Hi everyone!

I enjoyed reading all the tips given for the 'curved hands' thread. I have a 7-yr old girl whose little fingers stick out when she plays. She didn't start lessons with me till some time last year & I am still having trouble correcting those two tensed 'pinkies'. I asked her to hold on to stress balls to get the curved shape, then taking the balls away. I also always remind her to 'rest' her little fingers on the key surface. However, once she is engrossed playing her piece, those 'tiny ones' will rise again. Should I also use the 'chord-playing' approach suggested by some in the 'curved hands' thread? Please help!!!

Maybe devise some simple, five finger exervises to encourage finger indepedance? Say, both thumbs on C, finger 2s on B and D etc and get her to try playing just the thumbs, then the 2s, then the 3s etc, VERY slowly (releasing the 2s fully before pressing down the 3s etc) and trying all the time to keep all the fingers that are not in use, in contact with the keys

Spending time on exercises like this can often help because then the pupil concentrates specifically on this particular problem. Trying to fix something like this within a piece may be too much for the child to think about in addition to counting, notes etc Like you say, once playing a piece, it goes un-noticed by the child

Hope this helps

Thanks Yamaha!

I did some exercises with her before. Would you suggest that I should continue with these exercises till the day that her pinkies do not stick out as much? I really don't know how to make these exercises more interesting. The reason why I stopped giving these exercises was that she found them mundane after a while & she stopped practising them and I could only 'correct' that sticking-out pinkies once a week during her lessons.

This girl did not start piano lessons with me. I only taught her after she began lessons for a year. It could also be a bad habit due to the piano keys which may be too hard to depress.

Its hard to say really what to do for the best but I think continued correction is probably best. I have an adult who is taking Grade 6 this time but has played piano before she came to me for many years. Her technique is quite poor (she has the same problem with the pinky) and now it seems impossible to change, despite my best efforts Maybe try and find some pieces that make a lot of use of the pinky rather than give exercises ?

Thanks Yamaha!

Will try harder!

I'm 17, I've been playing since right before I turned 3, and my pinkys still stick out. I've tried to correct it (it is better than what it used to be) but have finally come to the conclusion that it is just the way my pinkys are. They just tend to stick out like that, even when I'm doing something other than piano. I think some people's pinkys just do that. It hasn't affected my playing so I don't worry about it.