Knuckle Buckle

Knuckle Buckle

The bane of piano teachers everywhere, the pervasive occurrence of the buckling of the first finger joint is ever a challenge to address. Perhaps you’ve come up with a foolproof method for dealing with this. If so, CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉 Please write in and share your techniques. If you haven’t, read on.

Of course, we all show the picture in the method book of the beautifully rounded hand position. Most students (bless their little hearts) will dutifully mimic the position, and we will praise them for their magnificently rounded fingers and well-arched hands.

Then they start to play, and everything goes to h*ll, especially the first joint of the finger.

*Sigh*

Some students will give a lengthy song and dance about how “it’s too hard” or “my fingers can’t do that” or “I’m trying already!” For these darlings, I will place my hand on the fallboard in a perfect (of course) rounded hand position and ask my student to press on the first joint of my finger. When they realize they can’t budge it, they understand that it is possible. I then ask them to place their arm on the fallboard and show me a perfect hand position. Of course, when I press on their first joint, it usually buckles like overcooked macaroni. I then yell at, er encourage them to resist the pressure. Eventually, I’m able to press on every first joint of each of their fingers without the buckle. This proves they are capable of a strong first joint.

A useful little exercise for strengthening that first joint is “Finger O’s.” Ask the student to make an “O” shape with their thumb and second finger, being careful to maintain a very rounded hand position. Have them exert pressure without the first joint or the thumb buckling. Repeat this with each finger, maintaining that very round hand position. Consider putting a small figurine or ball in the palm of their hand to prevent them from closing it up. Assign this as part of their daily practice and encourage them to do it away from the piano.

Hopefully, they remember what muscles they engaged to achieve the desired effect.

But sometimes they don’t. Kids, right?

At any rate, now you have another tool in your teacher’s toolbox to help your students with this pernicious issue. I hope it works for you and your students.

Keep playing! Keep learning! Keep loving!