Collapsing 4th finger joint

[atticus]

Hi All,

The "nail" joint (joint closed to the fingertip) on my 4th finger collapses (bends inward) especially when playing thirds.  Does anyone know of any exercises to do to stop this from happening?

Thanks,
atticus

[danny elfboy]

Hi All,

The "nail" joint (joint closed to the fingertip) on my 4th finger collapses (bends inward) especially when playing thirds.  Does anyone know of any exercises to do to stop this from happening?

It's not a matter of muscle strength or strengthening the fingers so no exercise will help there. What you have to do instead is to find the correct position at the piano (heigth and distance) that leave your fingers "arched".
You must avoid create a fake shape of the playing hand (forming a ball, forming an arch) and respect the natural shape of the relaxed hand (the same that you can observe when you relax the arm and hand at your side)

The arch is the natural shape of the fingers and it's self supporting so you won't have problems maintaing it. The problem is the moment you hit a key.
In this brief moment you need to contract your muscles to stabilize the joints.
If you fail to do this your fingers will be "floppy" and you can't hit anything with a floppy hitting structure. It would be like hitting a ball with a floppy and limp glof club.

Anyway such contraction must be resetted quickly as its only purpose is to stabilize the joint. That's the reason why your joint collapses: lack of well-timed contraction and resetting. That's what you have to practice.

[atticus]

Hi danny elfboy,

Thanks for the response.  I'll give it a try!

atticus