How long does it take a pianist to retrain muscle memory to play a new motion?

This is a wonderful question. There is no such thing, literally, as muscle memory. Movement is hardwired into the brain, not the muscles.

New muscle memory movement is very easy to wire into the brain and it can be immediate however, the brain never forgets the old patterns so, as a musician, if you get nervous or your body is cold, or you go into autopilot, it is very easy for the old movements to reassert themselves and take over despite new and more efficient neural pathways having been created since. This is especially true for musicians and also, how and what we play is very important.  This is why musicians often claim they can play perfectly in their living room but on stage it all falls apart. What is happening is the old muscle memory takes over because of environmental factors such as the presence of an audience, different bench height, temperature, nerves, etcetera. 

There is another danger here. Many teachers instruct the student to build strength and endurance to overcome technical deficiencies. This works to a certain extent but also puts the musician on the path to injury. If the musician then learns new and proper movements, the improper muscles used previously will immediately atrophy. This is why improperly trained musicians feel rusty or stiff after missing a few days of practice because the wrongly built muscles will get weak, quickly. Proper playing utilizes fulcrums, alignment, gravity, ergonomics and the laws of physics, not muscle. This is counter intuitive to most musicians and to many teachers who are ignorant of anatomy and physics. Mediocrity is the result of using the wrong muscles, not lack of talent. This is because most teachers have no idea what they are doing. They only know what they know but what they don’t know is what creates injury, tension, fatigue and sloppy playing.

A beginning student may learn a piece of music and there may be flaws in his movement. Over time he gets better and learns new songs and rewires some of the improper movements in his brain. He progresses further and his technique improves and his brain learns newer and even more proper movement. THE DANGER is playing old repertoire because even though his technique improves and he now has proper movements, the brain remembers the lesser or improper movements of previous repertoire from a time when he moved less properly. It is important for musicians to either never play old repertoire or, re-learn each piece with the newer, more proper motions.

The greatest danger is, as I previously said, the improper muscles atrophy if not used. If a musician built improper muscles to play a piece well, then as he progresses and loses that muscle because it is no longer needed since he is more ergonomic now, then he plays that old repertoire, the brain expects that the former muscle is there and tries to play the work “normally.” Since the muscle is no longer present, this is when the musician runs the risk of greatly injuring themselves. This is why a well trained musician can one day, out of nowhere, injure themselves.  Most injuries are actually cumulative and it is one of those "muscle memory" moments that serves as the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back."

In addition, rewiring your brain on your instrument isn’t sufficient. You must simultaneously do the same with how you ring a doorbell, tie your shoes, brush your teeth, pick up a piece of paper, type, swipe, wipe . . .

There is no such thing as repetitive strain, only improper movement.  If you move improperly, all movement can become repetitive strain and as I said, it is cumulative.  That is why a forty year old might get out of bed with stiffness, aches and pains while a 70 who has moved properly all their lives can rise with elan and alacrity.  You can take that to the movement bank.

Q: Why is it difficult to play between the black piano keys?

Piano keys are a fulcrum and as we all know from being children, fulcrums are lightest on the edge. Sit on a see saw and notice if you sit inward, you weigh less and the opposite person has the advantage. Sit on the very outside edge and you weigh more.

So, playing on the outside of the piano key gives you more power and the keys are easier to depress because they require less force. If you play on the inside of the key, in the black area or, closer to the fulcrum, the keys will be harder to depress.
However, this is only predominately true if you have poor technique. There are several ways to give the arm more power to the fingers such as proper alignment, rotation, in and out motions because your fingers are different lengths and a fulcrum unto themselves, gravity and basic laws of physics such as every motion must have an equal and opposite motion.  Then, there are things not to do which if we do, will weaken or diminish our virtuosity. 
Some teachers just teach dot matching and don’t have a knowledge of physics, biology and ergonomics. If your teacher doesn’t know what a pronator is or how to adjust the elbow so the four and five fingers are just as strong as the other fingers . . . that teacher may hurt you.  If you are lucky, you will only be mediocre.

Q: For guitarists, what type of practicing helps you get your playing skills back the fastest?

I am a pianist but I’m sure that my answer correlates.

Technique is in your brain, not in your muscles. You brain hard wires movement which we call muscle memory but, it originates in your brain. That is why you never forget how to ride a bike or swim because the act of balance and using all those ancillary muscles gets mapped directly into the brain through the initial trial and error.

There are two ways to move: properly and improperly. Virtuosos move properly thus, they have virtuoso techniques. People without virtuosity simply move improperly and those improper movements get in the way of proper movement. Much like two people engaged in a three legged race. Both of you must perfectly sync your movements together in order to move freely and efficiently. If one doesn’t, anarchy reigns. Likewise, within our arms are muscles which must work in sync. If they don’t, we are mediocre at best.

When you first touch your instrument you brain makes those neural pathways and if you move improperly that improper movement becomes your permanent technique. Quite simply, you are using the wrong muscles to play and you will forever battle those bad habits. It is possible to brow beat strength and endurance into those wrong muscles and make progress but the day you skip practice, your body immediately begins to atrophy what it doesn’t need and you will feel rusty.

Proper technique uses the laws of physics and ergonomics and never atrophies because gravity requires no muscle. Pianists, for instance, think they depress the keys with their fingers but the fingers have no muscles. They are moved by the flexor muscles in the forearm and they are all interconnected with each other and also with the extensors. Each muscle moves one bone in one direction and there is an opposing muscle to move it back. If you use two muscles at the same time to move one bone, you will create tension, cramps, fatigue, injury or if you are lucky, play poorly. Even the slightest imbalance will create tension. This often happens when a musician isolates a finger. You can not extend and flex at the same time. Even though you can, you should not because they are still interconnected and they will be pulling on one another creating tension.

Proper playing is actually the result of several movements coming together so no single muscle is taxed through repetition. For pianists, this is called shaping. These multiple muscles include the pronator, supinator, shoulder, elbow and most importantly, gravity. Gravity never fatigues, it is always there. I don’t play guitar but I am going to guess that you never have to strum down because gravity or the weight of the arm will play down. Your only job is to play up. If you remember from HS physics, every motion has an equal and opposite motion. As a pianist, I can’t play down unless I first play up. If you sit at a piano, play a chord. Notice that you must play up, first. Up is the only work because down is effortless. Many pianists go wrong there because they press into the keybed. Since they can’t go any further and it creates no additional tone, then why press? It only creates tension and worse, prevents them from playing up because they are pressing down. You can’t move in two directions at the same time.

There are also muscles we should never use such as the abductors. Again, you can’t use two muscles at the same time. If you flex and abduct simultaneously, you are pulling one bone in two directions and the tendons are what will bear the brunt of this vector force and that is where cramps, fatigue or uneven playing comes from.

Go with gravity. Don’t fight it or try to force it. Remember from HS physics, if you push on a wall, it is pushing back with equal force. The wall will always win. Relaxation only comes from effort but it must be from the equal and opposite direction. Like walking. In order to propel your body forward, one foot is behind you pushing backward. In order to walk up stairs you must lift UP one foot higher than the step then come down on to it, using gravity. Although, I have heard people stomping up stairs. Swing a bat, throw a ball, kick a can . . . they all start with equal and opposite motions. Even your car rolls forward because its tires are pushing backward. Physics is not a useless class in HS that you don’t use in real life. It is everywhere in everything. Use it.

Get the laws of physics into your playing and you will never be rusty. Your technique will be there every day, even with several consecutive off days. Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Q: What is “trigger finger” in the thumb, and what is the best way to treat it if you are a musician that uses his fingers a lot?

A:  You didn't mention your instrument.

Trigger Finger or, stenosing tenosynovitis, is a condition where your finger gets stuck in a bent position and you have to snap it open.

Various tendons originate in your forearm and run down to the tips of your fingers. Your tendons are encased in a sheath and everywhere where there is a bend, like a garden hose, your tendon sheath can kink. Your tendon can also develop scar tissue or nodules on them causing them to get caught in those kinks and this can lock them in place. Your tendons actually glide through the sheath and stretch.

The cause for this scar tissue or nodules or kinks is misuse of the fingers and has nothing to do with overuse. If you move improperly all movement is overuse. Move properly and overuse doesn’t exist.

There are four basic muscles which move our fingers; abductors which spread them apart, adductors which pull them together, flexors which flex your fingers and extensors which straighten them out.

Abductors are weak muscles and when, say, a pianist, abducts and flexes at the same time, most do, they are using two muscles to move one bone in two directions. This creates a dual pull or vector force and one or both of the tendons become strained. This can create tension, cramps, fatigue, pain, uneven playing or micro tears to the tendon. Since tendons don’t have a direct blood supply, they are VERY slow to heal and the body places scar tissue there as a quick fix. Scar tissue does not stretch and the next time you strain the same tendon, it tears further creating more scar tissue. Since the scar tissue is cumulative, eventually the fatigue and uneven playing becomes sharp pain or the fingers lock.

The solution is to learn to move properly by working with a teacher who actually knows what they are doing. This requires a knowledge of physics and anatomy - not just music. Good luck finding such a teacher. Many THINK they know about technique but they don’t. Pedagogy is often rooted in what virtuosos feel and how it appears they are playing, not the actual invisible movements under “the hood.”

An example of this is the Carrezando technique. When a pianist moves properly with in/out, up/down motions, as the arm moves the hand around there is a sensation of caressing the keys. The caressing is the end result of the arm movement but this was not understood so they taught pianists to force caressing into their playing which created tension. Relaxed fingers is the result of other larger muscles working. You can’t relax the muscles you are trying to use. So when a student complains of cramps an unknowing teacher might suggest they relax but, relax what? The better teacher will instruct them on the proper muscles to use so that they can actually relax the improper ones causing the cramps.

Your flexor muscles are strong but fatigable. Your abductors are very weak. Regarding the thumb, if you are a pianist, many pianists are taught to cross the thumb under the palm for scales and arpeggios but the thumb’s tendon intersects with the index finger’s long flexor tendon. When you cross under, they grind together resulting in nodules. In addition, the thumb’s flexor is under the palm. The thumb was designed for gripping and that is why its flexor is there. When pianists play down on a key with the thumb, they use its abductor, its weakest most fatigable muscle.

So instead of using the wrong and weakest muscles, a good teacher will teach the student to use indefatigable muscles to play. For instance, gravity combined with a forward shift, combined with pronation and up/down, the thumb can then play effortlessly and with great speed without using any of its grasping muscles.

Isolating any finger is bad for our anatomy because they are interconnected. That is why playing an instrument must involve the combination of several muscles so that no one single muscle or tendon is misused.

Most musicians’ first teachers often don’t know what they are doing and allow their students to develop these improper motions or bad habits and these errant movements instantly become hardwired into our brains. It has been my experience that most people either don’t have the intelligence, patience, discipline nor dedication to rewire their brains to move properly. It can take time to undo years of misuse.

Another movement never to do is pinching with the thumb. Especially with the index because, again, the intersecting tendons. This also isolates two fingers. All five fingers are designed to move in the same direction at the same time. When a pianist gets that into their playing, they will develop effortless playing. It is sometimes called “tapping.” Likewise, they must never press into a keyboard for when you push into an immovable force, it is pushing back. This will only strain the player. It would behoove a pianist to learn to play to the point of sound, not the keybed. Point of sound is that little “bump” you feel when you slowly depress an ACOUSTIC piano key down without making a sound. You will first feel a point of resistance then it gives way. That is the point to play to. No further. The end result of that? Carrezando.

A good technique is the end result of proper movement. You can’t brow beat it into your hands. A teacher who prescribes exercises, demands more practice or says to relax doesn’t know what they are doing. Problems of technique are fixed by adjustments and fixing what you are doing wrong.

-Malcolm Kogut.

Playing With Fire #9: Part One - Bad Teachers

I am often told that I am harsh, unfair and judgmental toward piano teachers. It is true. While many teachers may have much to teach regarding the artistry of playing the piano, it is also true that many of them do not know what they are doing mechanically. The body is a machine with levers, pulleys, rubber bands, torque and fulcrums. We learn about these things in Physics and Biology classes and it is too bad that our educational system doesn't use Physical Education class to combine it all together. It is also too bad that our teachers only know what they are taught and do not seek answers to problems other than relying on what they were taught: practice more, relax, work on finger exercises, build strength and endurance, you have no talent or, they just keep taking the students' money. Often, the cure for technical inefficiency or various syndromes is an adjustment to our movement but that is rarely addressed because a teacher only knows what they were taught and often that is practice more, relax, work on finger exercises, build strength and endurance. I have a friend who can't play tremolos because he tries to play them from his fingers. If he played them from his elbow, they would be instantly effortless. But, what do I know, his teacher told him to practice more and build strength.

I may not be able to pick up and move an 800 pound boulder across my yard but, with a crowbar and another rock, I could make a fulcrum and inch it over. Better yet, if I can nudge it up onto a dolly with wheels, I can then easily roll it over. My strength and endurance doesn't change, but how I use the laws of physics can make all the difference.

I took lessons from one of my area's leading concert pianists with the sole intention of improving my technique. He was one of those virtuoso pianists who simply moved properly. He had an ergonomic technique and didn't know how or why he could play with great ease. He called it talent. Students flocked to him hoping to become as good as he but he didn't know how to help his students find their true potential. Many of his lessons were spent with him playing hoping his students would imitate him but, the actual movement of playing is invisible and shared by several muscles many teachers are oblivious to because they don't know they exist. We think it is the fingers that play the piano but, it is first and foremost the arm. The unenlightened teacher focuses on the fingers, which have no muscles BTW.

This teacher has long since died and his daughter has taken over teaching. I had the opportunity to work with one of her students and his technique was dangerously close to crippling him. Sadly, he only wanted a magic lesson so he could play well and didn't want to put in the work of relearning how to move. There was nothing I could do for him. In order to relearn how to play one must abandon all previously learned movements and start over, which many pianists are not willing to do.

This kind of teacher may be fine for the student who just wants a taste of music, learn a little theory or be able to plunk out some notes for themselves but, a teacher's ignorance can stifle a student's progress, enthusiasm and even set them up for eventual injury. Mediocrity is not related to talent, it is a symptom of teachers who don't know about the physics of movement and our skeletal system.

You would not take your car in for an inspection only for the mechanic to tell you your brakes or tires are going bad but you can get a few more months out of them. Well, actually people do. That mechanic is putting your life and everyone you share the road with in danger because you probably won't come back in in a few months. Sure, you are saving a few bucks today but at what cost in the future? If your brakes are bad, get them fixed, don't drive more. Driving more won't fix them. If you technique is bad, get it fixed, don't practice more. Repeating improper movement only hard-wires it into the brain.

A piano teacher who does not understand that a student is using the wrong muscles or how to teach them to use the correct muscles is setting them up for problems or a career of mediocrity. Every technical problem has an ergonomic solution, and it isn't “practice more.” If walking knock-kneed causes knee pain, the solution isn't to walk more, it is to walk correctly. If your pinky and ring finger feel weak and in-coordinate, you don't need to strengthen them, you only need an adjustment to your forearm alignment.

I have had all the wrong teachers and although they made me who I am today, they set me up to be crippled with pain and to struggle with a mediocre technique. It has taken me years to relearn how to move but I am now pain free and syndrome-less because I stopped fighting the laws of physics and started using them. Although I have much more work to do, my technique has improved significantly.

Playing With Fire #8

Look down at your fingers. If you haven't noticed they are all different in length. Many pianists and typists are taught to equalize their fingers by curling them so that all five are touching the keys at the same time. This places your fingers in a constant state of flexation. It is impossible for a musician to relax their fingers if they are holding them in contraction. In addition, you can only move a bone in one direction at a time but we all have several muscles that can pull them in several opposing directions. So if you are trying to move a finger up or in a certain direction but another muscle is pulling the hand in an opposite direction, there is going to be strain or at the very least, in-coordinate movement. This is why some pianists struggle with scales, arpeggios or speed.

It behooves the pianist to play on the edge of the keys for the keys are lightest on the outside edge. If you have ever played on a see saw as a child, you know that regardless of weight, if one kid sits on the outside edge of their seat and the other kid is sitting forward, the kid on the outside will “weigh more.” Just like the see saw, the piano key is a fulcrum. Such as using a board and rock to move another rock, the further out you are on the board, the more power you will have. Your shoulder, elbow, wrist, knuckles and each phalanx of your fingers are all fulcrums.

If you were to place your middle finger on the outside edge of a white key, all your other fingers will be hanging off the keys in the air. This is counter intuitive to most teachers but by using your shoulder and elbow to move in and out to place each finger, it not only reduces how much you need to move a finger but, it gives the finger the power and weight of motion and gravity without having to use the sluggish flexor muscles. Indeed, the piano is forward so the pianist or typist needs to have a constant forward shift momentum to their movement. If they static load, since the body wants to contract, they risk falling off the keys or cramping. When that begins to happen, the pianist contracts even more in an effort to grasp at the keys and this just creates a downward spiral of technical inefficiency and tension.

To equalize the length of all your fingers you need to get in/out motions into your arm. The pianist who does not risks playing on the inside of the key where the keys are heavier, thus is born, the myth that the pianist needs more strength to play or, they might complain that the action of the piano is stiff. The keys feel stiff because the pianist is playing too far in. Again, this is counter intuitive to most teachers but the arm is much faster at placing a finger than a flexor is at playing.

Using the C scale, place your thumb on the outside edge of the C. When you play the index finger, come out from the elbow and play straight down. Because you are coming out, you need to replace it with a forward shift. The arm will come out, up and forward all at the same time. This is where the wrist and forearm work together. It is also what gives many pianists a look of grace. Even though you are coming out, you are also moving in, up and down. When you play the middle finger, you come out even more. When you play the ring finger, you simply shift forward without needing to use the actual flexor. The same thing happens with the pinky. You just shift inward but stay on the outer edge of the key. Be careful you know about forearm alignment first. I'll discus that later. That is another fulcrum.

Every scale has different patterns of in/out. Actually, many scales are easier to play because the black keys are already forward so there is less “out” to employ. However, since the black keys are higher, you need more forward shifting with an “up” in order to come straight down on the key. This too is where pianist create tension grasping for keys. The finger does not strain and stretch to reach keys, the arm places them where they need to be which is directly over the key. Singers are taught to sing higher than their target note so they don't sing flat. Likewise, when you walk up stairs, your ascending foot raises higher than the next step then comes straight down onto it. Notice also that when your leg raises up, the down muscles are actually relaxed and your up muscles are engaged. Then, you don't stomp on the step but rotate to the next leg. This is important for the pianist to know. They can only relax if they play up then let gravity play down. The moment they press down into the key they corrupt the arms ability to go back up. A dual tension occurs and anarchy of technique ensues.

Without up/down and in/out, the musician will risk strain and uneven playing. Up/down and in/out movements give the arm (fingers) a lot of power allowing the pianist/typist to truly relax the fingers/hands/long flexor muscles. Most hand and wrist strain is caused by using more than one muscle at a time to move one bone in two or more directions simultaneously. It is imperative to learn to use one muscle at a time. This can only happen by relaxing the flexors which are the very muscles most pianists are taught to use.

When you walk, you don't flex your toes with each step. The toes just go where the leg places them. Likewise, the fingers go where the arm places them. The fingers don't operate independent to the arm and they surely don't drag the arm behind them. When you are washing a window, writing on a chalk board or waxing your car, the hand goes where the arm places it and the fingers do as they are told, with no effort.