Thanks for your great work and enlightening videos. I started having FD symptoms, and right away your TH-cam channel popped up in my search; I was able to stop it in its tracks! I've had no real issues after a short time dealing with it. If something starts creeping in, I come back to your videos. Many blessings to you!
I didn't start playing classical piano until I was almost 18 years old. My first instrument was the clarinet when I was around 11. Unfortunately. I played a LOT of computer games BEFORE I started learning classical piano. I earned a BA in Music and a MFA in music. However, I never really felt "comfortable" at the piano. It is only now, 20 YEARS LATER, that I have identified the problem. I attended various Taubman seminars. I studied from a Taubman certified teacher. She loaned me the videos of Dorothea Taubman. I finally realized that when I played computer games, I was tensing the inner part of my right hand to stabilize the mouse, while clicking the mouse buttons with my second finger. So basically, I was subconsciously training my inner hand and thumb to always tense whenever I want to use my second finger. I noticed this always when playing ascending RH scales. I am now at a crossroads. Literally, I can choose the old way of using my second finger, often times if I am not careful I find that I do. Then I will stop. I will close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I can feel connection to the finger I never felt before. I can lift and use it without the thumb interfering. It takes so much concentration and effort. But I can feel the connection building and it is starting to happen faster. Soon it is my hope that my RH second finger and thumb will finally start working naturally. What a journey. I have done acupuncture, massage, I even had a falling out with a teacher because he didn't have any way to help me, and I thought "well what is the use of a teacher who only takes good students, and the students do all the work and make the teacher look good." Sadly this is how most of the higher levels of music academia are. They only take the best students, so that they don't have to teach them anything. I think the true test and mark of a real school would be to take ANYONE and turn ANYONE into a star. I am over 100k in debt with a MFA. And I was never even taught how to use my hand. What a shame. I vow not to be let down by the system. I know I am only a few steps away from having all 10 fingers working in alignment. Then I can truly get back to work an prepare repertoire for concerts. In the meantime, my students don't know this, but all of their music I teach myself also, and I retrain my hand with each piece. So it is like I have taught myself all over again. I am now at around a high school sophomore Level 7 with this technique. Of course I can play much harder pieces, but I mean, to sit down and simply sight read something and have all 10 fingers working and no stress. This is what I mean by Level 7. I think a lot of the healing comes away from the piano. Like you have showed, grabbing the glass.
You are demonstrating a low wrist, which is also considered a break as per the Taubman approach. For example, when you show resting your forearm on a flat surface, the knuckles are automatically higher than the wrist., which puts your metacarpal bones out of line with the forearm. This places added friction on the tendons surrounding the radial nerve, specifically at the point where they pass at the wrist through the carpal tunnel, kind of like a kink in a hose, and is a great way to add carpal tunnel syndrome to the dystonia. Hold the wrist level with the knuckles, not high, to align the fingers, hand and arm to function as a coordinated unit. I have focal dystonia, but Taubman allows me to play with vastly greater ease and efficiency (no fatigue) than my prior technique, which looks a lot like what you demonstrated. If I woke up tomorrow with no dystonia remaining, I would still stick with Taubman because there is just no going back! Please check it out.
I respect Dorothy Taubman's teachings and I'm glad that the technique has been a solution to many problems and has possibly prevented many musicians with injuries. Knuckles are not naturally leveled with the wrist and forearm and I am not quite convinced that Taubman technique advocates wrist at the level with the knuckle as a natural position. For example, I have seen Edna Golandsky's beautiful effortless playing and her curvature of the knuckle joints exists in a higher position than the wrist level because this is where it naturally is. Wrist at the level of the knuckle (palm more parallel to the floor) is a coping mechanism of most pianist with fd, which was certainly case with myself as well, where we can find temporary relief from the dystonic sensation which makes us have the illusion of being at ease. This then become a new habit, but only restrict the mobility of fingers from the knuckle joint which then inhibits the stagnant muscles to be more mobile which then furthers the imbalance and thus the dystonia can not be resolved, only coped... which was precisely the point of this video.
The Mindful Pianist I have carefully studied the entire Taubman lecture series and am an avid viewer of any videos Edna Golandsky puts out. Edna does in fact teach a more level wrist: not as a coping mechanism for dystonia, but as the only way to preserve the unity of the fingers hand and forearm. I am not sure how the level wrist is a coping mechanism for fd; I certainly never thought of using it in the 20 years I had fd before discovering Dorothy Taubman's work. When you lower the wrist, you break the unity that is demonstrated in Edna's effortless playing. To the extent that you lack that unity, you will play with isolated finger action, leading to strain and overuse, dystonia or no. Try this: play and hold a note with the 3rd finger using the wrist position you showed. Relax your arm letting the weight fall freely. Where do you feel the weight being channelled to? To the wrist. Now keep holding the note, but raise the wrist to the level as shown in the Taubman lectures. As you do, you will feel the weight shift forward into the fingertip where it belongs. What is a natural position for one life activity, such as grasping a cup, is not necessarily the most mechanically advantageous for others, such as piano playing. I could go into that at length, but the Taubman lectures cover that much better, in my opinion. At any rate, the Taubman approach is probably so helpful for people with dystonia, not only because it is most biomechanically/ergonomically sound, but because it is different enough from what most of us were taught that it allows the brain to form new, healthy pathways that are different from the dystonic ones. We clearly disagree on a few points, but thanks so much for putting yourself out there with such a wonderful youtube channel dedicated to this frustrating problem of focal hand dystonia. Finally, a quick question: What do you think of symmetric inversion practice as advocated by Rudolph Ganz and Marc Andre Hamelin?
I guess we are starting from different places and thus we have different views but I really appreciate it. I'll look into it more carefully. Thank you. Symmetric inversion practice is awesome! It makes you super aware of exactly what you are doing and how you are approaching. It is probably an equivalent of another instrumentalist learning something left handed and relearning it with the right hand but is much more efficient.
Madam, i am guiterist but can't play guiter due to dystonia on my left hand finger. Can i send some medical report to you. What i will do pl. Suggest me
Hi..i need ur advise for my left hand dystonia..i’m guitarist..i have problem..my pinkie and ring finger will curly in and rigid..difficult to control if my index finger touch the string..can u help me for treatment?thx a lot..very need ur help
I would be more than happy to talk to you and see if I can personally advise you anything. You can contact me through my website. Best of everything to you.
Dear Akikko, I'm halfway on my recovery from my left hand's focal dystonia, but it seems that I'm having a bottle neck on it and not making any further progress. I love piano so much and it always let me down when my efforts are in vain due to the problem. May I ask for some advice from you please?
![One Finger Dystonia Exercises - [Pianists and Focal Dystonia Ep.2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GF3jtK7shSM/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for your great work and enlightening videos. I started having FD symptoms, and right away your TH-cam channel popped up in my search; I was able to stop it in its tracks! I've had no real issues after a short time dealing with it. If something starts creeping in, I come back to your videos. Many blessings to you!
I didn't start playing classical piano until I was almost 18 years old. My first instrument was the clarinet when I was around 11. Unfortunately. I played a LOT of computer games BEFORE I started learning classical piano. I earned a BA in Music and a MFA in music. However, I never really felt "comfortable" at the piano. It is only now, 20 YEARS LATER, that I have identified the problem. I attended various Taubman seminars. I studied from a Taubman certified teacher. She loaned me the videos of Dorothea Taubman. I finally realized that when I played computer games, I was tensing the inner part of my right hand to stabilize the mouse, while clicking the mouse buttons with my second finger. So basically, I was subconsciously training my inner hand and thumb to always tense whenever I want to use my second finger. I noticed this always when playing ascending RH scales. I am now at a crossroads. Literally, I can choose the old way of using my second finger, often times if I am not careful I find that I do. Then I will stop. I will close my eyes and take a deep breath. Then I can feel connection to the finger I never felt before. I can lift and use it without the thumb interfering. It takes so much concentration and effort. But I can feel the connection building and it is starting to happen faster. Soon it is my hope that my RH second finger and thumb will finally start working naturally. What a journey. I have done acupuncture, massage, I even had a falling out with a teacher because he didn't have any way to help me, and I thought "well what is the use of a teacher who only takes good students, and the students do all the work and make the teacher look good." Sadly this is how most of the higher levels of music academia are. They only take the best students, so that they don't have to teach them anything. I think the true test and mark of a real school would be to take ANYONE and turn ANYONE into a star. I am over 100k in debt with a MFA. And I was never even taught how to use my hand. What a shame. I vow not to be let down by the system. I know I am only a few steps away from having all 10 fingers working in alignment. Then I can truly get back to work an prepare repertoire for concerts. In the meantime, my students don't know this, but all of their music I teach myself also, and I retrain my hand with each piece. So it is like I have taught myself all over again. I am now at around a high school sophomore Level 7 with this technique. Of course I can play much harder pieces, but I mean, to sit down and simply sight read something and have all 10 fingers working and no stress. This is what I mean by Level 7. I think a lot of the healing comes away from the piano. Like you have showed, grabbing the glass.
Love it and I will share so you can get more views and audience 😊
You are demonstrating a low wrist, which is also considered a break as per the Taubman approach. For example, when you show resting your forearm on a flat surface, the knuckles are automatically higher than the wrist., which puts your metacarpal bones out of line with the forearm. This places added friction on the tendons surrounding the radial nerve, specifically at the point where they pass at the wrist through the carpal tunnel, kind of like a kink in a hose, and is a great way to add carpal tunnel syndrome to the dystonia. Hold the wrist level with the knuckles, not high, to align the fingers, hand and arm to function as a coordinated unit. I have focal dystonia, but Taubman allows me to play with vastly greater ease and efficiency (no fatigue) than my prior technique, which looks a lot like what you demonstrated. If I woke up tomorrow with no dystonia remaining, I would still stick with Taubman because there is just no going back! Please check it out.
I respect Dorothy Taubman's teachings and I'm glad that the technique has been a solution to many problems and has possibly prevented many musicians with injuries.
Knuckles are not naturally leveled with the wrist and forearm and I am not quite convinced that Taubman technique advocates wrist at the level with the knuckle as a natural position. For example, I have seen Edna Golandsky's beautiful effortless playing and her curvature of the knuckle joints exists in a higher position than the wrist level because this is where it naturally is.
Wrist at the level of the knuckle (palm more parallel to the floor) is a coping mechanism of most pianist with fd, which was certainly case with myself as well, where we can find temporary relief from the dystonic sensation which makes us have the illusion of being at ease. This then become a new habit, but only restrict the mobility of fingers from the knuckle joint which then inhibits the stagnant muscles to be more mobile which then furthers the imbalance and thus the dystonia can not be resolved, only coped... which was precisely the point of this video.
The Mindful Pianist I have carefully studied the entire Taubman lecture series and am an avid viewer of any videos Edna Golandsky puts out. Edna does in fact teach a more level wrist: not as a coping mechanism for dystonia, but as the only way to preserve the unity of the fingers hand and forearm. I am not sure how the level wrist is a coping mechanism for fd; I certainly never thought of using it in the 20 years I had fd before discovering Dorothy Taubman's work. When you lower the wrist, you break the unity that is demonstrated in Edna's effortless playing. To the extent that you lack that unity, you will play with isolated finger action, leading to strain and overuse, dystonia or no. Try this: play and hold a note with the 3rd finger using the wrist position you showed. Relax your arm letting the weight fall freely. Where do you feel the weight being channelled to? To the wrist. Now keep holding the note, but raise the wrist to the level as shown in the Taubman lectures. As you do, you will feel the weight shift forward into the fingertip where it belongs. What is a natural position for one life activity, such as grasping a cup, is not necessarily the most mechanically advantageous for others, such as piano playing. I could go into that at length, but the Taubman lectures cover that much better, in my opinion. At any rate, the Taubman approach is probably so helpful for people with dystonia, not only because it is most biomechanically/ergonomically sound, but because it is different enough from what most of us were taught that it allows the brain to form new, healthy pathways that are different from the dystonic ones. We clearly disagree on a few points, but thanks so much for putting yourself out there with such a wonderful youtube channel dedicated to this frustrating problem of focal hand dystonia. Finally, a quick question: What do you think of symmetric inversion practice as advocated by Rudolph Ganz and Marc Andre Hamelin?
I guess we are starting from different places and thus we have different views but I really appreciate it. I'll look into it more carefully. Thank you.
Symmetric inversion practice is awesome! It makes you super aware of exactly what you are doing and how you are approaching. It is probably an equivalent of another instrumentalist learning something left handed and relearning it with the right hand but is much more efficient.
The Mindful Pianist Thanks! Please keep up your great content, you have a lot of great ideas.
Hello. I have FD symptoms. My 4, 5th fingers curled a lot(((
Madam, i am guiterist but can't play guiter due to dystonia on my left hand finger. Can i send some medical report to you. What i will do pl. Suggest me
Hi..i need ur advise for my left hand dystonia..i’m guitarist..i have problem..my pinkie and ring finger will curly in and rigid..difficult to control if my index finger touch the string..can u help me for treatment?thx a lot..very need ur help
I would be more than happy to talk to you and see if I can personally advise you anything. You can contact me through my website. Best of everything to you.
Dear Akikko, I'm halfway on my recovery from my left hand's focal dystonia, but it seems that I'm having a bottle neck on it and not making any further progress. I love piano so much and it always let me down when my efforts are in vain due to the problem. May I ask for some advice from you please?