5th Finger Rising?

[frederic_choping]

Sometimes, I notice my 5th finger rising when I play scales, like, right as my fourth finger goes down, my 5th rises and I  was wondering if that was a problem...? Is that something I should try to fix? I don't notice anyone else doing this while playing... It just kind of happens. What's your opinion? Does this happen to anyone else? Or is it just a hand strength thing?

[adodd81802]

It is common.

Maybe not every other pianist so to speak common. But enough so that you wouldn't look and go "oh my god"

I think there's probably a couple of things we can consider here. Firstly, there are well known pianist who isolate the little finger when not using it, EG Horowitz curled it up into his hand and typically other pianists with longer fingers have been known to do this. I have also seen this method actually advised in books.

Next I think you should consider that no 2 hands are the same even your own 2 hands are likely different from eachother in terms of development so to an extent I would say not to worry about how your hands / fingers play compared to others, but consider how your hands and fingers SOUND compared to others.

Lastly, you need to ask yourself, does this slow you down, does it cause you problems, are there pieces you specifically cannot play because of this? If the answer is no, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. My little finger goes up slightly when I trill 2/3 and my 2nd finger goes up when doing anything that involves 3/4/5 repetition, it doesn't cause me problems (so far!)

Josh Wright - A well known Youtube-Piano Teacher has described this exact problem and how his student was to 'fix' it, so if you're adament you would like to work on that just in case, here's the link

[georgey]

Good post adodd.

Finger independence  and the ability to keep non-playing fingers quiet is a fascinating topic to me.    

I will say this:  There are 2 local pianists that have performed worldwide in my area.  Person A is a conductor of our symphony and has performed  Gershwin’s Rhapsodie in Blue with major orchestras.  Person B has recorded the full set of Haydn Piano Trios on a well-known label, performs around the world and teaches piano at a local college.  

I saw both Person A and person B in a shared chamber music concert recently.  One played a Brahms chamber piece, the other a Schumann chamber piece.  Both were equally difficult works. Person A’s hands had the following:  The pinky finger while not playing was either sticking WAY up in the air or was curled up tight.  I saw person A finger passages to avoid using the 5th finger.  Person A middle finger stuck way up in the air while playing octaves.  Person A’s thumbs sometimes went WAY below the level of the keys when not playing.  Person B hands looked perfect at all times.. BOTH PLAYED EXTREMELY CLEANLY WITH BEAUTIFUL SOUND.  I thought Person A had the edge on being more musical in the performance.  I hope to study piano with person B someday.  If not, I will find someone with good quiet hands to learn from.

[109natsu]

You are using more energy in sticking the pinky up, and you need to be as efficient as possible when playing, so you should fix it.

Try their exercises. They are very helpful.

Natsu

[quantum]

There are differing schools of thought on this.  As adodd81802 stated, there are books that advised the curled 5th finger technique and you can watch pianists like Horowitz demonstrate this.  A number of my teachers taught the open hand technique where the outstretched 5th finger is the default position when not playing.  

After investigating both seemingly polar approaches, I can tell you that the open hand outstretched 5th finger works far better in my hand.  With this technique the hand always feels ready play at an instant.  There is no need to switch the hand for active/inactive positions for fingers 4 and 5.  The hand feels balanced, as opposed to the heavy 1-2-3 presence of the curled finger technique.  Articulation in scalar passages with 3-4-5 feel as natural as they do using 1-2-3.  

[outin]

IMO It's a matter of hand structure as well as technique. For me trying to keep the 5th finger in line all the time only caused problems and tension. I tried many kinds of exercises to "cure" it before I realised it's just how my hands work (presumably has to do with hypermobility and hand size) and it does not cause problems with my playing. I did need to actively learn how to not to let the 4th and 5th knuckle joints collapse while playing the "weaker" fingers. That is a different thing though.