Playing With Fire #2

Many pianists and typists move incorrectly and improper movement creates tension and fatigue.  If you've ever gotten cramps or had to shake your hands out or wake up in the morning with stiff fingers, it is most likely because you use the wrong muscles or, are using them improperly.  When you play a finger BONE down onto a key, it must go straight down, following the path of gravity.  Often pianists are employing three of four muscles at the same time and three muscles pulling on one bone in three directions is what causes problems.  It is like if you were driving a car and trying to turn left and I grabbed the steering wheel and tried to pull us right, that is what goes on with our hands and we condition ourselves to accept then multiple muscle pulls as normal.  Really bad teachers will tell the student to practice more or build strength and endurance then prescribe silly exercises when all a long the student only needs to use the correct muscle and stop using the wrong ones.  In the car example, you would not need to work out or practice driving to stop me from trying to run us off the road.  You only need to stop using me as your copilot.

I will elaborate on this much more but for now, know that it is gravity that plays the keys down, all five fingers must move in the same direction at the same time (they are NEVER isolated as many teachers teach – that creates abduction and flexation at the same time), all five fingers play together, it is the arm that places the finger, the flexors are used minimally. This goes against what most of us are taught but, the laws of physics must never be challenged. If we do challenge them, we will lose and our orthopedic surgeons will be eating steak this week.

In summary, tension, pain, cramps, uneven playing, weakness in playing or syndromes are symptoms of using two or more muscles to simultaneously move one bone. Like the game “Tug of War,” one of your tendons will eventually tire and give out.

Anytime a pianist experiences tension, more practice only hard wires improper movement into the brain's muscle memory. It would be best to stop practicing until the movement can be corrected. Also, over time micro tears can form on the long flexor tendons which will result in inflammation. An inflamed long flexor tendon will press on the Median Nerve within the carpal tunnel resulting in pain, fatigue or numbness.