fingers ache?

[hello99]

I'm playing chopin's 10-4. And I wonder if it's normal to have strained fingers are sometme. I play it around 1 hour plus nonstop/day on average. I do slow practice around 80-90 on metronome and slowly increasing it to 130-140. I still find myself unstable at high speed but around 120 should be fine.

I've been playing it for about a month, and i'm half way done. Memorized and plays almost up to the repeat section.

So the problem's I'm facing

finger ache (no forearm ache at all, I try my best to relax). is it normal? I find myself getting this ache especially on the fifth finger, then my palm muscles feel extremely stretched/worked out because of the huge stretches ( I have hands comfortable only on a ninth).

I'm working this piece out myself.

the max speed I've ever tried was 150-160 using a metronome. I could handle it (well, till where I have learn). Then these two-three days I've been deproving.

this deproving improving cycle has been prominent for this whole month. but overall I feel my technique has improved tremendously.

lastly, I find myself totally unable to play pass the first half of the page at proper speed ( around 140), without warm up. I can do it with ease when warmed up, but playing cold is difficult. And especially scary if I want to be able to perform this eventually anytime and anywhere on any piano.

My piano at home has relatively heavier keys. To the extent that I can go 10% faster on other pianos with the same movement. Whereby if I practice on a lighter piano, I only get ache on my pinky if I play for too long. But still, my palm aches due to the stretch.

Will I get used to the stretchy pain?

[faulty_damper]

Your forearms probably ached when you began but now that you've built up some muscle mass, your endurance has improved.  For this piece to be easy, you can't practice the way you've been doing.

But as for your problem with your fingers, you are relying on them to do the work and you are purposefully stretching your hands to reach.  It's not necessary to do either to such extremes but you are one of the (many) unlucky ones who learned it the wrong way, hench your physical issues.

You said your piano touch is heavy.  Only you really know how much it affects your practice and performance.  Having practiced on heavy-touch pianos, I would not do it again because it required muscle-building which actually slows how quickly muscles can contract as an entire unit.  It also requires maintenance to keep up the strength.

This study is like a toccata-scherzo: It's actually a funny piece of music when a musician (not a pianist) plays it.  It took me quite a long time to realize that it was funny because everyone plays it like an etude.  It can be a very easy piece or it can be an impossible one.  I prefer watching pianists do it the impossible way - it's so much more interesting.

[hello99]

Sorry but I couldn't catch the meaning behind some stuff you said.

It is true that my forearm ached at the beginning of learning but now I experience little or no tension. Is it a good thing that my muscle mass has been built? (as in according to you, an increase in endurance).

Yes my piano touch is heavy but that is the piano I have at home and is the one I use to practice everything, so either way I have to get used to it. The other piano I have access to is the piano at church (which I frequently visit) which has a lot lighter keys. Almost on the other end of the scale.

My main difficulties are mainly the passages where the left hand has the do the two/three consecutive stretches and the right hand has the stretch a little as well. Is it right to use wrist movement to place the fingers into good position (perpendicularly). I find myself stretching a little, and using a little wrist movement to hit the keys.

I don't really catch your last paragraph. About the easy or impossible way. Would you mind reexplaining/elaborating?

[faulty_damper]

It is true that my forearm ached at the beginning of learning but now I experience little or no tension. Is it a good thing that my muscle mass has been built? (as in according to you, an increase in endurance).

It is NOT a good thing to build up muscle mass because when muscle mass increases, strength increases but not dexterity or fine motor control.  Endurance is simply how long you can do something and in your case, it allows you to practice longer (but not necessarily better.)  Your mind becomes conditioned to ignore pain stimuli and you'll notice that it no longer aches so you think you are improving.  Wrong.  You are actually getting worse.

I have attempted to figure out how best to deal with such a situation.  The best way that I dealt with it was to stop such practice and allow my muscles to atrophy back to before I started muscle-building.  This didn't mean I stopped practicing completely.  I continued to practice but was more focused on my muscular sensations and any time I felt I was exercising my muscles I would quickly change something so that I coordinated joints into a more efficient manner instead of muscle-ing it.  It only took a period of a couple months for me to learn how to coordinate joints instead of forcing the depression of keys.

I don't really catch your last paragraph. About the easy or impossible way. Would you mind reexplaining/elaborating?

This study is easy and yet so many pianists find it quite difficult.  What's worse is that once they've "learned" it they must continue to practice to "keep it up."  Otherwise, they'll no longer be able to play it.

What bothers me (and this a tangent) is that this study is considered a "virtuosic etude."  It is not.  Anyone who actually learns how to play it (as opposed to "learned it") realizes it is not in the least bit difficult.  Those who still consider it "virtuosic" after "learning" it didn't learn it at all.  (But I'm being redundantly wordy here.  These pianists could also just be braggarts.)

What makes this study difficult is that it requires a different set of coordinated movements that you never learned and are still relying on the ones you already know, hence the difficulty - you have to learn something new.  Most pianist don't learn it which is why I enjoy watching them play this piece: they can't.  (I'm sadistic.)

My main difficulties are mainly the passages where the left hand has the do the two/three consecutive stretches and the right hand has the stretch a little as well.

Your hands must stretch but you are trying to stuff the entire sandwich into your mouth instead of taking a bite.  I'll try to help you with this one:

With your hand comfortably stretched, play the bass key with 5 and glide your 3 to depress the next key.  Then glide the 1 to the top of key.  Notice only one finger is touching a key at a time.  More importantly, notice how comfortable your hand feels.

Now compare this to the way you've been doing it.  You are stretching unnecessarily and storing a lot of tension in the hand, wrist, and forearm.

And a caution to my explanation about how to take these arpeggios: once you've coordinated (this requires careful practice) these simple movements and attempt to perform it at speed, ignore everything I stated.  It will be different.  My explanation (if you follow it) was to break your mindset of how to play it and get you to start feeling what comfort is.  Hopefully, you'll begin to understand what comfort is and apply it to everything you learn.

Good luck!  Let us know how it goes not when you think you've "learned" it but after you learn it.

[slobone]

Here's a performance by a pianist named Dong-Min Lim, who I hadn't heard of:

&feature=related

The tempo is very impressive, and he maintains great clarity throughout. He actually speeds up as he goes along, which in theory I don't approve of, but it's kinda fun to listen to.