One of the hardest concepts to teach and for piano student’s to learn is how to curve their fingers. It is a challenge because children don’t understand why it’s so important and curving our fingers doesn’t come naturally. Curving the fingers is important because as lessons progress and the piano repertoire gets harder, correct technique makes a world of difference. The fingers are able to move with more ease and have greater touch control when they stay curved. So in this blog post, I want to give you 3 ways piano student’s can practice curving their fingers while in beginning piano lessons.
1. “Gulp” here’s a water bottle
One of my favorite ways to practice curving the fingers is by having a student hold an empty water bottle. Have them place their hand around the water bottle, take the bottle out with the other hand, and keep the hand shaped in the curved position. The challenge is when you go from practicing on the water bottle to actually applying the curved fingers on the piano. A lot of times as the student is practicing a song, you will get to the point if you see the fingers straightening out where you will simply just need to say “water bottle” and they know to check their hand position. It definitely takes time, but eventually this trick pays off.
2. Hot potato wrists “ouch”
Hot potato what now? Let me explain. We have all heard of or played the game hot potato. The goal is to get rid of the bean bag as quickly as possible because it is a “hot potato”. Now, pretend that the piano is the hot potato. The wrists can’t touch the piano because it is too hot and it will “burn” their wrists. The reason this works is because it is fun for the kids to pretend, but also it reminds them to keep their wrists off of the piano. If the arm is straight, the wrist is up, then curving the fingers sometimes just follows suit.
3. “Eek” there’s a mouse
I don’t know about you, but my kids love to play pretend. While student’s are playing the piano, especially for the younger student’s, pretending is so much fun. When they are learning a song, just simply say “eek” and they will remember to curve their fingers. The little mouse needs enough room to run under their hands and loves to run from one end of the piano to the other. If their fingers aren’t curved, the little mouse won’t be able to get through. It is so funny the first time the student hears you yell out “eek” and they give you the strangest look, but eventually they get what you are doing and love it.
If you are wanting an idea of a great keyboard to start on (I have the same one in my home), then I recommend the this one
What are your favorite ways to teach kids to curve their fingers? If you’ve been wanting to learn to play piano, check out my online piano lessons.
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My teacher used to have a little bubble gun. We were reminded to try to hold a bubble under our fingers and palm. If we were playing music and bubbles started to drift around us, we knew right away that we needed to curve our fingers and not let the “bubbles” out
That is such a great idea! I’ve never heard of that before but I’ll definitely be using it. Thanks for sharing!
I’ve never heard the of the mouse idea before – Super cute!
Britt | http://alternativelyspeaking.ca/
Thank you!
What great ideas and tips- and I had no idea how important curving was! Good to know!
Thank you!
Great ideas! My son takes piano – I don’t know how to play so I don’t know how to help but this I can do- love the ‘hot potato’ idea!
Oh great! I’m glad you can use these tips!
That’s great post on teaching piano, I never new about curving your fingers. I definitely learned some things I didn’t know.
Oh thank you!
Great ideas! What a fun way to teach children!
Thank you so much!
Your post gave me flashbacks to piano lessons as a kid. 🙂
Haha I bet!
I’m going to tuck this away for later! We have been letting our son experiment with instruments so if he picks piano this will be great!
Oh great! Thank you!
Love all of your ideas, I’m really wanting to take up piano again but never have the time for it 😣
Thank you! I have an adult piano course coming out later this year so you could take it on your own time and at your own pace. It’s never too late to learn! I do understand the time factor. Life gets so busy!!!
Awesome tips!! 🙌
Thanks!
I remember my piano teacher telling me to pretend to hold an egg! Bringing back some memories. Great tips!
Jamie
http://jamieonthings.com/
Ooh that’s a good idea too. Probably a plastic one though to be safe ha!
What great tips! I’ve never played piano but I would really love to get my kids to play!
Oh that’s so great! If you’re interested I have a beginning piano course for kids on my site.
Great tips! I played the piano as a kid and remember how challenging this was when i just started!
Thank you!
We’re about to sign my son up for piano, so I’m going to keep this n mind!
Oh great! Thanks!
These are all really great exercises. I especially love the water bottle one. Thanks for sharing 🙂
You’re welcome! Thanks for reading!
With the water bottle idea, does that work best with older kids because of hand size, or do you find that it can work with younger kids?
I’ve used this trick with kids of all ages. Yes, it will be harder for the littles to grip the bottle, but they can still practice holding it with one hand, while wrapping their hand around it with the other.
Love your tips! So helpful and easy to work on!
Thank you very much!
Great tips!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you!
I love that you’re making curving your hands fun! My kids are hopefully starting piano lessons soon so I’ll remember this!
Thank you!
These are awesome! I remember my piano teacher reminding me all the time to curve my fingers properly. These would have helped!
Thanks so much!