How to strengthen my 4th and 5th weak fingers?

[winterwind888]

Okay my teacher has this exercise so that I would strengthen my 4th and 5th fingers. She would press C, D, E, F, and G with each fingers placed respectively on both hands. After it, she would play one note for four times but the other four notes are still pressed down. I'm still working on it. But any exercises where i could still strengthen my weakest fingers? Yeah I know scales. But sometimes my fingers would collapse or bend inwardly especially the fourth fingers. What should I do?

[lostinidlewonder]

You can also do the Hanon:
RH: C(1)D(2)C(1)D(2) A(5)G(4)A(5)G(4), DEDE BABA etc do also other way around AGAG CDCD
 going down the keyboard. When you play the thumb and 2nd fingers you should feel balanced and relaxed so that when you do have to play 5 and 4 you start completely relaxed and not tensed up. You may get tense when playing the 5 and 4 in that case when the 1 and 2 come in you can recover from it.

[scottmcc]

liszt technical exercises...be prepared for pain and suffering.

not just playing with one finger and holding down 4, all different combinations of which fingers are held vs played, different rhythms and dynamics, and across multiple different tonalities. 

[giannalinda]

Doyhanni is good...I use that one...and hannon...they have helped a lot.

[makeanote]

Here's some alternate exercises that you could try. I've written these with an ascending pattern and descending pattern to begin with.

Exercise 1 is mainly for 45 strength / eveness in a scalic progression
Exercise 2 is a fairly generic 4-5 pattern.
Exercise 3 is more of a trill / stamina builder
Exercise 4 is based on scalic patterns for finger independence

They're not terribly exciting, but they'll work your 4-5 fingers. Also, if it's just straight-out drilling you're after, Hanon does the trick too (particularly the exercises from 20 to 30).

Trust this helps.
Ian

[weissenberg2]

The Chopin mazurka op.33 no.2 in D major helps immensely for the back fingers and his etude op.10 no.2 in A Minor "chromatique", as Giannalinda has mentioned before, Dohnanyi is very helpful for all the fingers of the hand (but if you want to do them you will have to go through a lot of pain and irritation)

[cloches_de_geneve]

51 technical exercises by Brahms and you're out of the woods.

[ollymuxworthy]

There are some pretty nasty parts of La Campanella that I'm sure must have been designed to strengthen the 4th and 5th fingers. Try them out.

[worov]

About some Bach sinfonias ?

[learner of liszt]

Liszt's Technical Exercises are a (somewhat painful) very effective way to develop technique in just about every facet of piano technique. The exercises in Book 1 sound like they would be the most helpful to you.

[m]

Okay my teacher has this exercise so that I would strengthen my 4th and 5th fingers.

May I ask why one would want to strengthen 4th and 5th fingers, to start with? 

Best, M

[db05]

May I ask why one would want to strengthen 4th and 5th fingers, to start with? 

Best, M

Hmmm... Either they're injured or difficult to use for some other reason. Some finger strength may be necessary to bring out the melody in a chord. And what about playing those big stretches (for smaller hands)?

[m]

Hmmm... Either they're injured or difficult to use for some other reason. Some finger strength may be necessary to bring out the melody in a chord. And what about playing those big stretches (for smaller hands)?

May I suggest, strengthening 4th and 5th fingers won't help either of those.

Best, M

[db05]

May I suggest, strengthening 4th and 5th fingers won't help either of those.

Best, M

Not sure what the OP was thinking either...
trills?

[mr_skyflakes21]

In my opinion, 4th and 5th finger is indeed weak. Due to the same joint that holds them.
Also, you cannot strengthen fingers because the prime factor that affect their tone production in fortissimo parts or others is the arm. Same principle can be applied when you run, you get tired because we cannot decline to the fact that there is no other way to run than to run.

On the other hand, piano playing is quite different. Endurance can be obtain when you utilize all the important aspect of the body that involved in piano playing.

There is no such thing as independency(correct me if i am wrong), but there is such thing as COORDINATION.

Use the weight of your arm to produce a considerable loudness.Your finger is much lighter than a single piano key...

Good luck and happy playing..

Music indeed is the voice of God.