The Cross-Eyed Pianist

GENERAL

Consider the hand

FEBRUARY 24, 2013 | CROSS-EYED PIANIST | 3 COMMENTS“The hand should be quiet, tranquil, floating. It is supported by the spine, whose stable strength is cantileveredthrough the shoulders and elbows, which, in turn, support the weightless and buoyant hand at rest. But inmotion the hand channels the torso’s energy, echoing and concentrating the body’s disposition, the heart’sdisposition toward contraction and release.” Russell Sherman ‘Piano Pieces’

from ‘The Craft of Piano Playing’ by Alan Fraser

The hand is a complex bio-mechanism, comprising some 27 bones, not including sesamoid bones(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesamoid_bone) which number varies between people. The metacarpalsare the bones that connect the fingers and the wrist. Each human hand has 5 metacarpals and 8 carpalbones. The anatomy of the hand, and wrist, allows a range of motions, large (gross motor skills) andsmall (fine motor skills), and the fingertips contains some of the densest areas of nerve endings on thebody, are the richest source of tactile feedback, and have the greatest capability for positioning of all theparts of the body.

For the pianist, like the surgeon, the hands are the ‘tools of the trade’, that take signals from the brainand translate those signals into a vast range of articulations, gestures and – most importantly – sounds.

The hands need to be looked after, and many pianists are obsessive about the care of their hands. TheCanadian pianist Glenn Gould was famously neurotic about his hands. He would refuse to shake handswith people, for fear of damaging his hands (so he claimed, but I wonder whether this was just another

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manifestation of his OCD?). He liked to soak his hands in hot water to warm them before he played, andhe wore gloves (and scarf and hat!) in all weathers. Professional pianists are often asked whether they in-sure their hands, but as the British Paul Lewis once said, if one did that, one would have to insure thearms, shoulders, back, neck…. as well, for all these parts are crucial in the production of sound for thepianist. When asked if he did anything special in the care of his hands, a professional pianist I inter-viewed some years ago while researching a book, replied “no, but weeding it useful”, an activity whichoffers a range of movements to assist suppleness (I suppose – I am not a gardener!). He seemed very coolabout the care of his hands, but for some of us being a pianist means a lifelong fear of carrying heavythings, sharp objects, boiling water…… British pianist Peter Donohoe suffered a serious accident to oneof his fingers, thanks to a hotel window, which could have cut short his career (read more about it here(http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/almost-lost-in-the-crush-pianist-peter-donohoe-was-never-afraid-to-risk-his-hands-doing-household-chores-or-building-work--but-then-he-never-thought-that-simply-opening-a-window-could-cut-short-his-concert-career-1474129.html)). I admit tobeing slightly precious about my hands, especially if I have a concert coming up, refusing to carry heavyshopping or do DIY; and the cold weather plays havoc with my hands, making the skin dry and sore. Ihave to remember to take gloves and emollient cream with me whenever I go out, and I always havehand cream by the piano.

As a pianist, one is constantly aware of one’s hands, checking them, massaging them, drumming the fin-gers, playing a silent keyboard on a table top or one’s knees when away from the piano. We are aware,too, of the arms, shoulders and back. An injury higher up the arm, in the shoulder, neck or back, can af-fect the health of the hand too (as I found to my cost, and considerable pain, before Christmas when Idamaged my left shoulder playing Rachmaninov too energetically). If you’ve had an injury, you becomehyper-sensitive to the slightest twinge or ache. In autumn 2007, I was diagnosed with tenosynovitis(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenosynovitis) in my right hand, the result of using an electric screw-driver (a no-no for the pianist: I should have known better!) and playing octaves too rapidly and with-out the necessary softness and “spring” in hand, wrist and arm. My hand ballooned into a red, painfuluseless thing and my osteopath ordered I rest it immediately. I spent three months with my hand in an or-thopaedic brace, unable to play the piano, frustrated and miserable. When the brace came off, despiteseven sessions with my osteopath (and some considerable expense), my hand was stiff, sluggish and un-responsive. The rehabilitation process was slow. I steered clear of music with octave passages, fast orslow, and the slightest extension of the hand – even a sixth – terrified me, in case the condition returned.Then I met my current teacher, a specialist in relieving tension in the hand and body, and through herguidance, I learnt how to relax, how to make the hand “weightless”, how to support it with the arm,shoulders and back, how to sense instant control and softness. And, most importantly, how to warm upproperly. Five years on and I’m playing Liszt and Rachmaninov, composers who famously put huge de-mands on the hands (and the body in general) – pain free and without tension. Now, the hand problemis nothing more than a minor irritation, one I am aware of, but not something I obsess about.

Non-pianists are often fascinated by the idea of the pianist’s hand, imagining that one must have a spe-cial shape or size of hand to play the piano. In reality, there is no “proper” shape or size of the hand forplaying the piano. Long fingers are not necessarily an advantage, though having a reasonable handstretch (at least a 9th or 10th) is useful. Rachmaninov had very big hands (he could stretch to a 12th onthe white keys), and for this reason many people think his piano music is unplayable. In fact, because hewas a pianist himself, his music is so well written, it is not impossible to navigate, and there are waysaround some of the bigger stretches, such as splitting them between the hands. Liszt also had largehands and unusually long fingers with very little web-like connective tissue between them, which al-lowed him to make wide stretches. Meanwhile, Chopin had surprisingly small hands, and had to comeup with some imaginative fingerings for his music in order to be able to play it.

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The athleticism of the pianist’s hands is also a source of fascination for the non-pianist, and anything in-volving crossed hands is often thought to be incredibly difficult or virtuosic. (My students love it if Iplay something with a crossed hand passage; even better if they get to cross their hands!) In reality,crossing the hands is almost never done for virtuoso showiness, rather for practical purposes: a particu-lar passage may simply be easier to manage with crossed hands.

Repetitive stress injuries such as tendonitis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tendinitis), tenosynovitis,carpal tunnel syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome) and focal dystonia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_dystonia), are, sadly, common for pianists and have afflicted anumber of well-known artists, including Gary Graffman, Leon Fleisher, Wanda Landowska, Artur Schn-abel, Alexander Scriabin, Ignaz Friedman, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Clara Schumann, Glenn Gould, MichelBeroff, and Richard Goode. Fortunately, injuries rarely end the career of a pianist, but they can lead tocancelled concerts and time out for recuperation, in some cases a very long recovery process: Leon Fleis-cher has only recently returned to the concert platform after many years suffering from focal dystonia.When we play, our hands and fingers are under constant pressure, and are prone to overuse, but we canuse various techniques to protect the hands (see resources below). Learning how to relax between notes(especially when playing large spreads, or octaves) is crucial, also ensuring one observes the correct pos-ture at the piano. Take care of yourself, physically (the great teacher Heinrich Neuhaus expected his stu-dents to train in the gym at the Moscow Conservatory to keep themselves fit). Perhaps the most impor-tant advice is to understand and listen to your body, and never play through pain.

Researchers at the University of Southampton, UK, are engaged in a fascinating project(http://www.cherylmetcalf.co.uk/hawkmusic.php) using 3D motion-capture technology to understandthe mechanics of piano playing. Led by Dr Cheryl Metcalf, the team hope to build a database of hun-dreds of piano players to understand the variations in technique, style and playing habits. The informa-tion gathered will be useful to understand why and how some pianists develop repetitive strain injuries,and, hopefully, to advise pianists how to better protect themselves against such injuries.

Yoga for Pianists (http://crosseyedpianist.com/2011/05/14/piano-pilates/) – a sequence of exercisesdevised by pianist and teacher Penelope Roskell

www.pianomap.com (www.pianomap.com) – website of the pianist and teacher Thomas Mark, authorof What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body

Craft of Piano (http://craftofpiano.com/pedagogy.html) – website of renowned teacher Alan Fraser, au-thor of The Craft of Piano Playing

Yoga for Musicians (http://www.peneloperoskell.co.uk/yoga/default.html) – a DVD by my teacher,Penelope Roskell

Stress in Piano Playing (http://www.musicandhealth.co.uk/stress.html)

Thoughts on the hand and fingers (http://www.fanfaire.com/sherman/sherman-hand.htm) from pi-anist and teacher (and author of Piano Pieces) Russell Sherman

And for fun:

The Top 10 pianists showing off their hands (http://www.wqxr.org/#!/blogs/wqxr-blog/2012/oct/11/top-10-photos-pianists-showing-their-hands/)

I’m a pianist. Look at my hands (http://awkwardclassicalmusicphotos.com/2011/07/15/im-a-pianist-

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look-at-my-hands/) – from the perenially entertaining site Awkward Classical Music photos

3 thoughts on “Consider the hand”

Pingback: How to Relieve Pain When Marathon Piano Playing | The Orchestra Pit -- Musical TheaterPiano Central

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amedicstudent says:FEBRUARY 24, 2013 AT 9:06 PMA really interesting post and fresh new perspective on the importance of a pianist’s hands as I’dnever considered it much before!

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isdigby says:FEBRUARY 24, 2013 AT 8:52 PMTypically fascinating discourse from Fran. I didn’t know about Peter Donohoe’s injury. He certainlyshowed no sign of it last night as he treated us to a beautiful rendering of Shostakovich, Chopin (3rdSonata, a favourite of mine), Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann, at the West Wight Arts concert inFreshwater. I sprained my own finger badly in November falling whilst carrying a bag, and a tendonpulled a bit of bone off. My left ring finger is thus permanently expanded in girth.

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