easiest'' Etude

I have been making constant new discoveries from reflecting upon my own technical limitations and reading Alan's third book and watching his lectures. The key problem i felt in my hands has always been the 2nd finger. And the more i experiment and be rigorous with myself, the more I can feel vividly how weak my 2nd finger MCP joint actually is. It is frustrating that the same hard problem has been so persistent, but it also opens up a journey of constant improvement. The more insights I gained about these subtle points, the more I realize Chopin's genius. His pieces often present, in a condense form, opportunities to isolate these structure in our hands (versus practicing musical patterns that other composers of etudes often do) I used to be puzzled by His Etude op.25-#2, which is a lot ''easier'' than his other etudes (and his op. 10 in general appears to be a lot harder). But now it becomes so clear to me that this etude is about thumb-2nd finger structure and fluidity. If I'm rigorous with myself about the need to constantly generate a good structure, it becomes a very difficult etude (even though it's easy to play all the notes) I wonder how many more such discoveries I am missing now that are waiting for me! Hope Alan will share with us his latest discoveries soon!

thanks for your very perceptive post, Alvin... Many of the other etudes similarly focus on the thumb-forefinger relationship - Op. 10 #4 comes to mind... AFF

Hi The 2 finger is also what concerns me most. In my young years I never thought about it but when I began to play "seriously" again some years ago accompanied by Alan's excellent teachings I focused on things like that.I've listened to recordings from my youth it's fast and "impressive" and not that bad but I can hear that the sound is very poor and unstable there is no differentiation at all and completely unacceptable to me now many years later. Thats the the sound I get nowadays when my 2 finger is not working well. My 2 is very strong the arch is fine knuckle fine there is a good dexterity but I always come back to this finger as the main obstacle to have a durable rich and differentiated controlled sound. I've also thought that Chopin must have had some special relation to the 2 finger. Or maybe it is our modern pianos? Because without the 1-2 functioning in Chopin it seems like the whole thing is wasted. Clearly this is one of Rubinsteins major strengths he never fails in that aspect. He might not have a so good technique but his sound is always impeccable and beautiful. Quite unusual even among great pianists on occasions the sound does fail. Sometimes when I play I just loose the good "contact" and I know then that my 2 is not functioning well. It can be in the middle of anything like some time ago I played the Chopin 3 sonata and in the 4 movement I lost the good "contact"with the 2 finger. So I had to finish the piece with a very unpleasant sound. Difficult to describe what I mean but maybe you understand. It seems to be a speed problem. At speed the very strong 2 seems to become very weak. Any tips here? Eric

At speed: 1) The lumbricals simply stop working - their reflexive capacity to fire quickly simply can't keep up. 2) the thumb starts to invert to the hand, compounding the problem. Can you figure out a way to address these two problems? AFF

Ah! Thanks for stopping me there. Lately I've tried to maintain contact with the keys as much as possible. Working very much with standing and lumbricals. So I guess the solution to 1) is to not using lumbricals at fast speed. I guess (p), spaghetti fingers light touch and slight articulation while "hoovering" is what to do? Maybe with a slight light pressure forward. And for 2) maybe point the thumb "outwards"? My thumb is pretty independent so it's not so obvious for me. I'm talking about the rapid RH passages in Chop 3 4mvt. Eric

It seems to be a speed problem. At speed the very strong 2 seems to become very weak. Any tips here? I think the secret for success is in how that finger's DISTAL JOINT (the nail joint, yes, or the "ankle" of that "leg if you wish) is, but I cannot go any further than this until I hear Alan's reaction. His question may have a pedagogical purpose ("try and experiment") and I wouldn't want to spoil that precious moment unless you are completely out of ideas. :=) Paul

Lately I've tried to maintain contact with the keys as much as possible. Working very much with standing and lumbricals. So I guess the solution to 1) is to not using lumbricals at fast speed. I guess (p), spaghetti fingers light touch and slight articulation while "hoovering" is what to do? Maybe with a slight light pressure forward. Yes and no. You have to "load" the lumbricals. If you splay your finger totally and actually stretch the lumbrical, this activates the stretch reflex. The muscle feels itself elastically stretched, and it snaps back to its shorter, at rest length. If you do this repeatedly, the stretch reflex starts to kick in even if you don't stretch the lumbricals to start with. Your solution could work IF you precede it by an "elastification" version of what you were doing before (see first line of your quote). Yes, Paul the distal joint needs tremendous alertness. But all the alertness in the world won't do him any good if the lumbricals aren't "super-tonified." AFF

In my post, I wanted to avoid giving ideas for the training process itself, , in order not to interfere with what I knew you were going to say. I was rather talking about sensations in the fingertips during actual execution at full speed where we can no longer really control the separate elements. I have a hunch, however, that the nail joint element (or alertness of the fingertip/fingerpad if you wish) may be a clue to help solve the problem Eric is experiencing (supposedly "loss of power"), and if I were him, I would pay particular attention to that element in slow practice while at the same time following your instructions to the letter. P.S.: Here's what I always say to my students. Simply swinging/dropping the whole finger into the key from the hand knuckle creates truly explosive power when done correctly, but that kinetic energy should be aimed/focussed at the correct point, the fingertip/fingerpad, which should always be "bounceable" (a word I use to express that the nail joint should never be passive nor rigid; just ready). Paul

Paul, I heartily concur! AFF

Thank you so much Alan and Paul for these invaluable clarifications. I guess this is what you can see Kemal doing at times in eg the Mozart clip. This explains also why I've found nail joint playing uncomfortable at times, the tonus has been on and off. Elastification, tonus and bouncable... My condolences Alan I read the link to your father and yes altruism certainly seems to be in the genes. Merci Eric