Lost strength in my fingers... why?

[joachimf]

Hi!

I'm really lost here, as I've been in perfect shape for some months now, and played thrills, embelishments and long runs in the sonata I'm playing (Haydn Hoboken 16:49 if anyone's interested) with not that many problems.  Then suddenly, yesterday, my fingers just wouldn't do it properly. The long runs were uneven, or I might even crash in the middle of a run; most of the usual, pretty easy embelishments and ornaments was practically impossible unless I put the tempo down significantly. In other words, everything went really bad...

I've been practising like crazy today, as I have a lesson tomorrow, but I still have this feeling that my fingers aren't what they were some days ago...

What's happened? Is there anything I've been doing wrong in my practise? What's the quickest way I can regain shape in?

For the record I've been doing Cortot and Hanon exercises/gymnastics every day. But not for more than half an hour++, and only the first exercises.

It scares me that so much of the strength in my fingers and eveness could develop so negatively overnight... :/

Any help/tips before my lesson tomorrow please?

Best regards,
Joachim

[ted]

It could be you are playing too strenuously, it could be due to activity other than piano playing or it could be something else, such as a virus coming on. Weakness is one of the symptoms of overuse, so I'd eliminate that possibility first, away from the piano and at the piano. You can get away with playing long and hard if what you play contains a good variety of movements. It's when you repeat the same movements brute force fashion without breaks that your body will tell you to stop.

It looks to me as though you might have been playing too much of the same things - same repeated movements - for too long, but I'm just guessing. Let's hear what the others have to say.

[lagin]

If I practice too much for too many days in a row, my fingers just plain get tired and sloppy.  I find that a day or if you're brave two days off, helps tremedously and doesn't hinder my playing at all.
I find that half a day doesn't do the trick.  For me, personally, I need a whole day off completely, without even tinkering.  Then I'm energized and ready to go.  My teacher even reccommends days off once and a while.

[joachimf]

Thank you for your replies. 

I think I had a mixture of almost everything both of you have mentioned. The last days I've been practising more than I use too, I feel I possibly could have a small virus coming on, and I might have been playing too strenuously during long runs. I have also (I realised this today) not really relaxed when not sitting in front of the piano. Like in school, I tend to do things with my fingers all-the-time, either play with the pen, etc., out of pure boredom.  (I've also had a few 5hour tests in school.. a lot of writing..)
But I really relaxed today before my lesson, listened through the piece once, played it once, bought a chocolate-bar, ate it 15mins before my lesson to get my energy going, and when the adrenaline came (along with the nerviousity though) when I was about to play for my teacher, everything went much better. I do think it wasn't as good as for some days ago, but my teacher said he really saw improvement in many places.

So I guess the conclusion is, I have to relax more all day when not being at the piano, remember to play less strenuously, and take a day off once in a while.

Thank you again:)

Joachim

[celticqt]

Glad your lesson went well!  I have mine tomorrow night, and this week I have been experiencing exactly what you described in your first post.  (It probably didn't help that I spring-cleaned my house this past week and then had out-of-town guests for the weekend.)  This is a good reminder to me to relax, also.   

[lagin]

why do you guys get nervous when playing at your lessons?  I mean, I do a tiny bit, but I love going to lessons and playing even if I'm not always as well prepared as I could be.  I just tell my teacher that I had a slack week so don't expect miracles.  Are you teachers really mean or something?

[joachimf]

Haha, he's not mean or anything, :p
but I want to make the best impression as possible, and I also feel so priveleged I have the teacher I have. Therefore I don't want to waste his time playing bad, so that he feels I haven't been practising enough. I'm probably over-reacting a bit though. He wouldn't have had me as a student in the first place, hadn't he wanted me as a student. (I'm taking private lessons).

I think nervousity is a very personal thing, every experiences it differently. Many says a little nervousity is good though; one can not play good without a little nervousness. But sometimes it can be too much. (I hope I'm not alone, having experienced extreme nervousness during concerts...  like, when you almost start shaking, and that's not fun! But the only way to get rid of that is to play more concerts though, getting used to holding concerts... Start small of course. I've heard of many organisations focusing on nervousness. They have own groups of people coming together to play for each other, different members each time, etc.)
Of course there are many people having no problems at all with this, unless it is a concert of a very big scale or something similiar. Sadly I'm not one of them... 

[celticqt]

why do you guys get nervous when playing at your lessons?  I mean, I do a tiny bit, but I love going to lessons and playing even if I'm not always as well prepared as I could be.  I just tell my teacher that I had a slack week so don't expect miracles.  Are you teachers really mean or something?

No, he's not mean, but he does expect a certain level of performance that I have to work hard to get to.  He's a professional pianist, and he picks and chooses students; I'm pretty sure that I'm the least advanced of his students, and I want to do a good job.  I've only been with him for 5 months or so.  Also, it's kind of expensive, so I don't want to waste my money or his time.

But I never really got nervous until he started having me memorize things (last month).  Now I freak out.