help needed with fingering

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 21 Jun 2004, 22:50

I think you just have to trust the teacher; he/she will be aware of any problems associated with the size of Emily's hands, and you can always ask that they find exercises that are manageable for her. The last thing the teacher wants is for her to become discouraged and there are so many books aimed at litte ones on the market now that finding a suitable book won't be a problem.Make sure that you're helping with her practice, as it's sometimes better if the teacher/pupil relationship is left exclusive - after all, there's no point paying a professional to do the job and then doing it again yourself! It can be confusing for a child to be told one thing in the lesson and another at home. Talk to the teacher - and if they don't listen, try another teacher that WILL. Any good tutor wants to bring out the best in their pupil. Have fun! Gill x

tafatong · Post by **tafatong** » 28 Jun 2004, 14:34

Gill Green wrote:I think you just have to trust the teacher; he/she will be aware of any problems associated with the size of Emily's hands, and you can always ask that they find exercises that are manageable for her.

Sorry had to chuckle at this. I have a crooked little finger on my left hand and it took my organ teacher (and my piano teacher later on) several years before they realised that just because I could fairly easily stretch an octave with my righthand (on a good day I could do a 9th) didn't mean I could do the same with my left - even today with my hands 'fully grown' an octave is a struggle with my left hand.

Post by **Gill the Piano** » 09 Jul 2004, 17:44

I was trusting that the teacher would have the sense to look at the child's hands to start with! Glad you made it despite such 'help'!

tafatong · Post by **tafatong** » 09 Jul 2004, 18:39

Thing is because of the 'crook' in my finger it actually forms into the 'perfect' position for piano player - a beautifuly curved shape.

These were top teachers that forgot - as one hand was 'ok' and the other wasn't LOL

littlemisscrotchet · Post by **littlemisscrotchet** » 10 Jan 2005, 21:40

If Emily is not yet 5 her handspan must be tiny!
I still remember being an 8 year old and I couldn't play an octave ( 8 notes) with my thumb and little finger! My teacher used to get me just to play the upper note. Don't worry about Emily's handspan-it's still going to grow and later she will be able to play a fifth easily!
Maybe you could try to get her to practice 4ths to make sure she is still practising her stretching because practising the stretching will help her handspan to grow-just make sure she isn't overdoing it i.e. stop when it gets tiring.

Sheena