I would like to pick up some ideas.
My hands get really cold, (and so do my feet) and my daughter's hands get very cold, too. This is getting a bit of a problem when she does her piano practice early in the morning before going to school. Any suggestions? How do you warm your hands before playing the piano?

My Mum (a doctor and a very clever person generally) always says 'lack of fluids!' at me when I have cold hands. I don't know if this is true, but maybe you should make sure you have had enough to drink - try having a glass of hot water or something a bit before you play (holding the glass will also warm your hands up anyway). I think you can also buy these little packs that are filled with a kind of gel thing, I think some people use them on skiing holidays so they'll probably be found in outdoor-type shops. You pop them in the microwave and they stay hot for quite a while - you can put on a pair of gloves and stick these things in there and that will warm up your hands in no time. Sorry, I don't actually know what these things are called!

I always marvel at that scene in the pianist when he is playing in that freezing cold house towards the end - my fingers would not be able to move at all! I watched 'the making of...' and Adrian Brody really did have to play in the freezing cold. Respect.

We were taught in the Army to use body warmth! For example, you can warm your own (or a comrade's) hands by sticking them under your armpits. Feet were, however, another matter. Children look away now.













The groin area was used to warm feet up.

Run a bowl of warm water and immerse your hands for a few minutes.

Yoga exercises are good for increasing blood flow - concentrate on relaxing all the muscles in your arms and shoulders, let them hang down and gently swing them around for a few minutes.

Yes, I always wash my hands in hot water first too...

Keep the house warmer! (At least while playing the piano...)

I have a bit of a circulation problem and wear fingerless gloves nearly all the time from early Autumn through to early summer, I pretty much only take them off to play at the moment. I find if I keep them covered from when I first play in the morning then I stay warmed up both physically and instrument-wise all day. Also wrapping my hands round a hot mug of something helps too.

I'm awful for this and curse myself when things go wrong, despite having cold hands.

I'm sure that someone more medically educated will enlighten us, but the whole biological system seems to break down under cold conditions...

I'm afraid it is simply "one of those things" - in the absence of smoking, or of particular conditions which cause poor circulation, some of us just have warmer hands than others.

I would also go for the body heat option. Warm house, yes - try putting an oil filled heater with a timer switch on into the room with the piano so that the room can be got warm before playing, if the central heating can't be run for a good hour or two before you get up (I have to do this in some of the more baltic of our rooms) - but I always warm my hands on my own tummy, under my clothes, being too sweaty to be able to use armpits, and turn my hands over and back until they don't feel cold on my tummy any more.

Thank you everyone for your advice. I will be searching for fingerless gloves now. It takes a long time for our house to get warm, and putting a heater with a timer in our lounge, where the piano is, will be a good solution. Did I read somewhere that root ginger is good for bad circulation, or did I dream about it....

Yes, I swear by ginger, it's my excuse for eating a lot of ginger nuts cookies anyway.

A certain High Street retailer (think S & M reversed...) make incredibly good organic stem ginger ones, they are great.

Oh, just noticed you specified 'root ginger' ,,,,,, does that make a difference, I wonder?

denmark

A great way to warm your hands up (and your whole body) is to run warm water over the underneath of your wrists where all the veins are close to the skin. This helps to warm your blood up a bit and circulate the warmth around your body.

Fingerless mittens until your fingers have warmed up a little?

I used to practice piano in the aftermath of WWII in a house without CH, and with the piano in the "front room". We, of course, lived in the back room and that's where the only open fire was on weekdays. Occasionally I was allowed a one-bar open radiant element fire. Didn't help much in the winter of 1947.

Yes, they really help. I forgot to say in my earlier post to make sure they are loose not fitted so that your own hand warmth can circulate round inside them.

I used to practice piano in the aftermath of WWII in a house without CH, and with the piano in the "front room". We, of course, lived in the back room and that's where the only open fire was on weekdays. Occasionally I was allowed a one-bar open radiant element fire. Didn't help much in the winter of 1947.
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Me too! and the floods that followed in 1947 came within sight of our house in York.

My hands warming method now is to offer to wash the pots before playing. Result, warm hands and grateful Mrs O.

I stick them down my trousers for a minute !

Children, avert your eyes!

He's from Yorkshire, it's a Ferret he's using to warm his hands

I find nothing works better or faster than just playing. Start with something bold and simple - no fast scales, fiddly passges, or big stretches - otherwise there'll be an injury. Within a few minutes the hands are as warm as toast and moving freely.

I've noticed the same Mad Tom when practising my violin. My left hand gets hot while my right hand gets cold.

I get really cold hands, too! And sometimes playing does warm them up, but sometimes I'm just too cold for that! I can't use another part of my body because often if my hands are THAT cold, my body is quite cold, too! I find that doing a whole body warm up is good. I start from my neck, shoulders, arms, wrists, fingers, waist, legs ankles and toes, stretching each area in turn. I find it quite invigorating and a good wake up if you're feeling an afternoon-lethargy phase coming on! It also helps prevent tense posture - a warmed up body can relax more easily. Also, drink lots of water. It helps regulate the body temperature (so I learnt back at school?!).

I had terribly cold hands today during my piano exam! They were almost numb because I had to walk to the exam venue straight from school which is about a mile and a half in the freezing cold!
Unfortunately I only got a very short time to practice on the warm up piano so my hands were still quite cold for my exam.

wurlizter, sounds like you needed hand warmers, if you come across this situation again, invest in some hand warmers, they work really well especially if you put them inside your gloves.

I was going to get some but then didn't have time as I didn't think about having cold hands until about 9pm the night before the exam

A recent discovery by me,, "put kettle on" ~ have a cup of tea, hold the cup, hands warm up, drink cup, body warms up.. i meant drink tea.. dont drink the cup please. (brain is cold, mistakes get made)

Keeps the keys clean, too!

err.... I fill up my hot water bottle, I either have it on my lap or by my side (duet stool) sometimes the cat comes to join me too. When I am doing left and right scales I put my other hand on it feel a bit soft doing this but I hate being cold