Piano Technique: The Relaxed Thumb

[music32]

https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/piano-technique-the-relaxed-thumb/

Interested in sharing, feedback...

[faulty_damper]

It wasn't clearly stated what the post was about.  It wasn't about technique of the thumb.  It felt like musings about the thumb.  The title seems misleading as well.

[j_menz]

https://arioso7.wordpress.com/2015/01/10/piano-technique-the-relaxed-thumb/

Interested in sharing, feedback...

I don't actually have the foggiest idea what your blog entry is about. You keep mentioning the thumb, but you might as well relace it with "the butterfly" for all the sense I make of it.

The one bit I did kind of get, that you see the thumb as the anchor of your hand, seems to me just plain wrong. I don't mean by that that you don't see it that way, just that you shouldn't. It's a useful appendage, of course, but not what the hand revolves around.

[gr8ape]

The one bit I did kind of get, that you see the thumb as the anchor of your hand, seems to me just plain wrong. I don't mean by that that you don't see it that way, just that you shouldn't. It's a useful appendage, of course, but not what the hand revolves around.

well whats one of the distinctive traits of primates?
try playing a scale without your thumb
try using a hammer without thumb :p

[chopinlover01]

Both of which are possible without the thumb. In actuality, it is the third finger that is the anchor of the hand (if you look at your hand, you will see the bone of the third finger lines up nearly directly to the wrist bone). Try picking up a hammer without your third finger. Scales are possible but highly uncomfortable without the third finger (though arpeggios are not, but those don't use the third finger anyways). Typing without the third finger, once you get used to it, is oddly clunky. Holding a blade or weapon of any kind is harder. When activating any such mechanism with a push back or "recoil", it is also harder on the hand to keep a grip.

[gr8ape]

Are you arguing that the thumb is a finger like all the other fingers? And you would rather lose your thumb than third finger?

[chopinlover01]

No, and no. I'm arguing that your third finger is the anchor of your hand, and the third finger is required for just as much if not more than your thumb for everything piano related.

[faulty_damper]

No, and no. I'm arguing that your third finger is the anchor of your hand, and the third finger is required for just as much if not more than your thumb for everything piano related.

This is incorrect.  There is no "anchor".  Angle the hand to the side and the 2 now is the anchor.  Angle it to the other side and now the 4 or 5 is the anchor.  Insisting that a certain finger serves as the anchor for the hand is a very restrictive view of kinesthetics of the apparatus.  There is no "anchor".

[hardy_practice]

The last thing you need when you set sail is an anchor!

[pianoplayer002]

What does "anchor" even mean in this context? "It's a useful finger"? Gee, so are all the others. All fingers should be equal, in their own special way.

[chopinlover01]

As I meant, in the natural hand position (which is not straight out, as you know, it's curved somewhat), finger 3 is the natural balance point of the hand. Looking back, you are right, anchor is not the right word. And yes, changing position changes the balance point. But the beginning posture of the hands (wrists up, thumbs round, etc) places three as the natural point of balance.

[faulty_damper]

If you mean the forearm rotational axis, then the 3 is not necessarily the central rotational axis.  That can shift by angling the wrist.  Some people's hands align more closely with the 2.  Mine align in between these two.

[gr8ape]

in any case these kind of things can be debated forever if everyone's definition of the words differ...