Can anyone please give me tips on strengthening my fingers?

-- Joe (jumanlee@hotmail.com), December 24, 2001

Answers

I am studying the Hanon exercises 1-20 for strengthening my fingers.

-- (Noname_poster@yahoo.com), December 27, 2001.

Why do you think you need stronger fingers? Most people do not need stronger fingers to play the piano; they just need to learn how to use their bodies properly.

If you are double jointed, that is a special situation. In that case, read the earlier post about "Weak Fingers" under Specific Student Problems on this board.

If you are practicing without a teacher's supervision, be very careful about trying to get "stronger." You could hurt yourself. People who try to increase their muscles at the piano tend to strain and to hit the keys too hard. There is no value in this; worse, it develops insensitivity, other bad habits and can be physically damaging.

Instead, find a teacher who is interested in helping you learn to play with the least effort necessary in order to produce the desired result. Playing with your bones, rather than using your muscles, is a good concept.

-- Alan (Noname_poster@yahoo.com), January 03, 2002.

for men you can do push up supporting your body weight on your fingers and slowly over a few weeks or months take a finger away and use less or get a hand gripper or put a light weight in your hand and place your wrist over the edge of the table and try moving just your wrist up and down as far as you can(the rest of your arm does not move) keeping a strong grip on it (note these also give you strong forearms)

-- mat (greenbuttsk8@hotmail.com), February 11, 2005.