Why 5-4-3-2 is easier than 2-3-4-5

[Waldszenen]

Take both hands on your desk or table and play 5-4-3-2 in each hand, rapidly. Keep doing it for a while. Then do 2-3-4-5 instead, rapidly.

I suppose it's needless to say most of us will find the former far easier to execute; my question is, why is this so?

[quasimodo]

Take both hands on your desk or table and play 5-4-3-2 in each hand, rapidly. Keep doing it for a while. Then do 2-3-4-5 instead, rapidly.

I suppose it's needless to say most of us will find the former far easier to execute; my question is, why is this so?

It is probably related to the fact that fingers 4 & 5 share ligaments. Now if you use more forearm/wrist rotation than finger action, there won't be that much difference.

[xvimbi]

I have wondered this myself many times, but have not found a satisfactory explanation yet. The effect is already noticeable just with fingers 2 and 3: it is easier to play 3-2 than 2-3 (at least for me). That pretty much rules out shared tendons as a major cause, because fingers 2 and 3 don't share a tendon.

I'll have to give it some more thought...

[hazypurple21]

Because it's easier to move from 4 to 3 than it is from 3 to 4.

[quasimodo]

I have wondered this myself many times, but have not found a satisfactory explanation yet. The effect is already noticeable just with fingers 2 and 3: it is easier to play 3-2 than 2-3 (at least for me). That pretty much rules out shared tendons as a major cause, because fingers 2 and 3 don't share a tendon.

I'll have to give it some more thought...

Probably each person is a specific case, for me 2-3 or 3-2 don't seem to make a noticeable difference. My feeling is rather that the resistance is more on the 3-4-5 (vs. 5-4-3) part.

Anyway all the tendons of the 4 "long fingers" seem to be attached two by two by a transversal tendon (see image below) and those "transversal" tendons go from thin (2-3) to quite thick (4-5). Then, the thing is that when you move individual fingers from neutral position to a perpendicular one, you will notice that moving the 5th "attracts" the 4th (no way to resist it), the 4th "attracts" the 3rd (and more slightly the 5th). So that 5 kind of prepares 4 and so on..., which makes the 5-4-3-2 movement feel more flowing than the reverse.

Blah, I made this up, I'm no expert but it seems to make sense 

[ted]

Reluctant as I am to be a counter-example, I can't feel any variation in difficulty at all. I have never thought practising against a rigid resistance such as a table top does me much good so I've never bothered trying this sort of thing in any detail. In real playing, at the piano, I do have very many asymmetries of sensation, both within a hand and from one hand to the other. That particular movement isn't one of them though.

If a certain finger sequence feels uncomfortable, which event happens much less often now I'm older, I often find the trick is to imagine an accent on one finger in the group, either a real accent or more frequently one purely in the rhythm of the mind.

Simple example:

The repeated 3,2,5,1 group in the right hand of the last bars of Fantasie Impromptu. Years ago, for some unknown reason I found this hard. I realised that I "felt" the movement as having a cycle beginning on the third finger in line with the metre. I transferred this "felt" accent (it isn't an audible thing; it doesn't translate into sound) onto the fifth finger and it became dead easy.

I have found this innumerable times over the years. Why it is so I haven't the slightest idea. One would suppose that a given movement is a purely physical consideration, but in fact it is not, at least not for me at any rate.

[jeremyjchilds]

Wow...I don't know...

[beginner0]

I think it has something to do with the length of the fingers.

[pianistimo]

ok. try this!  make your fingers flat.  play back and forth from 5432 to 2345 with just a little rotation if you want.  now you have dancing fingers.

[leahcim]

I suppose it's needless to say most of us will find the former far easier to execute; my question is, why is this so?

I think [guess], on a table, it's because 5->2 goes from a very relaxed hand pronating to a tenser one - in the extreme you could go from a vertical "karate chop" hand that played 5 and rotate your forearms towards each other until the hands are where you say to start "put both hands on the desk" which would "play" 5, 4, 3, 2 as they each hit the desk. To start with the hands on the desk, it's just making that extreme smaller, but effectively the effort you put in moves it.

Doing the reverse, you're releasing tension, if you just relaxed your hands, the thumb should pop back up in the air - perhaps it's because rather than just relaxing  you're also trying to "play" those fingers not just lift them and that's harder? No doubt, on the piano, there are considerations about 2->5 playing the keys, which will require some other movement to get the dynamics rather than just the lifting the fingers - dunno, wish I did

The thumbs seem to get in the way on a desk too from 2-5 that doesn't seem to happen with 5->2, I find it a lot easier if I let my thumbs hang over the front of the desk.

[Waldszenen]

Reluctant as I am to be a counter-example, I can't feel any variation in difficulty at all. I have never thought practising against a rigid resistance such as a table top does me much good so I've never bothered trying this sort of thing in any detail. In real playing, at the piano, I do have very many asymmetries of sensation, both within a hand and from one hand to the other. That particular movement isn't one of them though.

I suppose if you're not encountering any differences then it must mean your technique is highly polished in that sense.

[lostinidlewonder]

I would think it is because you are tending towards the thumb which naturally is a very strong and balanced part of the hand. Moving to the 5th is not naturally a balance point for the hand. To me either way is as easy but I can remember when running to my 5th was arkward, it takes time to practice it away.