is it normal?

[ryanyee]

is it possible to keep ur pinky down when playing on the piano?

[kghayesh]

explain more... are u supposed to keep it raised up??

[gyzzzmo]

i can even keep my pinky down without playing the piano!

[pianochick93]

is it possible to keep ur pinky down when playing on the piano?

Haha, I have that problem when I play scales. My pinky finger on my right hand just wont go down, its like I'm drinking tea or something. If I give consious thought to it, I can keep it down, but otherwise, up it goes.

[Kassaa]

I just tried and my pinky does not raise when playing scales.

[ryanyee]

because it's using all of ur fingers to play. i mean when playing pieces like bach concertos or art of fugue. could it be due to poor technique? because it feels gay to be unable to hold my *** pinky down. maybe a bone structural problem should be the case.

[ryanyee]

explain more... are u supposed to keep it raised up??

no but i just cant control it!!! it's getting on my nerves. it feels like some *** gay finger position sh*t even though im not gay. its making me more conscious of my playing.

[Bob]

It's very dainty looking, isn't it?

It sounds like a sign of some tension.  Maybe play slow and focus on relaxing.  That might take some time to relax away.  I've seen student conductors do the same thing and they had a bit of a time relaxing their hand to hold a baton without the pinky sticking out.  Maybe your pinkies are trying to conduct?  Haha.

Just relax.  You must be able to play something without it being up. 

I notice tapping on my hand that my pinkie moves up when I tap fiver finger patterns -- about when the middle finger is moving.  But it's not up the whole time.  Interesting to note though.

[ryanyee]

well its *** sick looking. this only happens when i use my 4th finger and i ithink when im playing vigourous pieces but i've never notice that happening before cos i tend to concentrate on the sound instead of my hands.

[pianochick93]

I only get it when I'm playing scales, and its because I don't use the pinky much at all - it's like its trying to stay out of the way.

I also have a sort of double jointed knuckle on my pinky, so that could be it, it has stiffness problems when it tries to go from straight to bent, like a little click, and then it works fine.

[shingo]

When I am playing an ascending section when I go 4th to 5th sometimes my 5th has a nervous jump which is very fast just before using it. It doesn't affect playing, it is not large enough to cause the note to sound or even indent the key. Does anybody else have this?

[danny elfboy]

If you keep your pinky raise you have excessive tension.
You must not raise your fingers raise but as you articulate them there's a bit of raising as a preparation for the lowering.

Try this exercise.
First of all watch your posture.
You want your forearm to be parallel to the floor when in the playing position and you want your relaxed upper arm to hang freely while your elbows are down and not pointing at the sides.

In this position put your hand in playing position ona desk (kind of cupper and round fingers) so that the top of your hand, wrist and forearm are all in a straight line.

In this position tap once with your index finger. Focus on your knuckle but don't raise the finger high. Just tap once. Then relax the hand completely and then tap again. And relax again.

Notice that all your fingertips are resting on the desk surface and while the index finger moves and the knuckle contracts the other fingers are relaxed and motionless just resting on the desk.

Now tap twice consecutively and then relax the hand. Tap again twice and relax again.
Repeat tapping three times and then four time.

You should absolutely feel no strain or pain and it should be absolutely effortlessly.

Do the same routine with the third finger.
Do the same routine with the fourth finger BUT don't expect the fourth finger to move in total isolation, the third finger will move a little too. This is not bad at all so don't fight against this tendency.

To the same routine with the fifth fingers.
Again focus on directing the motion to that fingers and contracting only that knuckles while the other fingers just rest

To the same with the thumb BUT don't lower the hand as you depress the thumb.
The hand should not move (that doesn't mean you must stiff and block it) just the thumb should raise from the fleshy part of the hand that attacches to the thumb.

Now play a 5 notes scales from A to E starting with the thumb on A and pinky on E and use the same coordination. The finger you must play conctract and coordinate, there's no raising high, there's no locking of the hand and the other fingertips just rest quietly on the keys. Tap on the A with the thumb and relax, tap on the B with the index and relax, tap on the C with the middle finger and relax and so on. Take your time and go very slowly. Practice this every day till you learn to aumatically direct muscle contraction to each finger individually while the others just relax and rest on the keys.

[slobone]

no but i just cant control it!!! it's getting on my nerves. it feels like some *** gay finger position sh*t even though im not gay. its making me more conscious of my playing.

Are you sure you're not gay? I've heard that lack of pinky control is one of the big warning signs...   

[danny elfboy]

It making conscious of your playing should be the last of your worries.
It destroying your coordination, *** your tendons, ruining your technique and injurying you is what you should worry about.

[a-sharp]

Is it negatively affecting your playing (to the ear)? If not, don't worry about it. We shouldn't worry about what we *look* like when we're playing, unless it is somehow a hinderance (sp?)  to playing effectively. Ask your teacher if you need an objective opinion... my 2 c.

[ryanyee]

If you keep your pinky raise you have excessive tension.
You must not raise your fingers raise but as you articulate them there's a bit of raising as a preparation for the lowering.

Try this exercise.
First of all watch your posture.
You want your forearm to be parallel to the floor when in the playing position and you want your relaxed upper arm to hang freely while your elbows are down and not pointing at the sides.

In this position put your hand in playing position ona desk (kind of cupper and round fingers) so that the top of your hand, wrist and forearm are all in a straight line.

In this position tap once with your index finger. Focus on your knuckle but don't raise the finger high. Just tap once. Then relax the hand completely and then tap again. And relax again.

Notice that all your fingertips are resting on the desk surface and while the index finger moves and the knuckle contracts the other fingers are relaxed and motionless just resting on the desk.

Now tap twice consecutively and then relax the hand. Tap again twice and relax again.
Repeat tapping three times and then four time.

You should absolutely feel no strain or pain and it should be absolutely effortlessly.

Do the same routine with the third finger.
Do the same routine with the fourth finger BUT don't expect the fourth finger to move in total isolation, the third finger will move a little too. This is not bad at all so don't fight against this tendency.

To the same routine with the fifth fingers.
Again focus on directing the motion to that fingers and contracting only that knuckles while the other fingers just rest

To the same with the thumb BUT don't lower the hand as you depress the thumb.
The hand should not move (that doesn't mean you must stiff and block it) just the thumb should raise from the fleshy part of the hand that attacches to the thumb.

Now play a 5 notes scales from A to E starting with the thumb on A and pinky on E and use the same coordination. The finger you must play conctract and coordinate, there's no raising high, there's no locking of the hand and the other fingertips just rest quietly on the keys. Tap on the A with the thumb and relax, tap on the B with the index and relax, tap on the C with the middle finger and relax and so on. Take your time and go very slowly. Practice this every day till you learn to aumatically direct muscle contraction to each finger individually while the others just relax and rest on the keys.
ok will try. thanks for the great advice!

[nyonyo]

I agree with danelfboy, if you are stiff, you pinky will stick out, like other thing if it is stiff, it will stick out. So you need to practice slowly and relax. It is hard to describe what relax is, somebody needs to show you.

I used to have my pinky sticking up all the time. Finally, one of my teacher thought me how to relax...She is the first person who can teach relaxation.

[lostinidlewonder]

When you relax your hand this is the shape you should tend towards when you play the piano. In simplistic terms it really means that your hand should try to look the same no matter what you are playing. With efficiency study into playing the piano we study how alterations to the natural hand shape can be tackled with least effort. A pinky finger sticking out hand no place unless you have to make a strong accent with your pink why the other fingers of the same hand are committed to playing other notes. If you have it during scalar passages then you really need to find the centre of gravity in your hand and learn to balance on it not away from it and thus feeling the need to use your pinky to give you balance, feel groups of notes not singular notes.

[ryanyee]

i don't suppose this problem affects only children? well  concentrating on trying to keep my pinky down is kinda impossible for me. cos i concentrate 2 much on the music. and if i ever tried, i wouldnt be able to.

[kard]

I dont think the members are talking about consciously trying to keep the pinky down. They are saying that the raised pinky is a sign of excessive tension/lack of balance. I didn't even know/consider possible tendon damage  , which should your primary cause for alarm.  Your gay pinky wont betray you, the audience isnt in that good a position to see. If you're being videotaped on the other hand...   

[ryanyee]

yes i know that. who the hell would want to intentionally raise their pinky? unless if they're really gay then those ppl should just stop learning. nah.. bit too harsh on them. they should learn too stop raising their pinky on purpose.

[Bob]

It will probably take awhile to get it under control.  Relaxing and curling it down. 

You might also want to try extending it out, the opposite direction from how you want it.  Then relax it -- Take a deep breath and veeery slowly relax it back to wherever it wants to go.  If the muscles that pull it up like that have captured some tension, that will release some and might let it go back further the direction you want it to go.  If that makes sense. 

Maybe focus on finger dexterity over just getting that pinkie down though.  Although.... Either way is good.  I had a pinkie that wasn't hitting the keys quite how I want (how it should hit) and I focused on that and fixed it.  It does take some time. 

Just identifying a problem is half of it though. 

[ryanyee]

well i just tried. played slowly and no use. it still kept sticking out everytime i play something like bach's no.2 partita: sinfonia. or everytime im using my 4th finger. it's not exactly affecting my playing but it's kinda annoying, considering that many other ppl have already eradicated this problem.

[nyonyo]

You have to use easier pieces to learn how to correct your pinky problem. If you use a piece that you need to struggle technically, your effort will not work. You have to obtain the understanding of relaxation first.

[tds]

it feels like some *** gay finger position sh*t...

[ryanyee]

You have to use easier pieces to learn how to correct your pinky problem. If you use a piece that you need to struggle technically, your effort will not work. You have to obtain the understanding of relaxation first.

 perhaps u could give me an example of easier pieces

[tds]

working it out WITHOUT having to use/play a piece is i think far better. the process to find out the problems and have any clue to fix them is a massive task already, so no addition of playing a piece is necessary, really.

do think of direction, motion and position. something is obviously incorrectly done there. find out where the problems originate and try to correct it. easier: find a taubman or alexander teacher-they sure can help you.

important: energy starts from the center out to extremities. pinky is one of the extremities. so can you find out what clogs the energy that needs to depart and transfer from center all the way thru extremities? unnecessary tensions? where? it has to be somewhere BEFORE the pinky itself. more than one or two spots? highly possible. where exactly? find them! it's your homework.

warmest, tds

[ryanyee]

well the 4th and maybe the third finger's the culprit. but i still don get it. should i play hanon to correct this problem? or play scales slowly? cos i haven been play scales since i finished my grade 8 exam last year.

[sswave4dave]

I had the same air-pinky problem, and discovered the cause and solution. Relaxing is important, but wasn't the specific problem.

Try this experiment: place the tips of your fingers on a table, with your palm up high. One by one, raise your fingers as high as they'll go. You'll probably notice your 4th finger is severely limited compared to others.

My pinky popped up most when I played scales including a Bb, which the 4th finger (of the right hand) always plays. Due to the limitation observed above, my pinky would stick up high in order to help my 4th finger get up onto the Bb.

I've corrected the problem by playing the scale VERY slowly, and when I get to Bb I concentrate on lifting ONLY my 4th finger, as I did in the table exercise. It is a very strange sensation at first, stretching muscles I hadn't been using.

Every hand is different, but hopefully this can help yours too.

[quantum]

I prefer playing with my pinky out than curled in like Horowitz does.  I find it uses much less extraneous energy, plus it is in a more immediate playing position.  I believe the functionally, efficiency and ergonomics of bodily movement is much more important that the aesthetics of how you look. 

Much more commonly I see in students are collapsing knuckle joints, especially on the pinky side of the hand.  This sometimes leads to strange positions of the hand.  That said there could also be undue tension causing you to hold your pinky unusually high. 

[loonbohol]

Winter Wind hurts the pinky of your hand.

[go12_3]

I never heard about the pinkie going up in the air.....I tried that as I played.  Anyhow,  how about the pinkie going straight, instead of being curved?
I have a couple of students, a few months of lessons(beginners), with straight pinkies-----as they strike the key.......hummmmmmmmm     

[ryanyee]

I never heard about the pinkie going up in the air.....I tried that as I played.  Anyhow,  how about the pinkie going straight, instead of being curved?
I have a couple of students, a few months of lessons(beginners), with straight pinkies-----as they strike the key.......hummmmmmmmm     

lol right i meant just sticking out uncontrollably at around a 15 degree angle? thanks for taking the liberty of replying to a half yr old topic anw and until now it's still bugging me lol