I'm not a professional nor do I think I'm going to be good enough to be one!
I wouldn't be so sure about that...
Oh thanks but... um... there's this little issue of musicality coming in at... 0.
What's musicality to you?
I have always exercised common sense in looking after my hands but I never avoided sports or physical activity for that reason. The two occasions I did injure my hands were somewhat freakish and probably couldn't have been avoided short of staying in bed all day. I had a tremendous fall on asphalt during a very strenuous tennis match years ago and tore most of the ligaments in a wrist. More recently I was tucking in a sheet while making the bed, when it caught and rammed a finger under my hand, almost causing a mallet finger, the effect lasting for weeks.
Interesting... I guess I've never really thought about that. Maybe it's how you play the notes, not just playing the notes themselves?
Ha ha, you're too nice. And that's helpful. The thing that worries me is that just playing notes can be learned by lots of practice, but playing them well, it seems to me, is something you have to kind of "have", or else it's really really hard to fake...
I play tennis also, it's the only sport I'm actually pretty good at and that I play competitively. I hear that tennis is really bad for piano players though. Argh!!
Why is tennis bad for piano playing ? I didn't know people thought that. It certainly didn't harm my playing, and in my twenties I played competitively and very hard for many hours at a time. I used to be on the court most of the weekend and my accident was just bad luck. It is possible that gripping the racquet tightly for long periods of time caused very minor inflexibility of the fingers, I suppose, but the effect is debatable as the dominant hand usually is less flexible anyway.
It's not something you need to have when you are born. Yes, seems like some people do. But there are plenty of professional musicians that were no prodigies. I'm not saying you should become one though, at least if you like money...only if music is the only thing you can imagine yourself happily spending at least 40 hours a week in the future
Although, I did mean to ask someone knowledgable (that means you) do you need to go to music school to do that for a living? Is it like you go to an orchestra and you're like "I want to play for you" and the first thing they ask you is "give me your music school diploma". Or is it like they care more about how good you are and music school makes you so much better that you need to go to it? I'm confused, what's new. lol
Those sound like they hurt really bad! I play tennis also, it's the only sport I'm actually pretty good at and that I play competitively.
Pencilart, there are many other things for you to consider: - Will your parents support you?- Do you enjoy performing?- Can you only imagine yourself as a solo performer or could you be happy with making a living in various way, accompanying, playing in ensembles, playing something else than classical, playing in churches, teaching...? You do realize that the famous pianists discussed here are just the tip of the iceberg, there are plenty of pianists you have never heard of but who still make a living out of playing?- Do you have any entrepreneurial spirit and stubborness when needed or do you just expect a regular paycheck?
That game actually had a hilarious outcome. I soaked the wrist in cold water, went back on and won the match. I couldn't throw the ball up to serve properly and all movements were painful. He was a leading junior and, like many, a net-rusher and belter. So I kept lobbing over his head to his baseline and feeding him deep lollipops until he lost his temper and blew the tiebreaker. I wasn't capable of anything better. Terrible tennis to watch and I should not have recommenced, never mind won, but it got a point for our team. Then came the visits to hospital for x-rays and weeks without piano.
Thanks for the replies outin!1. I think so, do you mean financially or do you just mean "I'm good with you doing it"?
And do NOT start skateboarding
Boxing and handball, bad.
The concert pianist I know, plays hockey for leisure. We, his devoted fans, complain and worry so much: "oh pleeease, take care of your hands! Your hands!" but he just laughs and assures that his hands are very well protected by the gloves in hockey.But ribs are not ... obviously ... BTW he once told a funny story about this. He and his team had just finished their training session and a little ice princess started to prepare her training by playing the music she was to use in her freestyle program. He smiled at her and said "Shostakovich D minor walz, that's a great music choice!" She nearly dropped her jaw, because that was not something she had expected to hear from a sweaty hockey warrior ...
Boxing and handball, bad. Go for racketball or squash instead of handball.
I do boxing every once in a while, as long as you're doing proper technique and not freaking out when you're sparring and you use handwraps and gloves and all the rest you should be fine. Most injuries I've seen in boxing go to the body or the jaw. Sometimes you get a concussion but that's a separate thing.
It is, but brain damage isn't exactly good for piano playing either...
But most boxers don't get brain damage, not unless you're Muhammed Ali.
It would be bad to lose an eye or leg (knock on wood) but I cannot imagine ever losing my right hand pinky. It would be so horrible. Not sure how I would take it. I would have to resort to learning a lesser instrument, like trumpet or violin. I guess.
However, on the OP's original question: if you are a professional keyboard artist -- pianist, organist, synthesizer, whatever -- you simply can't be too careful of your hands. Even small cuts, for instance, should be cared for -- especially if they are anywhere near a joint. If want to do something else besides keyboards, (I care for and train horses, for instance), think very very carefully. If you are an amateur, you must balance the possibility of damage against your desire to play and play well.
IanSinclair reminds us that it's not only sports that can be bad for our hands; everyday working life has its dangers. Our hands are on the front lines, they interact with the world, and they take a beating. My left hand was wrapped in bandages and not usable for 4 weeks because I was careless making coffee one morning, for example. If you've never had such an experience you must be very young or very lucky (or so rich that your servants do all the physical chores). These things happen.
I haven't commented on this thread, as I don't want to bore anyone. But Brian's comment here needs a reply. As many of you may recall, I had a rather bad injury a year ago; didn't lose any fingers, but 2 and 3 on the right hand don't bend at the distal joint at all anymore, and no more than 45 degrees at the medial joint. I was... devastated. And thought, for a while, I'd never be able to play again. Even bought a bunch of left hand only literature! However, with determination, I find that although I cannot write with that hand, nor do a lot of other things, I am able to play again -- almost all of my repertoire, with the odd exception of one or two things.So... never despair.However, on the OP's original question: if you are a professional keyboard artist -- pianist, organist, synthesizer, whatever -- you simply can't be too careful of your hands. Even small cuts, for instance, should be cared for -- especially if they are anywhere near a joint. If want to do something else besides keyboards, (I care for and train horses, for instance), think very very carefully. If you are an amateur, you must balance the possibility of damage against your desire to play and play well.
Football and piano.... don't mix.you only get one set of hands....be nice to them.
I play for a living (I'm mostly an opera rehearsal pianist) and therefore play anything up to 10 hours a day. I don't look after my hands AT ALL. I do occasional heavy manual work (building work, car repairs, all sorts), I cycle everywhere and don't wear gloves until the cold becomes really unbearable, and so on. I'm 51. I have no trouble of any sort with my hands or wrists or arms. I may just be lucky but anywhere there you are.
You're just lucky. I also played for a living (Minister of Music). And worked a good bit with farm machinery, since I live on and take care of a farm. And never had a serious injury... until one day... just got a little tiny bit careless. Fortunately that was after I had retired, as it has taken me almost a year to get to be able to play anywhere near where I was -- and then not on everything.
I was stung by a wasp yesterday morning, at 5 o'clock. While I was in my bed, in my sweet dreams. That horrible creature obviously decided to land in my palm - how did it get into my bedroom, in the first place??? - and probably I twitched a bit. So it stung me, on the inside of my fifth finger. I woke up, screaming ... found the culprit and smashed it with a book (about piano practice, by the way) but unfortunately, the damage was already done.Normally wasps tend to spare me. And the few times I really have been stung, the pain is gone very quickly again. This little monster seemed to have hit a nerve because I was in terrible pain all day yesterday, up to my elbow. Of course no piano playing. Today I'm fine again but I have to do a lot of computer work which was also impossible yesterday.From this we learn that you can be sound asleep in your own comfortable bed, and still get damages to your precioussss piano hands. Relax people, this is what we call Life.
You don't have to be THAT careful.You just gotta know what you're doing.So when you're playing football don't try some crazy sh*t and when you fall learn how to guard your hands.If you're so worried about your hands that you refuse to play sports and/or workout then I'd just call you a pussy.
Topic: How careful should a pianist be about his/her hands? 