key to hold and muscular tension

[okoie]

i am studying some fugue from book 1 Bach well tempered harpsichord . and i find that to hold the keys ,as often needed , is harmful to all upper limb.The keyboard of the harpsichord was lighter than that of the modern pianos.Some advice to overcome the problem? (at present i play with the greatest caution to avoid injuries  expecially to muscles and tendons of fourth finger )

[gyzzzmo]

Maybe sounds over-obvious, but maybe you're just not relaxing your arms enough if you play? Or your bench isnt at the correct height?

[jimbo320]

Does the keyboard/piano that you're using have different touch sensitive controlling to it? If so use the lowest setting possible.
You won't cause anything damaging. Just tired fingers until you get used to it.
I am imagining you're used to the light touch sensitive action that harpsichords have. Than again I may be way off too...

[okoie]

Hy jimbo and gyzzzmo,
Many thanks for your  suggestions. I'll try them all

[jian10]

Release the tension as soon as you hit the key.  Remember you don't have to press hard onto the key.

[thinkgreenlovepiano]

Release the tension as soon as you hit the key.  Remember you don't have to press hard onto the key.

That's what my teacher told me. I used to press the keys that needed to be held way too hard (especially with Bach) and I ended up hurting my hands.  

Look at the hammers of a piano. After you strike a key, and hold it down, the hammer is no longer touching the string. So putting a lot of pressure on that key after you play the note doesn't affect the sound. As long as the key is down, it will continue to sound (for a while).

So strike the key with enough force, but then after that relax as much as you can and just make sure the key stays down. You don't need to keep pressing  hard for that to happen.

(btw, I'm not a teacher! I'm a student regurgitating what my teacher told me, haha)