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  • Pianist

    FEELING STRONG

    Mar 20, 2020 5 minutes

    When everything seems to come out effortlessly at the piano, it is easy to feel we have ‘strong fingers’. Science has shown us that this perceived strength is not really muscular as such, rather the result of coordinated, economic movements at the keyboard that come from a body that is free of tension – the hand, fingers and arm working together. Pianism has come a long way in recent decades as we sift through the legacy from our forebears, challenging pedagogical beliefs (including so-called finger strengthening exercises) that were once widely accepted.

    Given that the fingers are inherently unequal in strength, attempting to make the weaker fourth and fifth fingers as strong as the thumb, second and third fingers seems doomed to failure. Modern trends in piano technique tend to

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