What About the 4th Finger?

 

Pianists often complain about the 4th finger, specifically, its lack of "independence." Or people will tell you that it's a weaker finger. (They'll say that about the pinky as well.) People (teachers, bloggers, etc.) will give you advice on how to deal with that, but sadly, most of it is not only wrong, but potentially harmful.

The thumb, pointer finger and pinky all have their own tendons. The index and ring fingers share a tendon. This is why, for example, you can't lift your 4th finger as high when your hand is flat on a surface. Contrary to what many will tell you, however, you don't need to lift your fingers high when playing, so it's not a problem!

All the great pianists of the past and present have the same anatomy of the hand, so clearly it can't really be a problem. Some will say that the great pianists do "exercises" to increase the indepence and strength of these fingers; however, you can't really overcome anatomy. 

[Please read my post titled "Independence," from, appropriately, July 4, 2022.]

When you think about it, you'll realize our hands aren't that well suited to the piano! The thumb is opposable and contacts the keys differently, the fingers are all different lengths, and then there is the situation with the tendons. And yet, over the centuries, great pianists have made it sound natural and beautiful, from the softest and most delicate to the loudest and most dramatic, from dreamily slow to dazzlingly fast. Unfortunately, some students of the piano never achieve that kind of playing. There are many reasons for this, of course, but one reason is that they follow advice that is based on false reasoning.

Robert Schumann invented some sort of contraption that was supposed to solve the "problem" of the 4th finger, but sadly, and not surprisingly, he ended up permanently injuring his hand instead. Likewise, some "exercises" can cause permanent damage if done over a long period of time.

All of this angst about the 4th finger comes from the old misconception and "300-year-old idea" (see my post of that title) that the fingers should work independently. Along with that old idea is the one that you need strength to play the piano. As you've heard me say many times, young child prodigies aren't strong yet they still play the big works for the piano that adults do. Where power is needed, such as very loud playing, the arm provides all the power that is needed. 

Instead of independence, we should be focusing on the whole hand working as a unit. Focusing on each finger produces a "note-wise" sound (the sound you might associate with a total beginner), the opposite of the "long line" and beautiful phrasing that pianists (and all musicians) strive for. The so-called exercises that are often prescribed have you playing in this note-wise manner, and even lifting the fingers high, supposedly to increase strength. Along with a bad sound, you'll find you cannot lift fingers high when you want to play fast; obviously it would be too inefficient. My advice would be: don't practice any "technique" that you can't use in all situations.

I recently read someone's blog post about the 4th finger. I'm going to go through each of his points and counter them with my own.

• "The fourth finger is naturally weaker than the others." False; it is due to the shared tendon, not strength (which would have to come from muscles).
• His paragraph titled "strenghthening the 4th finger" doesn't actually talk about that at all. He does say we need to shift the weight towards the "top" fingers, the 4th and 5th, to produce an even sound. Shifting the weight does help bring out the melody, as an example. The weight comes from the arm, and in no way changes the strength of the fingers.
  
• "Focus on playing scales and make sure you have a clean release of the 4th finger." We actually don't want to be lifting any finger. What goes up must come down, to quote a phrase. Lifting the 4th finger high, or any of the fingers for that matter, will, as mentioned, produce that note-wise, stiff, mechanical sound. Maybe you'd think that's OK for an exercise, but if you do it, you will find that's how you'll play your pieces as well. It's difficult, if not impossible, to learn one technique but then do something else "when it counts."
• He also says to practice slow, with the metronome. (Why on earth would you need the metronome??)  None of this will change the anatomy of your hand and it will definitely not make your playing musical and beautiful.

I would caution people to take the advice of someone who doesn't even give you the actual facts (e.g. no mention in his post about the tendons). Most of what he advises is a re-hash of the old ideas which were developed when they were still playing harpsichords.