Collapsing Fingers: Give Me the Strength
You’ve seen it. You may have even committed the crime yourself. A pianist’s finger nearing the piano key, venturing forth and pressing it… then, the blasphemous moment: the first joint of the finger collapses backwards, destroying any possibility of stability and dynamic control. The house of cards falls, and all hope seems lost.
But fear not! One can avoid this cardinal sin of piano playing with a few simple fixes. Read on to learn why collapsing fingers happen, and how to play with supported fingers. Doing so will enhance your playing, and give you more control and power at the piano. So let’s begin.
Why the Fingers Collapse
First, let’s talk about why this happens in the first place. No one wants to actually press the key with a collapsing finger joint. However, novice pianists who have played this way from day one interpret collapsing fingers as a fait accompli. They resign themselves to their supposed fate, taking refuge in simple pleasures; they are happy to merely get a sound out of the piano, especially since depressing a key always seems to take so much physical effort. It is their cross to bear, they reason. While this humility may seem noble, these pianists need not live on crumbs for the rest of their musical lives. Playing the piano is supposed to feel easy, but perhaps no piano teacher has explained to them the phenomenon of collapsing fingers and how to resolve it.
A few factors may be at play here:
1) Improper bench position
This would be an indirect reason for collapsing fingers. If you are seated too high, too low, too close, or too far from the piano (anything else?), your forearm and wrist are in a disadvantageous position. As a result, you won’t be able to execute proper technique at the piano, and the compromised technique may cause the fingers to collapse.
I wrote an entire article about bench position that you can read here. Regarding bench height, your elbows should be in line with or just above the surface of the white keys. As for seat distance, you should be able to reach the far end of the piano keys with a straight arm and closed fist. If you have to bend your elbow, you’re too close; if you can’t reach the end of the keys, you’re too far.
2) Playing with fingers instead of arm weight
This is the most likely reason as to why the fingers collapse. We don’t depress the keys with the weight of our fingers. I’m going to say that again: we don’t depress the keys with the weight of our fingers.
I can hear you saying, “Heretic! How can that be? We play the piano with our fingers, don’t we?”
Well, yes and no. Our fingers flap down from the knuckle so that we can play with “finger independence” (kind of a misnomer, but that's for another blog post). The flapping down from the knuckle enables us to control which finger(s) we want to strike a given key (or keys) with.
However, the weight required to press the key down should absolutely NOT come from the fingers; it should come from the arm. You may have heard the term “arm weight” in reference to piano technique. We use the weight of our forearm (which is heavy) to press a piano key (which is light).
Try this:
Let your arm dangle at your side. Let it feel heavy. Your hand will be in a natural, relaxed curve.
Now bend your arm at the elbow, keeping the wrist neutral (not sagging or cocked back); keep the hand and fingers in the relaxed curve.
Like a drawbridge lowering, let your hand fall slowly onto the key; bend only at the elbow, not the wrist.
Play one key with finger 2 or 3. When you reach the key, imagine going through it, like it’s water or jello. But don’t adjust your fingers to play; let them stay in their natural curve. Then keep the key held down (gently, not digging in), just hanging out.[1]
If you did this correctly, pressing the key should have felt effortless; your finger should not have remained in its natural curve without collapsing. Congratulations! You can play with strong fingers. Paradoxically, it requires less effort to play with strong fingers than with collapsed fingers. It’s that weightless, effortless sensation that you are seeking.
An example of collapsing fingers — notice that in the index and ring fingers, the first joint is bent backwards
An example of strong fingers — notice the first joint of the fingers is intact (not bent back), and the hand and fingers are in a natural, relaxed curve
3) Pressing the key too hard
This is related to reason #2. You don’t press the key with your finger; your finger sinks into the key using arm weight. (Remember the exercise you just did.) Once your finger has sunk into the key, you just let it “hang out”; you’re letting the key stay depressed with the weight of your arm rather than of your finger.
If you’re trying to achieve a firm fingertip by pressing hard on the key, you’re doing the opposite of what is needed here: putting in less physical effort. Using arm weight is more energy-efficient and allows for more control. It also keeps the arm and hand in their most anatomically natural positions, which prevents you from fighting against your body.
Also worth noting: if you press the key too hard, it is highly probable that you will then dig into the key once it’s fully depressed. This action is known as “keybedding.”[2] Keybedding is one of the worst things you can do at the piano, as it accumulates a large amount of excess tension, and prevents you from playing with flow (i.e. walking smoothly from key to key).
Letting the finger sink into the key, and letting the arm weight keep the key depressed, corrects two potential technique problems at once. Two birds, one stone — or shall we say: two keys, one finger? (Sorry, sorry.) You’ll only expend as much energy as needed, and won’t accumulate any tension while playing.
4) Excess tension in the playing unit
As you might have guessed, this point relates to the previous two. The “playing unit” collectively refers to the arm, hand, and fingers, which are meant to work as one when we play.[3]
Excess tension in the playing unit may arise in different ways. One common culprit is when different parts of the unit are moving in different directions.
For example: let’s say you’re pressing the keys with your fingers, but your wrist and arm remain static. You’ve “cut your fingers off from your hand,” and even “cut off your hand from your arm.”[4] What do I mean? That the fingers, hand, and arm are not working together. In this example, they are all moving independently of each other (bad). In actuality, they all have to move as one; and anatomically, it is how they move most naturally.
A good example of the playing unit moving “as one” is rotation. On the piano, alternate between fingers 1 and 5, playing a fifth (C and G, for example). To play these notes, it’s easiest to just rotate the forearm to reach each key; imagine turning a doorknob. Your forearm, hand, and finger should lean towards one key all at the same time (“as one”). By implementing forearm rotation and leaning slightly, playing the key should feel effortless. Congratulations! You have consolidated the playing unit and are playing efficiently.
If, instead, you oscillate between fingers 1 and 5 using only your fingers, the forearm will remain static, and even the hand itself won’t move very much. This will doubtlessly feel more difficult. What’s more, now you’ll probably have to twist your wrist to reach the key. So you have once again “cut your fingers off” from the rest of the playing unit. Here, you only have the strength of your fingers (rather than the strength of your arm) to play the keys. Combined with twisting at the wrist, you’ll find you don’t have much control, or even strength, to press the key. The fingers are much more likely to collapse this way.
5) Fingernails that are too long
This is perhaps the worst reason to have collapsing fingers, because it is so easily resolvable. The solution: trim your fingernails or get your acrylic fake nails taken off. That way, you’ll be able to keep the relaxed hand curve while playing, and you’ll be able to strike a key properly.
With long nails, you always have to flatten out your hand and fingers to play; otherwise, the nails are in the way, coming into contact with the key before the finger. Unfortunately, this inhibits both the natural hand curve and a continuous, flowing movement of the playing unit. If you attempt to keep the hand curve with long nails, the first joint of the finger will collapse to prevent the nail from hitting the key.
You have to make a choice here: keep the long nails and suffer whenever you play piano, or keep your nails short and play all the pieces you’ve dreamed of playing with ease. If you have long fingernails, you’ll just make playing piano exponentially harder for yourself.
Benefits of Firm Fingertips
It’s important to note that we shouldn’t really have to “try” to keep the fingertips firm. Trying to keep a firm fingertip may result in a clenching of the hand; again, this is excess tension, excess physical effort, and an attempt to use the fingers (rather than arm weight) to depress the keys.
So what happens when firm fingertips come into play by using proper technique, as described in this article? “Effortless” firm fingertips indicate that you are aligning the entire playing unit so it moves as one, and are using arm weight to depress the key. It means you are correctly coordinating motions throughout the entire playing unit. It means you are playing efficiently and avoiding any excess tension.
What this translates into pianistically is that you have more dynamic control and expressive range. A firm fingertip is like a laser, a precise bell-like “ping” on the piano, the volume of which you can calibrate by use of arm weight. But this sonically pleasant, dynamically controlled “ping” from the firm fingertip can only achieved with a drop into the key using arm weight. There is simply no other way.
You’ll be able to play softly without getting a “ghost note” (pressing the key without a sound coming out). You’ll also be able to play softly with evenness (no random loud notes). Playing louder will be easier as well — and this is mainly because of the arm weight. When playing forte, you can actually hear the difference between playing with fingers vs. arm weight; playing with only fingers will sound harsh, but playing with arm weight will sound big, rounded, and majestic.
Another example of strong fingers — the hand is in its anatomically natural position, making it easier to press the key using arm weight
Conclusion: It’s Not Just About the Fingers
As you can see, achieving stability in the finger joints has little to do with manipulating the fingers themselves. Firm fingertips are achieved by playing with proper technique: using arm weight; and keeping the arm, hand, and fingers aligned. The fingers are the last in a chain (of forearm-hand-fingers), so everything that precedes the fingers has to be used efficiently, and all parts of the chain have to be in anatomical alignment with each other. If there’s a break in the chain (that “cutting off” I spoke of earlier), you’re working against your body; consequently, you will compromise the ease and control you could have with an aligned playing unit.
It can be tricky to properly convey the movement required for proper technique using only the written word. Visual demonstration from a teacher is always best.
If you want hands-on guidance on how to play piano with effective technique, feel free to set up a FREE trial lesson with me at my studio in Mississauga, Ontario. You can find out more about my piano lessons by clicking here. I look forward to hearing from you!
Footnotes:
[1] This is a modified description adapted from What Every Pianist Needs to Know about the Body by Thomas Mark (2003), p. 111
[2] The term "keybedding" was coined by pianist and teacher Tobias Matthay
[3] The Taubman approach uses the term "playing unit" to refer to the arm, hand, and fingers working as one, as illustrated in this course workbook by Taubman expert Robert Durso, p. 3
[4] These colourful descriptions are lifted from Piano Technique Demystified: Insights into Problem Solving by Neil Stannard (2014), p. 11-12
