Piano Forum

The hovering pinky I speak of is not one that rises above all other fingers, but flys level with the other fingers. A good hovering pinky places the 5th finger in optimal position for readyness of execution and balance with the thumb.

That puts it in perspective.

Just to belabor an old obsession of mine, look at videos of the rather famous and accomplished pianist Polina Osetinskaya.

As much as I admire her playing, I still cringe at looking at her (either hovering or flying) finger 5 in RH. 

Obviously, it doesn't hamper her abilities.

For me, while I don't have her breadth of repertoire nor some of her abilities as a mechanic nor as an artist, I do like to subconsciously "finger" improvised passages in both hands in cases where I expect I might rather use the fifth finger/pinky to grab onto something else, rather than to commit to shifting the entire hand.

Of course I use finger 5 in both hands all the time, but it also has that extra function if I want to think about modulating or trying a different pattern which would otherwise need more committment.  And this is just blues/jazz/R&B, not free-form "serious" improv like many here can do.

IOW, when it's not in use, as it often is, it's sort of like an extra finger I keep in reserve, completely unconsciously.

That doesn't address the tension in the OP, but I think it's been established that a "dangling fifth" is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, my pinkies on each hand are the fattest of all the fingers, excluding the thumbs:  could be tendon(s) or something, or I don't know what.  They get used a lot at the keyboard.