5 top tips to help finger placement
By Melanie Spanswick
An aspect of piano playing oft-forgotten by students is the importance of ‘placing’ the finger effectively on the key. This might sound unimportant, strange, or just plain daft! After all, we can all ‘play’ a note or depress a key with our fingers therefore it isn’t a priority during practice, right? But once we learn to ‘place’ finger-tips with the intention of maximising their power and potential, we start to play every note with greater tonal colour, good rhythmic incision, as well as employing more effective coordination and articulation. Here are a few practice ideas:
1. Take a good look at your fingers
Good finger placement starts by using the tips of your fingers. What do I mean by that? I’m referring to the absolute top of your finger – and the portion of the thumb situated right at its end where the nail touches the skin, to the right side (for the left thumb) and left side (right thumb): some like to use their nail as a contact with the key. This requires a very short set of finger nails (sorry, ladies!).
2. Developing a finger pad
Many complain that they don’t have a finger ‘pad’ on the tips of their fingers available to make contact with the key - my students often mention this. However, there never will be a pad on your finger tip unless you start developing one. It may feel strange, even uncomfortable at first, but with concentrated practice, a finger ‘pad’ will appear over time. This pad allows for firm key contact boding well for fast, highly articulated playing and is especially vital for the sometimes side-stepped fourth and fifth fingers.
3. The first finger joint
Once you’ve located a suitable finger pad on each fingertip, now is the time to make contact with the key. To use your fingertip efficiently, you’ll need to utilise your first finger joint on each finger and thumb. This is the finger joint nearest your fingertip. Aim to ‘hook’ or ‘arch’ this joint so that it can enable the finger to connect with the key fully on its tip. This is particularly crucial for the fourth and fifth fingers because placing these fingers on their tips will feel somewhat alien at first and they need this support and guidance from the finger joint and hand. You can first experiment using a table top.
4. Observe your finger position
Now that you’re aware of the finger pad on your fingertips as well as the first finger joint, practice applying the movements necessary to engage these parts of your finger, slowly. Observe the feeling and positioning needed to place the finger directly on its tip on the key whilst keeping the first finger joint in a hooked position. This will take time and dedicated practice. I work on this aspect with my students for at least several months until it becomes a habit.
5. Practice
Turning to the keyboard, play a simple five-finger exercise using this technique: Czerny’s Op. 261 exercises are useful here. If you’re beginning to develop finger pads on your tips, after a while you might notice a more direct, firm tone on every note when you play and this will be particularly noticeable when using the fourth and fifth fingers. When playing these weaker fingers (this applies to all fingers too), be sure to use your hand, wrist, and arm flexibly, in order to ‘guide’ fingers when playing each key. You’ll hopefully start to feel greater control and, eventually, greater note precision in fast articulated passagework. Practising in this manner will really engage fingers as well as help develop the bridge position within your hand. Be sure to keep your upper body loose and relaxed at all times when working at any exercise.
Playing with hooked fingers isn’t a prerequisite for all repertoire, and indeed there are many occasions where flatter fingers are preferable, but for excellent articulation, this beneficial technique can steer your playing in an exciting new direction.
© Sarah Barnes
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