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short stiff fingers
I have been playing and learning with Christy-Lyn’s and Carrie’s lessons for about 2 years now. I feel as though I am not making the progress I would like to be making. My fingers seem a bit stiff and don’t stretch like they need to. The pattern of 4-2-1 with the left hand seems so awkward and yet that pattern is in much of the music lessons. My third finger should hang loosely but instead it sticks up, and I can’t seem to make it relax back down. My hand feels so tensed and stretched. Is this from “old age” or can I fix this bad technique? Or should I not try to worry about it, since it keeps me from learning some of the pieces. When I run into this problem, I feel like I should just put the piece away and go on to another that does not have that finger pattern. Is that wrong? Should I try to work around it and change the fingering to suit my hand, or just keep trying to make my hand comfortable doing the 4-2-1 pattern by practicing it over and over and trying to train my fingers to reach?
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3 Replies
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Hi Linda, you have discribed the same issue I had when the pieces went to 4,2,1, There is an exercise I did that helped, altho if it was too wide of a stretch my third arthretic knuckle always became a tense issue. Gentle exercise: place the 4 fingers on a scale like thumb on C, index on B, third on A and 4th on G. Keeping first three on strings play the 4th (G)and bring it back, then use the 4th and play F (always leaving 1,2,3, on the strings). proceed to the E, then D if the stretch starts to get tight stop. The put all fingers back on those 4 strings and do the same thing with the thumb, C, D, E, F (keeping 2,3,4th finger on the B,A,G. The reason to do both the 4th and thumb is to gently stretch the distance. Always remembering to close the finger to the palm. I did it with both hands. Shake your hands out and wiggle those fingers and relax them. Now after saying that, I do find times my fingers just can’t do it, I substituted my third instead of the 4th, the stretch was easier, I found if the 3rd was not playing it might as well be comfortable for me. Hope this helps, at our age we don’t need to over stretch the issues time has given us. We are here to enjoy the journey. All the best. Big Hugs
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Hi Linda, have you ever had an in-person or live online lesson where you could get feedback on your hand position? It’s very difficult to know what the problem is without actually seeing your hands. Sometimes slight changes of hand or arm positions can go a long way to help your hands from becoming too tense. Have you considered trying the feedback video with Carrie? Or could you post a photo or video of your playing here in the forum?
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Connie and Katharina – thank you both for the good suggestions. Connie, I will try that exercise. It seems to make sense. And yes, Katharina, I was thinking of doing a video lesson with Carrie. That might help also. Perhaps my left hand is not in the correct position. It is not as bad with my right hand.
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