I have a student who continuously folds under the fingers he is not using. In other words ... he crunches up his fingers under his hand until he needs to use them. I have continuously corrected him in this manner, and I have even tried baseball analogies (as he plays baseball). I also have him playing Hanon exercises at a pretty fast pace try to show him that he can't play like that if his fingers are 'crunched' under. Nothing seems to work.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Persist until one of you gets fed up....?

Sorry, might not be very helpful but it's all I can think of.
How old and what sort of level (can't be too high if that's how he plays can it?)

He is 7. He plays well considering he keeps his fingers in such a state. It is like using the wrong fingering for scales ... they may play the scale but it is not always accurate.

Hi

How about giving him something to play that uses lots of chords? Even at his level, there should be something suitable or you could even write a simple piece for him

Hope this helps

My teacher used to tell me that if I did not hold my hands in the correct position over the keys that I would damage the (imaginary) little mouse that was hiding under my hands.

It worked for me and for a number of my pupils, but not for all. It seems to depend on the child - I had one who told me that he would take great pleasure in "smashing the mouse into little pieces" - he was a little boy aged 7............

Stickers for remembering to hold his hands correctly?

I am writing down all of these suggestions! I especially like the mouse!

How about you find or make something, like a play dough and put it under his palm? However this can only be done if the position of his 10 fingers is fixed, i.e. not moving around the keyboard.

Sometimes I get a small orange and place it under their hand to get the the curved shape. if they squish it too much, then they would get covered in orange mess! I then place their hand on the piano and gently remove it, without disturbing the hand postion on the keys.

Look out for a very small furry mouse (a toy one!) - I have found one and it is very popular with my youngest pupils. Slightly impractical while pupils are playing along, but a great incentive.

Especially if they are scared of small, furry animals....

No, no, - he's a real cutie. Sings Kodaly-style too. Multi-talented!!!

I use all the method suggested above.

BUT I also use money !!

I get 2p and place it on the top of the hand, if their fingers are curled then it stays on the hand. Most children start off with good intentions and as their hand gets tired and droops the money falls off.

I have a big bag of 2p on my piano for the beginners!! they like this game.

if they are allowed sweets you can use them instead (have to be flat ones... chewits work well) and they get to keep the ones that don't fall off.

I had a similar problem with a 7 year old boy, and playing lots of chords has really helped him. He absolutely loves 'A Dozen A Day' and they contain loads of easy chords (he is on book 2). I've also had problems with him (and other young children) dropping a hand onto their lap when it's not in use for a bar or two, and told them they only had so many 'lives' in one lesson. Every time they removed a hand from the piano, they lost a life. This might work for the finger-cruncher too. If the child still has a life left at the end of the lesson, they can receive a sticker or sweet.