collapsing of finger joint

[BoliverAllmon]

how bad is collapsing of a finger joint. I video taped myself and noticed that it does happen. It doesn't happen often, but it is there.

boliver

[vivace]

Hey what a neat coincidence...I just started Alan Fraser's book "The Craft of Piano Playing". He merges ideas of the Feldenkrais method with piano playing. Anyhow, he writes about the skeletal structure in your hand and writes that the bones need to be aligned in the most optimal positions for strength and movement; when your finger knuckles collapse, the skeletal structure is out of alignment and weight distribution is thrown off. Fraser gives exercises to solve this "collapsing" issue in particular.

Fraser also points out that he noticed many collapsing thumbs in students--so pay attention to that.

Like I said, I just started this book so I can't tell you if the exersices are effective. However, I am so far intrigued by his ideas, and have heard good reviews so it's possibly a good book to check out. 

[howiehc]

Hmmm.. collapsing joint. Well i suffered from this problem too espeicially in my 4th finger and have been trying hard to correct it. From what I was told, what happens is that when your joint collapses (most likely the joint before the fingertip?), it tends to lock and not only do you loose control, indepedence, and most importantly touch!!!! it also sometimes makes long fast passages very difficult to play. Just imagine all the little extra time your finger needs to spend "straightening" out. For me, this is not really a problem in slow or Romantic music .. .. but it can sometimes make the clarity needed in Mozart hard to achieve   


 

[Liween]

  Hi if you dont mind may I know what exactly is collapsing of finger joint ? Does it mean that when you press a note your first and second segment of the finger is not straighten but slightly bent ? Is it due to using too much strength when pressing the note ?

[howiehc]

I think this is also known as the "double-jointed" problem. When you are playing, the fingers are supposed to look like this when it they hit the keys,

                  /
            __ |__     , where that little bend in the first joint allows you control and such

But sometimes it "collapses" and becomes

              /
        __ /___

It's probably just due to bad habit    As of ways to correct it... i was told to simply practice stuff like scales but pay LOTSA attention to the finger i'm having problem with...... i mean even now typing this entry...... i'm practicing and improving 

Here is a similar discussion i believe
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/index.php/topic,561.0.html

 
                 

[bravuraoctaves]

Hammer technique?

[mkdeut]

A piano teacher once pointed out to me that I had done this a few times when played chords all 5 fingers on a hand. I would let the 4th and 5th fingers "collapse". My teacher had said that when I let my fingers collapse like that, I lose much of the strength that I would need otherwise to play those chords loudly, because it allows for a springy motion which absorbs alot of the energy you put into pressing the keys. I have quite a bit of flexibility in my fingers, and when my teacher saw me doing this, my fingers were bent more like this:

              |
        __ /___

ofcourse the diagram makes it seem much worse than it really was. I imagine that if I did continue playing loudly and letting my fingers collapse like that, I might start to cause some damage.