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Recently after practicing for several hours, I often got small cuts at fingertips.
It didn't bother much while practicing, but usually became painful afterwards.That makes it difficult to practice the next day.
It might be caused by detergent or disinfectant.
Applying castor oil helps a little.-
XiaoXin , I hope your situation improves. I need to moisturize my hands in the winter as well, but find that I need to be careful about getting oils/moisturizer on the piano keys as that makes them slippery and more difficult to play. I'm playing this piece as well. I'm not a piano teacher, but one thing that helped for me on this piece is practicing with a metronome which helps me to work on playing the notes more evenly. Please do take care.
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Anthony Miyake
, thanks a lot for your kind and useful advices.Yes, to use moisturizer or not , that's a dilemma.
I supposed that having good sleep, nutrition, and getting hydrated might also help.
I had listened to your BWV 848 playing which has some qualities I may learned from.
I will give it a try, although I never get used to practicing with a metronome.
Keep striving.
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XiaoXin , thank you. I definitely use moisturizer. As pianists, I think we need to prioritize the care of our hands. And if the piano keys do become slippery, what I do is wipe them down with a cloth dampened (but not wet) with rubbing alcohol.
Regarding the use of the metronome, modern technology really helps here. I had an old wind-up metronome, but it broke. But instead of buying a new metronome, I just use an app on my cell phone. I also use an app called Andante which helps log your practice time and it has a built-in metronome.
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XiaoXin I was getting these, too, so I have started putting a little lotion on my hands after I wash them (and I wash them a lot, especially when I'm cooking). It has solved the problem. The lotion is just standard hand moisturizer from the drug store.
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Harriet Kaplan , thank you for sharing your experiences. I got the secret that is putting lotion every time hands touch water. The more frequent, the better. I'm glad to hear that you have solved this problem.
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Anthony Miyake , thank you for the concise and clear tips. Taking care of hands is so important that it can decide whether one could continue playing the piano. Apps are really convenient, especially when it's multi-purposed. I'll try Andante app if possible.
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XiaoXin , thank you for your kind words as well. I was a little surprised and embarrassed you were watching my videos to learn from as I use them to measure my progress rather than as an example to be followed. For me, the best example to follow would be the performance of Andras Schiff. He actually plays it more slowly than many other recordings, like Richter's for example, but he focuses much more on the musicality of his playing rather than speed or as a display of his virtuosity.
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Oh no, XiaoXin , I'm so sorry to hear it!
This has happened to me before, actually. I don't know what your situation is like, but when I had these, one thing that worked for me was to make sure to put moisturizer on my hands daily. I think that dryness might make fingertips more susceptible to these microcuts. They are painful indeed!
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Thank you, Hilda . Really appreciate your advice.
I 'll do it more frequently.
Stay healthy.
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I've been listening Marcelle Meyer' s recording of Bach's inventions and sinfonias on YT. Both the compositions and pianist's rendering are treasures which I 'd neglected before. They are lyrical, cantabile, full of sentiments that I wasn't sensitive to feel and might not link that much to Bach. Later, I hope I could take a different perspective on practicing Bach.
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Xiao I can hear the beauty of the music behind your practice. 加油！
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