fastest way to warm up?

[chopincrazy23]

Hello everyone,

I always warm up with scales and sometimes hanon exercises, but does anyone know the fastest and most efficient way to warm up. Like, for example, sometimes when I get to the piano my hands just don't want to move and I don't want to go through ALL my exercises just to warm up to the piano. So, back to my question, does anyone know how to warm up fast?

[ted]

I don't seem to need much warming up these days, but for me, a few minutes on the Virgil Practice Clavier at about six ounces is easily the best way. The precise movements I execute on it do not seem to matter that much and are best left to the invention of the moment.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Put your hands under hot water until they warm up.

Or...

Some people say that this will cause injury, but whatever.  If I like just came from 15 degree weather outside, I'll play my most physically demanding piece until they get warm.  That gets the job done FAST.

[ming304]

Instead of doing warm-up exercises I think you can just massage your fingers.

Like use your index and thumb of one hand and massage the fingers of the other hand.

Apart from that, I don't see how warm-up exercises really make that much of a difference.

[beethovenopus2no3movt2]

I think you can just massage your fingers.

He is right, massaging your fingers is very healthy. However, students often make the mistake of how exactly fingers should be massaged. Really want you need to do before a day at the piano is recline in a hot tub of epsum salt. If you want to have faster fingers, wrap rubber bands around your fingers and leave them there for an hour. Ofcourse, this can be done in conjunction with the step 1.

[chopincrazy23]

If you want to have faster fingers, wrap rubber bands around your fingers and leave them there for an hour.

What exactly do you mean by "wrap?" wont that cut off my circulation?

[bernadette60614]

I can only tell you what works for me:

I slowly play the pieces which I recently "finished"..meaning my teacher tells me I am ready to move onto another piece.

While I'm doing so, the thought crosses my mind that there was a time (not very long ago) when I felt that even attempting this piece was a lost cause...and that inspires me to go to the next section of my practice routine...which is working on the next assigned new piece.

[kyle556]

The fastest way for me:  improvise fast technique-heavy passages, don't stop.   

[lloyd_cdb]

Depends on what you mean by 'warm up'.

Some people have cold hands and actually need a temperature change for warming up. Others just need increased blood flow to loosen the muscles. As a cold-handed person needing a temperature change, I'll do a 2 minute hand soak in warm water (dry quickly and thoroughly, or dampness will cool your hands again). This will help with both temperature and blood flow.

If you only need blood flow to loosen up, wiggle or roll your fingers like you would when playing 4 or 5 notes starting with your pinky. Do this with both hands as you walk to the keyboard or even when you start thinking about practicing. Couple this with some random jumping jacks and even the most mild of a heart rate increase will get your blood flow increasing immediately. This should cut down on the amount of sitting keyboard warm-up and allow you to make efficient use of some of the unused time on your hands (tehehe).