Wearing a RING/WATCH - a distraction?

[jhon]

I've never wear a ring/watch.  My teacher have always said don't do so when performing or even just practicing.  And since most of the time I'm playing, I totally get rid of them as I'm tired of wearing them on and off.  Do you think they really distract one's playing?  Then how about the case of married pianists - do they still have to remove their wedding rings every now and then? 

But just look at Liberace and Maksim - so full of accesories...

[toymaker]

I always wear my lucky ring, and very seldomly take it off. It is rather small, and causes no problems to me.
Wearing a watch is another story. I user to wear a quite big Casio when I was younger, and caused my left wrist to ache when I practised more difficult stuff. So every time I sat to play, I automatically took it off and got rid of the problem.
Liberace was wearing a whole jewellery store on his fingers with no problem either. Rather extreme though.

[pianonut]

i feel naked if i don't wear mine.  and, i told my husband if he ever lost his again (due to taking it off at night so his finger doesn't swell) i would divorce him.  so, if i take mine off and lose it...hmmm wonders what he would do?  he's so nice, he'd just say, 'that's ok. i married you for you.'  why can't i be that nice - though it's my intentions.

[thalbergmad]

I can understand people wearing a ring. but would someone please explain why Brendel often plays with plasters all over his fingers.

[Floristan]

In a New York Times interview in 2004, Brendel said he wears bandages over the ends of his fingers because his fingernails have a tendency to break.

[Jacey1973]

In a New York Times interview in 2004, Brendel said he wears bandages over the ends of his fingers because his fingernails have a tendency to break.

What?? What a baby, i just bite mine therefore i don't have any problems with them breaking or being too long etc...

I never ever wear any watches/rings etc. I just don't feel comfortable playing with them on, my hands feel restricted.

[thalbergmad]

Rings never bothered Liberace and he was the greatest pianist of all time.

[thalberg]

In "the art of piano" Michelangeli wears a tiny pinky ring.  There's something stylish about that particular ring.

As for me, no rings, no watches.  (No wife, and the cell phone is my watch)

[lagin]

I don't like rings, but I do wear my watch when practicing or doing informal recitals, except when my wrist swells.  (not an injury swell, just water retention or whatever)  BUT I do take it off during exams or when competing.  I don't want to take any chances then!

[Aziel]

Rings never bothered Liberace and he was the greatest pianist of all time.

HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA!! 

[ted]

I haven't owned a watch since I was a kid and I didn't like wearing it then. I have never worn rings of any sort. Plenty of people play the piano with both though, so it's probably just habit.

[raffyplayspiano]

yea, i cant play with rings on my fingers..but once, for a performance workshop in school, i did this stupid stupid thing and got like 4 wristbands and put two on each hand...(i guess i was trying to make a statement, and i know its childish)  but they didnt really bother me. 
for the most part however, i play with nothing on my fingers or wrist...except if i forget to take off the Live strong wrist band.

raffy 

[prettypianoplaying]

I make sure i dont have any nail polish or rings on my fingers cuz it would distract me.
Even watching my fingers in the shiney piano distracts me enough!! (Im not used to it because my piano at home is not shiney)

[Barbosa-piano]

 If I don't wear my watch, my left hand feels strange when I am playing, distracting me. I am going to start to take it off to get used to the "watch free" hand. I don't use any rings. I heard that the rings can make a problem while recording. Someone in this forum said that in some recordings by Arrau, you can hear his ring clicking on the keys... Rachmaninoff had one too...

[whynot]

Liberace didn't play all his own notes.  He had backup players filling in, so his fingers didn't have to be completely free. 

Rings click!  I take it off even when practicing so it will feel normal when I take it off to perform.  My husband hates to see me take off my ring! but he's not around when I practice, and when I perform I have him hold it for me, so it's okay.    My watch is very close-fitting, I can't play strenuous music with it. 

[abell88]

I've always worn my ring and watch, so they feel normal to me...but my teacher once had his ring fly off and go rolling across the marble church floor when he was playing for a wedding. 

[Jacey1973]

Liberace didn't play all his own notes.  He had backup players filling in, so his fingers didn't have to be completely free. 

Rings click!  I take it off even when practicing so it will feel normal when I take it off to perform.  My husband hates to see me take off my ring! but he's not around when I practice, and when I perform I have him hold it for me, so it's okay.    My watch is very close-fitting, I can't play strenuous music with it. 

That's the one annoying thing, as most pianists don't wear rings. If i'm watching a pianist who i think is really attractive i can never tell if he's married and chooses not to wear his wedding ring; doesn't have a wedding ring but is married; or is simply not as he would wear a wedding ring otherwise!

...Typical me not concentrating on the music!

[janne p.]

I used to wear my watch as well as a ring on both L4th and R3rd finger, but nowadays I wear none of them when playing. I don't/didn't notice any difference.
My former teacher told me he had once forgotten on his big, rattly watch when performing the Revolutionary Etude for a jury of some kind and didn't even notice it. The jury did however; it almost drowned the piano at times, they said!

Also, I think it's quite childish to get mad at one's husband/wife/fiance if he/she takes off the ring for practical reasons. Completely ridiculous.

[pianonut]

well, this is my story.  husband takes ring off, puts on dresser.  three year old son (at the time) takes ring and puts it in the toilet and flushes or down one of the air vents, or possibly in the trash.  slighty miffed wife. this was a designed ring, no less, that matched mine.

[janne p.]

Getting mad at an ignorant husband is qualified :-] I say ignorant, 'cause as this has happened several times, his clumsiness, carelessness or forgetfulness should have brought him (or you! *points finger* ;-) to the point where he/you came up with some kind of system, for instance that he has a box or some other safe place where he stores it when not wearing it. This is what would've happened in my house, at least :}

But really, you have a reason - I meant the people who get nuts when you take off your ring when washing dishes, playing soccer or playing an instrument, and there's no history of or tendency to lose things. Often these people are clinging to a symbol too hard and not seeing what the whole thing really is about.

[pianonut]

yes.  after being married so long, there is very little that can annoy me to the point of distraction anymore.  you learn to love the person and not the symbol.  but, it makes me feel like he loves me if he wears it.  so we have a morning check (like boy scouts).  if he's wearing it,  he gets a kiss.

[Jacey1973]

yes.  after being married so long, there is very little that can annoy me to the point of distraction anymore.  you learn to love the person and not the symbol.  but, it makes me feel like he loves me if he wears it.  so we have a morning check (like boy scouts).  if he's wearing it,  he gets a kiss.

  Awww...I can't wait to get married!

[drjames]

Never had a problem with my watch or wedding ring (both on left hand) until I started learning the Pathetique.  I've found that my right hand hits my watch when crossing over in the second theme and my ring clicks on the keys in the very next section. When playing this one piece I have to take both off. Jim

[allthumbs]

Greetings

I have always removed my watch and ring every time I play. I find that it's less of a distraction that way.

Cheers

[danyal]

I've seen 2 great pianists play with a ring. Kristyan Zimerman, and Olga Kern, doesnt seem to bother either of them.

[janne p.]

Hamelin wears a ring. Doesn't seem to hinder him ;-)

[bernhard]

There is a BBC DVD of the complete WTC played by Joanna Macgregor, Angela Hewitt, Nikolai Demidenko and Andrei Gavrilov.

In several of the preludes and fugues Gavrilov wears weird rings. In one of then, the ring has a huge cubic stone possibly bigger than a quail’s egg!

[jz_rach2]

i don't wear rings/watches/bracelets when i'm practising or in performance because my piano teacher told me not too (although he himself wears rings). i do think they're a big distraction to me. i don't tend to stare at my hands when playing but i dislike the noises rings and bracelets make when they clash with the keyboard. watches, umm i just don't wear watches at all.
what about nail polish??? i don't wear it at all because my piano teacher dislikes it. anyone else find colourful nails distracting?