Why do my fingers tense up when playing the piano?

Question

The piano piece in question, for those who happen to know it, is J. N. Hummel's Sonata in Eb. It was an exam piece for ABRSM Grade 8 in '01-'02, and is too difficult for its grade. When I play it, my fingers sometimes tense up to the point of spasming. This leads to my semiquavers being very uneven. How can I curb this?

Answer 1

Your wrist position plays a BIG part in finger tension, your forearms to wrists to back of your hands should be one straight RELAXED line. This does not mean raise your shoulders higher. Your whole body should be relaxed. Check your piano stool is the right height so the 'straight line' can be accheived.

This done your touch should be as delicate as if you were playing on a sponge, this eases finger tension. You can practice relaxing in this way on scales (boring i know) or hanon exercises. Try and avoid tensing up on harder passages.

Hope that helps!

Answer 2

Don't play it until you are more skilled and can feel more relaxed about it. Your body may be remembering the experience of doing something in an exam that was too hard. Take up meditation to calm yourself and lose the push to perform beyond your present range. You'll get there eventually if you don't try to force it.

Answer 3

Ouch... tough one... You can either work through it and get your fingers into MAD CRAZY shape or you can take a break for a couple days with no playing... do you play any other instruments such as guitar or do you type a considerable amount? I notice the more I play guitar and piano the more I make my fingers spasm. Sorry! Good luck!

Answer 4

Get a good teacher to tell you how to sit with good posture -- the back muscles should be strong enough to hold you without tension in your arms.

And practice slowly when your arms are no longer supporting your body weight on the keyboard.

Answer 5

1

Answer 6

They tense up because you are constantly moving them. Try to relax them once and a while, maybe do less piano.

Answer 7

Overuse.