Low-stamina fingers

[Sargas]

Okey, so I've got the speed, and strength to play fast on weighted keys and get it rather tight, but after playing for a while (if you've heard

, that's about how long I can keep the speed up) my fingers gets really tired, and I can't keep the speed without loosing A LOT of accuracy and tempo.

So basicly I'm looking for an exercise to get my fingers in better shape. I don't really want to try and make my own exercise, because that might result in overstraining my fingers, and maybe even hurt myself, which I obviously don't want.

And while I'm at it, I feel that my left hands lack the control that my right hand has (i.ex, I'm able to do fast chord-runs all over the board with my right and hit the majority of the correct keys, but the left hand can't even run one octave of a scale).

Thanks in advance

 

[Mourndark]

You need Hanon.

I started working through the book a couple of weeks ago, and I'm already noticing improvements in my finger strength and precision (and my touch typing!). The first few excercises will seem quite simple at first, but are necessary to gain even strength across your fingers.

EDIT: actually, I'm fairly certain it's out of copyright now, so you can probably find a copy to download free. If you want to.

 

[Sargas]

Thanks! I think I would gain more from buying the book than downloading it, since if I download it, I would have to be at the computer to read it, and my piano is not at the computer ^^. My keyboard however, is usually at the computer, but I doubt finger-training exercises are very effective to do on light-weighted keys

I'll see if I can find that book in any store around, before buying it from the internet. (I still prefer buying things from stores than online ^^)

EDIT: Where do you think my chances are best to find that book? In a book store, or in a music store?

 

[b3maniac]

Sargas,
If you have access to an acoustic piano, playing regularly may help improve
hand and finger strength and durability. My hand strength and endurance was never better that when I was playing a Fender Rhodes for four to five hours on gigs.

 

[Sargas]

I have access to an acoustic piano, yes. It's just that as I still live with my parents, and the piano can be heard no matter where you are in the house, I usually prefer to play it when I'm alone at home. (I guess most musicians agree when I say that you usually don't want people to listen while you practice, right?)

So I wanted some exercises to be able to make the time more efficient when I'm actually playing the Piano. If I could connect headphones to the Piano, or if I wasn't living with my parents, then I suppose it wouldn't really be that much of a problem.

 

[b3maniac]

I certainly understand as my situation is kind of similar. Our acoustic piano is in the
same room with the television and it seesm that soemone is always watching some show or movie.
To that end, I usually do most of my playing in my home studio room on my E-MU EIV/Esynth (non-weighted keyboard). My wife sometimes implies that I am unsociable
when I choose to play in the studio room instead of watching a movie. (laugh)

 

[Sargas]

Indeed, that's exactly my situation. The Piano is in the same room as the TV, and my keyboard is not weighted, which makes it pretty useless for finger exercises

 

[PianoMan]

I second the sentiment of the Hanon, although personally I haven't worked through Hanon but I've done excercises like that (simpler ones). One thing to do though is be sure to practice them in all 12 keys, keeping the same fingering as when you play it in C major. This will mean playing thumbs and pinkies on black keys. Play it at a tempo that's slightly faster than comfortable and do it every day. When I was doing exercises daily for a few months I started to notice a LOT more fluidity in my playing. Vary the excercises from being scalar to chordal, make up ones (you won't hurt yourself making up an excercise... you'll hurt yourself by playing ANY exercise, made up or not, too fast too soon).

Good luck man.

 

[Sargas]

I'll check some stores today to see if I can find the Hanon. If I can't, I'll buy it online, it surely feels like a good book that suits my needs.

Thanks for the help

 

[evergreenthompson]

It is available free for download at the International Music Score Library Project. Print the pages you are working on and you're set.

Interesting article on Wikipedia.

 

[Sargas]

I was at the stores today, and ordered it, as it was out of stock at the store. So it's no use downloading it now

 

[Dr.Clock]

I was about to say "Go to Guitar Center". I just saw that you're in Sweden. :lol:
Anyway, it's a great book, it really helps.
I agree with you, a real book is better than a virtual one.

 

[shaneffrenchrolandplayer]

just reading through......If your fingers get physically tired and sore from less than a coulple hours of heavy playing......you have bad technique or posture.....full stop, and their is no point in doing exercise until you have that sorted out. I study in a conservatoir and i always see pianist trying to play a concerto with ''stamina'' problems and they try to build their stamina and they end up getting tendonitis.....and that aint pretty

 

[Sargas]

I am aware that my left hand is having some problems with the angle, and to get the correct hand-position, and that is something that I'm trying to solve as good as I can, and I suppose that I should take it a bit easy with the stamina-building on the left hand until I get that sorted out properly.

But I do think that my right hand is playing as it should be, and I'm playing the Hanon exercises daily, and already noticing results

But I will take your advice Shanef, it seems like a good idea . Though I don't know what tendonitis is, would you mind explaining?

 

[shaneffrenchrolandplayer]

well i know nothing about the medical side of it, (it something to do with the connecting of muscle tissue with your hand) but i know that pianist are very prone to it when doing alot of strenuios practice, and thats it quite painful.....Thankfully I was told about it early on and told how to avoid but some of my collegues have it.

A few important things to remember is to keep that ball shape under your palm, if your flatten your fingers your in real trouble and this might seem sill but its a problem with alot of people, keep all your fingers resting on the keys at all times in a relaxed manner. If your little finger and or thumb rise of the keys there is tension in your hand and that aint good

 

[Sargas]

A few important things to remember is to keep that ball shape under your palm, if your flatten your fingers your in real trouble and this might seem sill but its a problem with alot of people, keep all your fingers resting on the keys at all times in a relaxed manner. If your little finger and or thumb rise of the keys there is tension in your hand and that aint good

I had too flattened fingers before, but I managed to get rid of that. However I do think I overcompensated a bit, since my left-hand fingers are now too much angled instead :/

But since I've now tried both too flattened fingers, and too angled fingers, I really hope that I can get it right after the next change
I will talk to my piano teacher about it tomorrow, he should be able to help me out

 

[shaneffrenchrolandplayer]

hannon is def the right way too go thoughas along as its done right

 

[Sargas]

hannon is def the right way too go thoughas along as its done right

Yeah I've started to realize that too, and I really think that book will give a major boost to my playing skills, since I'm already starting to notice differences, after the first 2 exercises out of 60

But as mentioned earlier, I need to get my left hand to the appropriate position first, then I can start the training for real

 

[AmyGirl]

Remember that any fast song must be practiced slowly at first so that you train your fingers to do the right thing in the right rhythm. Then, you gradually increase the speed. Any song that has been sped up too soon will sound sloppy and rushed, with uneven rhythms and wrong notes. Try slowing the song down and really emphasizing each note and the rhythms to be very exact. Then, gradually speed up your metronome until you can play it perfectly at the speed you're at. Then, move it up a little more until you can play it perfectly at that speed. It takes a long time and many times through, but results in a flawless performance at any speed.

 

[Dr.Clock]

Remember that any fast song must be practiced slowly at first so that you train your fingers to do the right thing in the right rhythm. Then, you gradually increase the speed. Any song that has been sped up too soon will sound sloppy and rushed, with uneven rhythms and wrong notes. Try slowing the song down and really emphasizing each note and the rhythms to be very exact. Then, gradually speed up your metronome until you can play it perfectly at the speed you're at. Then, move it up a little more until you can play it perfectly at that speed. It takes a long time and many times through, but results in a flawless performance at any speed.

She's right. It might take some time, but at the end it should sound great