Technique questions

[olszewski]

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[quasimodo]

I have two issues that I am curious about.

→ How does the process of altering one's technique so as to remove all extraneous movements occur? In other words, how to do it?

Well... just do it! Or perhaps don't.... I mean if you feel the extraneous movements are hindering your playing quality, then you have to get rid of it BY ANY MEANS, try all possible approaches until you manage that. If the movements have no negative impact, just live with them, they're part of your personality.

→ In a similar vein, how to 'fix' collapsed knuckles?
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You're the 2nd person I hear talking about collapsed knuckles in a few days, I'm not sure to understand what you guys mean about that.
could you be more specific? Use some images if necessary, to let us understand exactly what the problem is...

[olszewski]

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[quasimodo]

Oh okay.
First I'm not sure it's fundamentally a big problem, each person has his/her particular anatomy. You don't want to fix anatomy, unless it's truly incapacitating.
Anyway, if those knuckles really hinder your playing, my recommendation would be raise the wrists higher.

[m19834]

→ How does the process of altering one's technique so as to remove all extraneous movements occur? In other words, how to do it?

Sharper musical image and precise pianistic aim.

[rc]

hmmm...  My teacher brought this to my attention sometime back.  I think being aware of it was half the battle.

I also remember paying attention to feel of having the weight behind my fingers.  Hard to describe, it's like the difference between standing tall and slouching.  To feel the finger supporting the weight behind it, playing a more active role than when it collapses.

To your first question about removing extranious movements, again I think most of the trick is becoming aware of it - these little things can creep in when we're not paying attention...  Lost in the music, it can sound good despite a bad habit, but that same habit could become a real stumbling block down the road.  It's said often, but I believe the main cause of these inefficiencies is tension, mental tension which leads to they physical tension.

I wasn't aware of it, but it was plain for my teacher to see that I had the habit of sticking my thumbs out when they weren't in use, and also curling my pinky.  I later noticed that the thumbs curling back is a nervous habit that I do even outside of piano - I get nervous and my thumbs curl.

Besides having someone notice and point out our extranious movements, I suppose we could also videotape ourselves playing to try and find if there are any habitual inefficiencies...  and as usual, trying to always feel relaxed in regular practice.