The disobediant 5th finger

[aragonaise]

The virtues of quiet hands-- the art of effortless playing-- have long been extolled, where all unnecessary movements of the hands and fingers are frowned upon. In fact, I've seen videos of many a great pianists who have complete grasp of this technique.  I admire the way the 4th and 5th fingers act as if they are independent of each other.

I realised through my own observation, that my fifth finger tend to curl up whenever the 4th finger depresses a key, like that unwittingly demonstrated by a pianist (not revealing who he is for now ) below.



My gripe is this act of curling and uncurling seems unnecessary and not very elegant. And it forms some kind of speed walls when I try to ramp up the speed, preventing me from running notes fast.

Just wondering if this is a common problem among pianists. Using a simple example, try playing C minor scale RH top down and see if your 5th finger curls and uncurls itself.

or

try playing c major thirds RH only, with the fingering 1-3, 2-4, 1-3, 2-4, 1-3, 2-4....and so on. My 5th finger in this instant jerks violently up down. Shocking---now that i've noticed it!





 

[rimv2]

The virtues of quiet hands-- the art of effortless playing-- have long been extolled, where all unnecessary movements of the hands and fingers are frowned upon. In fact, I've seen videos of many a great pianists who have complete grasp of this technique.  I admire the way the 4th and 5th fingers act as if they are independent of each other.

I realised through my own observation, that my fifth finger tend to curl up whenever the 4th finger depresses a key, like that unwittingly demonstrated by a pianist (not revealing who he is for now ) below.





My gripe is this act of curling and uncurling seems unnecessary and not very elegant. And it forms some kind of speed walls when I try to ramp up the speed, preventing me from running notes fast.

Just wondering if this is a common problem among pianists. Using a simple example, try playing C minor scale RH top down and see if your 5th finger curls and uncurls itself.

or

try playing c major thirds RH only, with the fingering 1-3, 2-4, 1-3, 2-4, 1-3, 2-4....and so on. My 5th finger in this instant jerks violently up down. Shocking---now that i've noticed it!

The pianist name start with a B ?

Ah dont have this problem as ah was started self taught and all the research ah did led meh to almost never raise the fingers.

Ah did do this with the left hand while practicing the revolutionary etude, however, after also studying the excersise of godowsky and dohnanyi, as well as practicing slowly ah have eliminated this random curled pinky altogether.

Cziffra and horowitz did it, so ah guess it cant be that bad a thing anyway

[rohansahai]

My case is just the opposite ....my 5th finger tends to 'stand up' .... any comments?

[jamie_liszt]

V. Horowitz 5th finger always curls up like that, it annoys my lol!

[aragonaise]

V. Horowitz 5th finger always curls up like that, it annoys my lol!

You got it right there! That pair of hands belong to horowitz.

[jamie_liszt]

this obvious, the hands of a master

[instromp]

It's the opposite with me too........my fifth finger tends to stand up.....i wonder why though...

[ted]

As long as actual sound and fluency remain unaffected I just let unused fingers do as they please. To do otherwise would seem to be fixing something which is not broken. If I started to experience pain or lack of flexibility or control it might be different, but that has never happened so I think in my case it is wiser to let sleeping dogs lie.

[tompilk]

is that him playing rach 3 in the first movement where (i cant remember accurately) he goes all teh way down the piano with his little finger going in and out every now and then?
Tom

[tompilk]

actuaklly i checked... i think it's about 8 mins into the third movement...
Tom

[bearzinthehood]

Horowitz was a great pianist, but it doesn't mean you should play with bad technique.  I always do my best to play as close as possible to the ideal.