Breaking your finger(s) while playing the piano - is it possible?

[sv3nno]

I was just wondering if it's actually possible to break a finger or two while executing glissandos or long jumps?
Cause i'll need to start learning La Campanella soon, and i'm a bit worried :s
Other than that, i just wanna find out if its possible cause im curious

[j_menz]

Assuming no underlying bone weakness, my guess is it would require doing something significantly out of the ordinary. La Campanella isn't in that category.

The closest I ever came was a ffff leap to a note that the piano manufacturer had decided was an optional extra (the very top C) and omitted. The solid wood was rather less forgiving than the expected key. Whilst it hurt, no bone breakage resulted.

Had I had ready access to said manufacturer, his own bones may well not have been so lucky.

[indianajo]

Not for Europeans or Africans.  I have the flimsiest fingers I've seen, due to my Native American ancestors, other than my relatives. I've never come close. I did break a finger five closing a bus door handle on the last joint.     I would be more worried about ripping a nail off executing glissandoes.  
Pay attention to the threshhold of pain.  You can cause joint damage by using your hands as a hammer, that can bother you in old age when the testosterone dries up.  I remember the huge increase in the pain threshhold about age ten, and more gradually, It is back down again starting in the mid fifties.  Fortunately, I've never been one to show off to the guys (or girls either) and my biggest pain is in my wrist at right angles from pushing the mower handle.  No floor pushups for me.

[pianoman53]

Grieg- Piano concerto!

If one has a somewhat weak bone structure, I would guess it would be perfectly possible. Right in the beginning, one has to play the lowest a, which is the lowest key on most keyboards. If you come far from above, striking straight down... and miss...

[pianist1976]

I never ever heard of a finger broke while playing piano, not even the most demanding pieces. That doesn't exclude the risk of other injuries such as tendonitis, both on fingers or arms, or muscular contractions. This can happen on La Campanella if the player doesn't have a proper technique and doesn't know how to release the tension at certain passages.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

There's no way you're gonna break a finger while playing La Campanella.

[j_menz]

Grieg- Piano concerto!

If one has a somewhat weak bone structure, I would guess it would be perfectly possible. Right in the beginning, one has to play the lowest a, which is the lowest key on most keyboards. If you come far from above, striking straight down... and miss...

Haha - try some Busoni. He wrote for a Bosie Imperial and actually writes notes lower than that A. If you don't have your wits about you.....OUCH!

[kakeithewolf]

Depending on how you interpret the ffffffff in Ligeti's 13th Etude, you may just break a finger.

But on La Campanella... no.