Cold Finger Etudes

[jugular]

...Do they exist? It's that dreadful time of winter when even the warmest of woolly mittens can't protect my figners from the frigid wrath of mother nature. I find myself spending a good 10-15 minutes just sitting on my hands in the practice rooms at school to warm them up, otherwise I'll be fumbling all over my fundamentals (scales, arpeggios, etc.).

So what do you guys do to literally warm-up during this time of year? Play anything specific? Is there really a cold finger etude out there? If not I'd be more than pleased if anyone would make one Thanks in advance!

[andreslr6]

...Do they exist? It's that dreadful time of winter when even the warmest of woolly mittens can't protect my figners from the frigid wrath of mother nature. I find myself spending a good 10-15 minutes just sitting on my hands in the practice rooms at school to warm them up, otherwise I'll be fumbling all over my fundamentals (scales, arpeggios, etc.).

So what do you guys do to literally warm-up during this time of year? Play anything specific? Is there really a cold finger etude out there? If not I'd be more than pleased if anyone would make one Thanks in advance!

To answer your first question, I don't know of any written specifically for that, but you can use anything by Hanon for example.

When I do I start with just playing a scale (playing it slowly first as crotchets, then quavers, then triplets, etc. keeping the same pulse just making the rhythm values lower to speed up), and then chromatic octaves followed by playing chromatic mayor chords. That's all I ever do. I do it in the morning but mainly to warm up my brain haha, not actually my fingers since they cool down again as soon as I start playing a piece, don't ask why because I have no idea, but then they warm up pretty good after around the first 15 min. It's the same story in summer.

[iansinclair]

Warm water to warm the hands -- but then make sure that they are really truly dry, or they'll be colder than they were before.  I have a set of fingerless gloves -- really just cover the palm and base of the thumb -- which go well up my lower arm.  They help a lot.  And I make sure that my body, as a whole, is warm -- whatever it takes.  If your body isn't warm, or is trying to stay warm, your hands will certainly not be warm.  If your practice space is genuinely cold -- say 60 or so (which mine is) you will need at least a heavy sweater or heavy sweatshirt, and a warm hat.

One does wonder what organists (like Bach!) did in the bad old days -- the buildings they worked in were quite unheated...

[andreslr6]

And I make sure that my body, as a whole, is warm -- whatever it takes.  If your body isn't warm, or is trying to stay warm, your hands will certainly not be warm.  If your practice space is genuinely cold -- say 60 or so (which mine is) you will need at least a heavy sweater or heavy sweatshirt, and a warm hat.

Oh I forgot about this too! I've recently started doing this too, and it has worked good with the problem I mentioned about my fingers cooling as soon as I start to play.

[mikomasr]

I have the same problem, except in my case I'm almost paralysed when my hands are cold, I can't play even the simplest piece or even a warm-up drill.

So I've started playing with regular winter gloves for about 15 minutes each time, and it's great! Not only does it warm you up, it also forces you to be really accurate in your touch (since the gloves make your fingers so thick and the keys so slippery), and when I take them off, I do feel seriously enhanced precision in the way I hit the keys.

[chopin2015]

Dont be lonely, loneliness causes your body temperature to drop and become more sensitive to cold. Scientifically proven. Skip and hop on your way to the practice rooms and first when you place your hands on the piano, imagine you just slipped them into warm water. Then, get excited about the music.