Hand strengtheners

[kuska]

Hey,

I mentioned my old upright several times I think but you might not remember, so here's the case: my upright downstairs was my first piano I practised on (and the only one when I stayed at school). The thing is, it works rather hard, so I developed forearm tension and my technique wasn't perfect. However, the biggest advantage it gave was my hands were strong. Even an examinator during my entrance exam to the college mentioned that. Then I stopped playing for years. Now I have Yamaha DGX-650 and it runs smoothly, however I've got feeling that my hands are weak.

Yesterday my powerball came and I've also bought some hand grip strenghteners.

Anyone tried using the stuff? I'll give them a go anyway and will inform you but I'm just curious how's your experience with it?

My question is probably more to females as guys tend to have more muscles here and there but anyway, maybe some guys here have small hands as well

[adodd81802]

Strong hands are good (in the context of fingers,hands,arms,shoulders etc), certainly for events playing different pianos, but I think that the best way to build the perfect muscles for a particular activity is to practice that activity.

I feel like we could compare it to say a 400m sprinter, and say well why don't they just practice sprinting 800m, so they could definitely run the full speed at 400m...

Obviously if you have injuries or other physical impairments my answer doesn't apply to every ever known scenario, but would practicing passages FF not help? that's what I do.

You say about small hands, I think the biology really is small palms, long fingers probably have the most work. I can reach a 9th and have big palms, small fingers, so maybe they're naturally stronger? (I am a male)

Any way let me know if it helps you, I may be a quick fix, but with any intense exercise, make sure you get plenty of rest!

[kuska]

Thanks well my hands are rather big as for female. Or I should say long fingers as hands in themselves aren't wide or anything and I like exercising my forearms but I just feel my fingers are weak. That's why I'm wondering if such stuff will make any difference to fingers. Of course you're right the persistent activity is probably the best and I can still return to my upright but I want some extra activity to help it grow faster.

[visitor]

Unless you have a gross motor defect such as basic movement dysfunction or other big issue, it is not advisable.

adaptation is stimulus specifIc. you can likely derail your technique and destroy your fine control.

its the same reason that misguided soccer coaches have found  that having players work w a weighted soccer ball did nothing to improve basic work and handling skills or do much in the way of conditioning. Or that having baseball ball players swing weighted bats does not do a lot in the long run at improving batting average or number of home runs.

the kind of work you describe can be a small part of prep such as warming up etc or maybe general movement on a day where you take a break from practice and rest, can file that stuff under gpp, general physical preparedness, but do not expect it to improve your playing much or refine things appreciably

at worst you can learn some difficult to un-learn  gross motor patterns that can make your playing worse....

[louispodesta]

Unless you have a gross motor defect such as basic movement dysfunction or other big issue, it is not advisable.

adaptation is stimulus specifIc. you can likely derail your technique and destroy your fine control.

its the same reason that misguided soccer coaches have found  that having players work w a weighted soccer ball did nothing to improve basic work and handling skills or do much in the way of conditioning. Or that having baseball ball players swing weighted bats does not do a lot in the long run at improving batting average or number of home runs.

the kind of work you describe can be a small part of prep such as warming up etc or maybe general movement on a day where you take a break from practice and rest, can file that stuff under gpp, general physical preparedness, but do not expect it to improve your playing much or refine things appreciably

at worst you can learn some difficult to un-learn  gross motor patterns that can make your playing worse....

Initially very well said (and I mean that), but the further suggestions are most improper because you have never actually sat next to this "supposed student."  On this or any other website, I do not take anything for granted.

Therefore, I will state what I have stated before, and that is:

There are no muscles in your fingers.  They are comprised of ligaments, tendons, cartilage and bone.  Accordingly, as far as strengthening any one's hand anatomy is concerned, I proffer the following:

1)  The human hand has Interossi muscles which allows it to rotate freely from side to side.  These are often mentioned for the facilitation of trills.

2)  In regards the rest of piano technique, a student can, through regular strength exercises, increase their facility away from the piano by doing a daily whole body regimen (which is what I now do).

3)  All of the customary daily BS of scales, broken chords, arpeggios and piano exercises/etudes will (in the long run) do one no good at all!

If the OP desires further advice, please contact me by PM.  I thank the OP for their courage in posting this.  They are, by far, not the only one in this particular situation.