stiff palms and wrists

[boywander]

Hi

Im new to this forum, a novice piano teacher, and not a native English speaker, so please bear with me.. enough apologizing..

one of my students is a 15 year old young lady. shes playing piano about a year and a half in total, and about a year of which with me. very clever, and motivated.

problem is she is very stiff around the wrist. especially the palm of her hand, close to her 5th finger. but you can see, and feel, the stiffness going all the way up to the elbow. her shoulders are relaxed enough, but the muscle in her palm is so strained that when she plays a scale her 4th and 5th fingers (in both hands) flex uncontrollably.

I have made her conscious to it, im trying to make her play 5 finger exercises while keeping her 5 fingers relaxed on the keyboard, but it doesnt seem to work...

what can i do to make her relax her fingers?

thanks,
Ofir

[hyrst]

She needs to discover the sense of relaxation - a much easier thing said then done.  I think a lot of this work has to be done away from the piano with small, applied moments at the piano.  (I know what it is like to think you are relaxed but to be totally, insanely tense.  I think it takes much time and persistence just looking for the feeling to suddenly be realised.)  Do everything possible to find the totally limp feel - standing up with collapsed, limp body from the waist.  Over and over again - it takes time - totally relax and then try to transfer the lack of effort to the piano, even one note or finger at a time if necessary.  I think part of it is trying to change a mental as well as a physical approach - don't 'try' to play the keys, but feel heavy and the keys just happen to get pressed.  Work slowly, avoid pressure to achieve anything - make correct notes a side issue, relaxation first.  Be patient.  Reminding might help or it might make her feel she is doign something wrong and then tense up even more - watch her response.  If she is trying to relax she might indeed be trying so hard it is opposite to the goal.  Also, finger tapping (when you play with the other hand on top first, doing the work instead of the one touching the keys, and then let the first hand press the keys) can assist realising a relaxation and how it feels not to have to work so hard.

[a-sharp]

This might sound silly - but there's a little exercise I call "door knockers" (I don't take credit for it, but I use it) ... where you pretend to knock on a door - at least that helps to get the feeling of a loose wrist ... the palm of the hand is a different matter...

[boywander]

thank you hyrst, I will do my best effort as a yogist to try and make her feel limp..
i failed to mention these are two girls im teaching together, in duo, one of which with the tension  problems, so that would probably help in starting the lesson in relaxation, for both.
them being two would probably also help in your idea of finger tapping, with one girl tapping the other.
a-sharp, its actually not the sort of stiffness in the up-down motion of the wrist, as in door knocking, but i thank you for the suggestion, and reserve the right to use this method on other students... :-)

[hyrst]

Good luck - you sure have an advantage if you already know yoga.  A great place to start.

[a-sharp]

reserve the right to use this method on other students... :-)

Great!

[boywander]

well,
yoga relaxation attempts led to a bit of embarrassment, the students sure didnt expect that, and it led to more tension than relaxation.. i bet being teenage girls, asked to stretch and relax by their 30 year old male teacher didnt particularly help them to reduce tension and relax the mind... maybe subsequent attempts will yield better results, in a sort of air of calmness, or i just give it up and dont get in trouble with their parents..

but finger tapping is a great tool, and though it didnt cancel off a year and a half of stiff palms in five minutes, it is definitely a good direction to follow. i could clearly see how when she taps her 3rd finger, the 5th finger contracts. this is a terrific isolation of the problem, and im sure further exercise there will bring solution.

Thanks Again

[hyrst]

It is great to hear how things are going and the consequences of the suggestions.  Thanks for writing, very helpful.

Mmmm... I hadn't thought about the young male teacher telling a 15 year old to do physical maneuvres could be a little risky!  Its still probably worth getting the to do simple ones like figure of 8s with the wrists and the mountain pose and a few of the ones that isolate shoulders and arm muscles.  If you can't teach it in the lesson, do you have any print outs of exercises they could do in their own privacy?  They really are worth learning, for RSI protection if nothing else.

Another thing I have been trying lately, and it seems to work - I've tried it myself and with 2 students so it is unproven theory, but maybe worth it anyway.  What I do is hold one wrist very tight with the other, just on the edge of the hand so precisely on the wrist.  I try to immobilise my wrist (get the student to do it on theirs) and then do trills and other isolating finger movements in a cupped hand position - as if ready to play.  I find this helps in isolating the finger muscles, so I can get to feel what it is like when they work alone, and in making myself aware of when my wrist is tensing (I can feel it in the arm that is being held as well as in the hand resisting the movement).  A few times this has totally and instantly changed the method of playing and sound production.  It has certainly increassed awareness of finger/hand/arm tensions.  It has needed to be repeated when resting - so not when practicing. 

I did find with one girl, although it seemed to work for her, she started complaining of her wrists making cracking noises and feelings.  I am not sure if she put pressure in the wrong place or perhaps her muscles weren't able to manage the level of tension she put on it.  I would be careful that the approach was managed gently or not too zealously, if you try it.

I am glad to hear the finger tapping has helped.  One of my students - she transferred 3 months ago - has been using it.  She constantly holds tension and doesn't release after playing a key.  She started using this and her playing the last few weeks has changed dramatically.  She really tries hard - it is so pleasing to see her starting to do something more easily.  It is quite exciting.

I'd love to hear more updates about how you go with your students.