Fingers hurt? I know its not supposed to happen but....

[bacchus1224]

I'm practicing La Campanella by Liszt and in certain sections as I expected, my fingers hurt/ache.....I usually just push on till its gets to a slow burn and then I stop. It's been working so far as I can play most of those bits, but when I speed up, its starts to hurt again.

My teacher tells me that this shouldn't happen, but frankly I don't see how else I can practice and I've always assumed aches are invariable in difficult sections.....I faced similar problems while practicing the Etude op. 10 no. 12 by Chopin for hours at a high speed.

So this is fine right?  Or is there a way to practice without my fingers aching?

[ajspiano]

your movement is "wrong" in some way in that you are placing undue strain on a certain part of the playing apparatus in the more difficult sections..

Yes there is a way to practice without feeling the ache/pain, there is however no way that I can tell you what exactly you need to do to resolve it without watching you play, there are too many potential causes and variables. Really though, your teacher should be able to help you.. not just say "no it shouldn't hurt".

Since you are working on la campanella it seems likely that you have some technical problem that has been built in for some time, its just showing itself now because the music is getting harder. Same with the chopin, the piece is designed to be very difficult to play comfortably to show you the flaws in your technique. You shouldnt bang your way through it. Figure out whats going wrong. With a better technique, not only will it stop hurting, but you will obviously be able to play it better aswell.

[starstruck5]

your movement is "wrong" in some way in that you are placing undue strain on a certain part of the playing apparatus in the more difficult sections..

Yes there is a way to practice without feeling the ache/pain, there is however no way that I can tell you what exactly you need to do to resolve it without watching you play, there are too many potential causes and variables. Really though, your teacher should be able to help you.. not just say "no it shouldn't hurt".

Since you are working on la campanella it seems likely that you have some technical problem that has been built in for some time, its just showing itself now because the music is getting harder. Same with the chopin, the piece is designed to be very difficult to play comfortably to show you the flaws in your technique. You shouldnt bang your way through it. Figure out whats going wrong. With a better technique, not only will it stop hurting, but you will obviously be able to play it better aswell.

This is great advice AJ -what if your teacher is not able to understand why though? Changing teachers isn't always practical -

[ajspiano]

This is great advice AJ -what if your teacher is not able to understand why though? Changing teachers isn't always practical -

Hahah well...

Get some references.

fink - mastering piano technique
Listersink - freeing the caged bird
Fraser - craft of piano
Sandor - on piano playing
Golandsky/taubman (video only) The taubman techniques
Mark - what every pianist needs to know about the body

Taubman and I think listersink have a big focus on injury prevention.

Really if your teacher cant help with these problems and hasn't read this stuff I'd be concerned. It doesn't make him/her a "bad" teacher because there are many more aspects to music/piano that physical mechanics, but really it is going to leave some gaps in their knowledge that will leave students behind at some point. This is the stuff that stops it from mattering whether you are born 'talented'.

[teosoleil]

I'm practicing La Campanella by Liszt and in certain sections as I expected, my fingers hurt/ache.....I usually just push on till its gets to a slow burn and then I stop. It's been working so far as I can play most of those bits, but when I speed up, its starts to hurt again.

My teacher tells me that this shouldn't happen, but frankly I don't see how else I can practice and I've always assumed aches are invariable in difficult sections.....I faced similar problems while practicing the Etude op. 10 no. 12 by Chopin for hours at a high speed.

So this is fine right?  Or is there a way to practice without my fingers aching?

Yeah, you're obviously doing something wrong. This shouldn't happen no matter how long you practice and how fast. My guess is that you're tightening your hand too much (that happens when you try to play "fast" without proper practicing). Try re-practicing the two pieces with RELAXED hands and remove all tension

And plus, if your hand starts to hurt the SLIGHTEST bit, you shouldn't just "keep going until you feel a small burn". No no no no no. That's damaging, and I mean damaging.

[bacchus1224]

Thanks a lot

My teacher showed me what was wrong.....also lack of warming up didn't help things