I never noticed until my teacher pointed it out yesterday but when I'm playing a chromatic scale, using thumb index and middle fingers in approved style, I "park" the non-active 4th and 5th fingers of my right hand by sticking them up in the air like I was holding a teacup in a rather over-genteel manner. The result is tension in the hand and uneven playing. My left hand is much better (not on most other things, admittedly, but on this).

Apart from going back to playing the scale one note at a time and consciously making sure my fingers are in a neutral / relaxed position all the time until it feels natural and I can speed up again, does anyone know of any drills/routines/ etc. I could use to help?

Just a thought - no pianist or piano teacher, me - maybe give your hand a good shake & let them go floppy before you start so it starts in a relaxed position. That's what I do when I have too much tension in my hands playing the flute...

Thanks for this: I've tried something similar and it worked for about three notes before 'ping' out the fingers came, but I will try this anyway.

I'm horribly afraid this is such a well grooved problem it's going to take a long time to get it out, if indeed I can (beginners take note - it is MUCH easier to get it right later on if you get it right from the start).

Still, that's the sort of thing I went to a teacher for in the first place! Now I wonder how many other technical problems I've got that will emerge and need solving. Oh dear!

I think it WILL be one which will take time/patience/perseverance I'm afraid
out of interest...do you drink your tea like that?

Here are some exercises I sometimes use with my pupils.

Try holding a pencil braced between the thumb and finger 3 and then consciously relax the other fingers alongside the 3 along the pencil. That should make the weaker side of your hand stay put - gently. Your wrist should be as free as possible. Take the pencil away keeping the hand shape and place on the piano keys ready to start a chromatic scale. You could then change your 'pencil' to an imaginary 'marble' between your thumb and 3 which you 'roll' along the keys to help you control the fingers as you progress up or down the piano.

Another important movement is to achieve a very slight rotary action to avoid any stiffness in the wrist as you build up speed and distance.

Hope this might help

I hope not!!

Nope, just checked: Big mug in right hand. Thumb on the left side, handle on the right, with index finger above handle, middle and ring through handle and little finger under the bottom. Bend elbow until edge of mug rests on lower lip. Tip. Aaaaaaah!

by the way, I have tried this morning to play chromatic scales the way you do (with ring and little fingers straight) and I found this IMPOSSIBLE to be done my ring and little fingers automatically curl under my palm and I cannot do it any other way (just as well it is this way).

I've tried last night and this morning to play without this quirk and it's really hard! I end up with the opposite - with my last 2 fingers clenched tight into my palm to prevent them sticking out. This is even more tense than what I was doing before. Still, I have managed to play a note or two, one hand only, with the fingers in a genuinely neutral position, so I suppose that's progress!


Yes, that's exactly the position I'm trying to achieve (and my left hand does quite naturally!). Good tip about the pencil though, thanks!

You could try holding a small object loosely against your palm with your 4th and 5th fingers - I've used a large dice with pupils.

On the following advice, note that I'm a piano student, and not a teacher, so the 'solutions' may not work... But here are a few suggestions.

Well, there is always the good old Dohnányi and Hanon exercises, that may help with the problem. I recall when I was practicing the first ever Dohnányi exercise, and found that it was so difficult keeping the right fingers down - after a while, once I'd mastered one of them, the rest of the exercises fell into place and became easier.

I was actually going to suggest tucking the 4th and 5th fingers into the palm whilst playing the chromatic scales, until I saw your and jojo's response!

OK - how about imagine that there is glue between the 4th and 5th finger - i.e. hold them together? The 4th finger will prevent the 5th finger from moving up, thus remedying the situation?

Next idea - curl your fingers down towards the keyboard but not towards your palms, wrists held high. Practice in this way for a while, and eventually begin to move your wrists to the proper position? Try to imagine there are weights in your 4th and 5th fingers and that there is an electrostatic attraction between them and the keyboard, perhaps? lol:

Final idea - might not be a solution, but useful all the same, is practising legato chromatic scales (i.e. uses the majority of the fingers throughout the scale).

~Wobby~

I play bk 1 of Hanon every day as my warm up. I do the legato chromatic sometimes, but am currently working on getting grade 8 scales (which doesn't include the legato fingering) up to scratch (hoping to do the exam next spring) after 34 years of complete neglect and a childhood of not understanding why I should play scales, i.e. a lifetime of relative neglect. Since this is a selective right hand problem, it crossed my mind to play Chopin Op 10 no.2 (slowly!) but of course this is just a chromatic study for the affected fingers: probably won't do anything about the problem I'm actually getting. Thanks for the advice though!

You might like to try a different fingering for chromatic scales. My teacher suggested the following fingering to me, and I found it works pretty well for RH scales. The idea is always to have your fourth finger on A#, using a combination of 1-3 and 1-2-3 on the other keys. So, playing an ascending chromatic scale beginning on B natural, you would use the fingering

1-2- 3- 1- 3- 1 -2-3 -1 -2 -3 -4- 1
B-C-C#-D-D#-E-F-F#-G-G#-A-A#-B

and simply reverse the fingering to descend. If beginning on a C or an F, you can begin on 1 instead of 2 for more comfort - ie: an ascending chromatic beginning on C would be fingered 1-3-1-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-4-1-2. To descend, start on 3 - eg:3-1-4-3-2-1-3-2-1-3-1-3-2 etc.

I'm afraid I haven't tried the LH equivalent yet, but I'd be very interested to see whether anyone else would like to try this fingering out, and, if so, whether they find it helpful.

Interesting but I think I'll stick to the traditional fingering, I am sure it is because I am used to it but this new one is making me feel dizzy..