Hmm, well, if it's still very difficult with 531313 then yes you should resort to 541414. 53 came naturally to me so I guess I just assumed it might with someone else with big hands.
As for bending the 4th finger sideways when depressing the key, I can't imagine this being good for the joint. The finger isn't made to be pressed this direction, so I would think soreness would build up after time using this tecnique.
No, no, no!
Allchopin, you got it completely wrong (not your fault – it is very difficult to describe this in writing)
You do not bend the 4th finger sideways at all. You bend it in the most natural way, forward at the knuckle joint. There is absolutely no way this is going to be bad for the joint because it is the natural joint movement. It is exactly the way the finger is meant to be bent.
It is your hand that is sideways, not the finger.
I will try again. There are two different movements that must be co-ordinated:
First movement:
1. Put your left hand on a table, sideways, finger pointing forward, thumb up, palm facing to the right (inside), in a karate chop position.
2. Now, let the hand “fall” to the right, so that now the palm is on the table.
3. So you start from a somewhat unusual position (for playing the piano) - but not unnatural or uncomfortable at all – and let the hand fall to the usual playing position. The little finger remains at the same spot on the table as the forearm does a half rotation (through gravity). If you repeat this movement, your hand will look like a door opening and closing, the hinges being at the little finger.
Got that?
Second movement:
1. Put your hand on the table in a karate chop position as before.
2. Now bend your fingers at the knuckle joint – that is, bring your fingers towards the palm (the movement harp players do). This is completely natural and what people normaly do with their fingers:
they bend them at the knuckle joint. There is no “sideways bend” at all.
3. Now do this bending of the fingers at the knuckle joint, but keep your little finger straight: that is, fingers 234 bend but finger 5 remains straight on the table. You will see that the tip of finger 4 now reaches quite a long way from finger 5, and that the fingers 4 and 5 are at 90 degrees to each other, both on their sides. If instead of a table you were doing this at the piano, finger 5 would be well into the key (lying straight on its side) while the tip of finger 4 (bent at the knuckle and also on its side at 90 degrees to finger 4) would be near the edge of the key.
Got that?
Now we must combine both movements:
1. Start with the hand in karate chop position.
2. As you turn the hand to piano playing position (as a door closing), bend fingers 234 at the knuckle joint (in the natural direction of the joint).
3. Use the turning of the hand to transfer weight from finger 5 to finger 4.
4. Calibrate the bending at the knuckle to give you the correct distance between the keys.
That’s it!
This is actually a completely natural movement. The only unusual thing (for a pianist trained in Kalkbrenner’s way of playing – at the time of Chopin) would be to start with the hand sideways. But in my opinion, to teach this new (in Chopin’s time) movement is one of the main purposes of this etude. Evidence for this is the fact that Chopin went to pains to indicate the fingering 54 (usually Chopin does not indicate fingering), and the only way to play the LH with fingers 54 is to use the movement above.
I hope this is clearer now.
Best wishes,
Bernhard.
Topic: Chopin Etude opus 10 N9