Bruised Fingertips?

[johnsauce]

Well for the past 2 days, i've been practicing Chopin's Revolutionary Etude (Op. 10, No. 12) and it's been grueling.  I'm preparing for a competition next week (South-Western Youth Music Festival).

Anyway, i've just noticed yesterday that my index fingers and my right thumb hurt a bit when I played the etude.  It wasn't that bad yesterday, but today, I can barely play piano.  It's even hard to type.  Worse yet, I was going to practice about 50 more times, but I can barely do anything.

Any advice on what to do about this?

[Snappy Joe]

Take a break from practise, maybe for a day, and study, listen to it instead, analyse the piece on paper.
Sometimes it's better to listen for awhile than exhaust yourself  

Maybe go fishing or which else you might like, to clear your mind before the competion

It's only a suggestion  

[xvimbi]

Take a break from practise, maybe for a day, and study, listen to it instead, analyse the piece on paper.
Sometimes it's better to listen for awhile than exhaust yourself  

Maybe go fishing or which else you might like, to clear your mind before the competion

It's only a suggestion  

That's good advice. In addition, try to figure out why your fingertips got bruised in the first place, so that you can avoid it in the future. Maybe it is because you are slamming into the keybeds with full force? Perhaps, you just overdid it, but in principle, it should not happen. Did your nail beds get irritated as well? If you really have to keep playing, you can try putting band aid over your fingertips, just like Brendel does.

[in_love_with_liszt]

I absolutely agree. One principal that is often overlooked in a pianist's schedule is ample time to rest and heal. I remember a while back I had been practicing my performance piece for 6 hours each day. Right after the competition I did not play it at all for a few days, instead merely did some simple technical exercizes to keep in shape, and then oh, three days after the competition I came back and played my piece and was amazed at how easily and fluently I was able to play. Although if you are truely getting bruised, then maybe you are trying to bang out the climaxes to heavily-remember: dynamics make the "U" in music.

[donjuan]

Well for the past 2 days, i've been practicing Chopin's Revolutionary Etude (Op. 10, No. 12) and it's been grueling.  I'm preparing for a competition next week (South-Western Youth Music Festival).

Anyway, i've just noticed yesterday that my index fingers and my right thumb hurt a bit when I played the etude.  It wasn't that bad yesterday, but today, I can barely play piano.  It's even hard to type.  Worse yet, I was going to practice about 50 more times, but I can barely do anything.

Any advice on what to do about this?

For cracked nails and bruises, I use "New Skin", an ointment that acts as an anesthetic for practicing.  You should take a break to heal as many have suggested, but I know you will need to practice, so check out this stuff.  If you have open cuts, it burns like a b1tch for 12 seconds, but then, it's all good

Hope it gets better,
donjuan

[johnsauce]

For cracked nails and bruises, I use "New Skin", an ointment that acts as an anesthetic for practicing.  You should take a break to heal as many have suggested, but I know you will need to practice, so check out this stuff.  If you have open cuts, it burns like a b1tch for 12 seconds, but then, it's all good

Hope it gets better,
donjuan

Yea, I should have taken a break, guess I overdid it .  I think i'll try that "New Skin" since it'll probably help me practice without pain.