Hanon....Injury While Playing

[ivoryplayer_amf]

I wasn't quite sure whether to put this in the student section or the performance so I thought that I would go for this one. 

I have been working on Hanon's 60 exercises or something.  And my wrist on my left keeps on having pains.  I try to stop and make sure I'm sitting at the piano right but that doesnt fix it.  Used to, it would only happen after I had played an exercise five or six times in a row as fast as I could.  But not it happens even after one time.  Can somebody help?

[kriskicksass]

STOP NOW! If you've hurt yourself playing Hanon, you were obviously doing something very wrong, but you can deal with that later. If you don't stop right now, you're risking a serious/permenant injury that could end your piano career forever. Does it only hurt with Hanon, or is it everything?

[mike_lang]

Are there any exercises in particular, or have you been practicing all 60?

Have you been exceeding the marked tempi?  Keep in mind, these are not studies in speed.

ML

[jlh]

Most likely you're forcing the speed faster than you can comfortably do, making your wrist tense up.  If there's pain, STOP and note exactly what you were doing at the time.  If I were to guess, I'd say you're trying to play the exercises with ONLY the fingers, and keeping your wrists locked in a neutral position.  Wrists should never be locked, but should be like jelly -- no tension AT ALL -- and if your wrists aren't like jelly, then you're invariably going to have problems at some point. 

Also, make sure that your wrists follow the motion of your finger patterns so that there's always a straight line from the tendons in your forearm and the finger that's playing.  An example would be the very first exercise... wrist motion down and to the left on the 5 in the left hand (you mentioned LH, so I'm giving the directions with that in mind) and move the wrist to the right (and a little up as well) as you go up the 5 finger pattern.  When you get to the thumb at the top of the pattern, the wrist should be pivoted (a little more for each note) to the upper right, and when you go back down, gradually move your wrist back to the left.  Then as you begin the transposition, begin it again with a wrist down motion and start over.  Remember, if there's not a straight line all the way down the tendons, there will be tension. 

Tension is bad. 

[netzow]

I won't pretend to be an expert however I have experienced this as well and have found it helpful to stop, relax my shoulders and hands completly and take the excercise slower before speeding it up again. Hope this helps.

[ivoryplayer_amf]

i think y'all are right...maybe I'm taking it way to fast.  Also I think you are right...I have been tensing up my wrist.  So I'll try these things.  I think these are great suggestions.  And yes it only happens with the hanon exercises.  Mainly the first one on the decending.

[mike_lang]

You might also consider playing extremely slowly and making sure that after you depress each note, you are releasing the pressure, though the key remains down. 

Best,
ML

[gyzzzmo]

There are already loads of items and replies about the Hanon exercises. Search on on this forum.

[ramseytheii]

Sometimes when we practice something a million times and it is always uncomfortable, it is difficult to get that feeling out of the mind, and to start over.  I recommend not playing Hanon for the time being, but concentrating on pieces which emphasize flexibility, cantabile tones, and polyphony in the Left Hand, for instance Bach preludes and fugues, or two-part inventions.  Rediscover thoroughly the suppleness of the Left Hand, and erase from your mind entirely, the negative sensations you have experienced!

Walter Ramsey

[klick]

If you go through the excersizes too fast without mastering the previous excersize, that may cause injury according to my teacher, so maybe try taking a slow pace through the book to avoid injury.

Mastering means going from 60 to 108 progressively, master the speed and making sure each note is distinctly heard. If you expirience pain on even the first excersize, maybe hannon isn't for you then.

Just kind of regurjitating the things my teacher told me when she wanted to start me in Hannon.

Klick

[kriskicksass]

If you go through the excersizes too fast without mastering the previous excersize, that may cause injury according to my teacher, so maybe try taking a slow pace through the book to avoid injury.

Mastering means going from 60 to 108 progressively, master the speed and making sure each note is distinctly heard. If you expirience pain on even the first excersize, maybe hannon isn't for you then.

Just kind of regurjitating the things my teacher told me when she wanted to start me in Hannon.

Klick

Everything here is true. I like to compare Hanon (and all technical exercises) to weight-lifting. You need to build up your weight (speed) and you need to lift at regular intervals with plenty of time for your muscles to recuperate between (of course where you lift every other or every two days, you can and should play exercises daily).

If you feel that enough time has passed, and your hands are no longer in pain, then you should start back in where you left off, slowly and pianissimo. A part of your problem may have been a lack of proper wrist movements, so as you begin playing again look for wrist motions that will facilitate the fingers' movements (generally it's a lateral wrist motion that follows the movement of the notes up and down in each pattern, but not always). Once you have found the proper wrist movements and are assured that there's no more risk of injury to your hands, you may begin playing forte again as you see fit.

[ted]

You have eliminated the possibility that an injury has been caused by something other than piano and pain is just triggered by that particular position ? I remember once thinking a certain Chopin study had injured me but it turned out to be something else I was doing and the particular piece just used whatever parts I had strained in the other activity.

In any case, stopping the exercises immediately is good advice, but have a careful check of things you are doing other than piano playing.