Cold hands

[svita]

In winter anybody experience this annoying condition of cold hands when getting on the stage?  A little bit of nervousness causes it. Dressing warm, wrist warmers does not help - fingers still freeze. Suggestions?

[richard black]

Sit down and beat your knees with your hands, repetitively and as fast as you can, for a couple of minutes. Hurts but works!

[sheena]

I'm having the same problem, and it's not only when performing. My hand are almost always cold when I'm about to play the piano, and as suggested, raising the blood circulation in the body is probably the best solution. One other way is to soak the hands in hot water, but that usually only lasts for a short while.

[chopinatic]

Try thoes gloves with cut finger tips, i find thery work quite well sometimes.

[brahmslover]

I have cold hands before performance as well. Putting hands in warm water and keeping the body warm with clothes do not work well for me. When you are in a cold environment, your blood circulation increases because your body's trying to keep itself warm. Since it is winter, try going out into the cold and take a walk. Keep your body warm but no gloves for the hands. Then return back into the building. The rush of blood in your hands will make you have extra warm hands inside.

[thalbergmad]

Since it is winter, try going out into the cold and take a walk. Keep your body warm but no gloves for the hands. Then return back into the building. The rush of blood in your hands will make you have extra warm hands inside.

And then your fingers fall off from frostbite

[Bob]

I was noticing today deep breathing was making my fingers tingle.  In a good way. Getting plenty of O2.

[njalli]

Just play scales for few mintues and you will be ok. And get gloves too.

[guendola]

Hands are always among the coldest body parts unless they are working and this is due to the blood circulation. The body will protect more important body parts first until you play. So consequently, you need to dress up warmer overall. Brahmslovers idea sounds interesting too, but if it is too cold on stage, you still need suitable clothing. Once the hands are at work, your body will do its best to support them, but still, some other body parts are more important for survival and there is only so much heat to distribute.

[Bob]

I remember hearing something about protecting your "core," the trunk of your body.  The idea was that if you dress more warmly there, the rest of the body will stay warmer too, that putting gloves on wouldn't help as much as more layers on your core.