I'm failing to learn the piano, but slowly. One of the problems (apart from the ludicrous arrangement of black and white notes on the keyboard, and the obvious shortcomings of conventional musical notation) is that it is difficult to learn the correct fingering. (For those of you who are not piano-aware, you have to use the correct fingers for each note, otherwise you run out of fingers at a critical point. It's important to learn correct fingering for scales and early pieces, to develop good habits for later.)
The problem is that it is actually very difficult to monitor your fingering. You can be playing all the right notes, but inadvertently using a fingering which will get you into trouble when you learn more complex pieces.
MaxCo Music Inc (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Buchanan Tar and Feather) proudly presents the Piano Fingering Corrector Gloves, and the associated instrument.
The piano could be acoustic, but is more likely to be a good electronic one. Very feeble electromagnetic pickups are installed under each key. The Gloves leave the fingertips exposed, but have a very small coil which sits gently on the fingernail. Each finger's coil is fed with a sinewave signal at a different frequency.
Each time a note is played, the gubbins in the piano detects which finger played it (by detecting which of the ten different electromagnetic frequencies from the glove is strongest at the receiver coil for that key). Thus, it can tell what fingering you're using.
MaxCo. Music, Inc, also publishes a range of sheet music, scales, excercises, with the conventional fingering printed on the page. Each piece also has a 2D barcode printed in the corner, which can be read by a scanner connected to the piano, to tell the piano what fingering you should use.
Now, if you mis-finger, a little LED will flash, or a discrete "doop" will emerge from the speaker. Optionally, a small but painful electric shock can zap a repeatedly errant digit.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 09 2008 Piano playing gloves http://news.discove...-sans-keyboard.html [theircompetitor, Sep 16 2010] Gloves help you play http://www.happynew...-play-piano-pro.htm [theircompetitor, Sep 16 2010] running out of fingers is usually a good indication you've bolloxed up the fingering. For aural cues, try playing without using the damper pedal.-- FlyingToaster, Mar 10 2008 [FT] that's not the problem. The problem is that you can easily learn a perfectly workable but wrong fingering for scales or early pieces. It's only when you get on to more difficult pieces (or need to work at a higher tempo, where you don't have time for as many hand movements) that it becomes obvious that you've got it wrong - and by then, the bad habits are ingrained.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 10 2008 not necessarily MB, each piece you learn will require muscle memory for that piece. scales and long arpeggios are important for the gross motor skills. I.O W. all is not lost. I used to bite to offending finger so the pain would remind me. ps. I taught piano for 15+ years. therefore I must vote --- dentworth, Mar 10 2008 on second thought this is still a useful invention, perhaps for games.-- dentworth, Mar 10 2008 Thank God for that damper pedal. Great idea, [MB]! Keep up the practicing!-- moomintroll, Mar 10 2008 //I used to bite to offending finger so the pain would remind me. ps. I taught piano for 15+ years.// This explains all those missing digits in the Eastern US! ...and people thought it was Yakuza infiltration!-- ConsulFlaminicus, Mar 10 2008 I had one of those, the luxury version, mind: my piano teacher would reach over and smack my hands.
[MB] if this is a serious problem, look at the piece beforehand and pencil in workable fingering-- FlyingToaster, Mar 10 2008 //look at the piece beforehand and pencil in workable fingering// No, as pointed out in the original post. Often, the fingering is indicated and, if not, I do indeed pencil it in where necessary.
The problem is that you can run up and down an impressive scale at lightning speed, practicing it until you can do it in your sleep. Then you do it in front of your teacher and, without hesitation, she'll say "you're using three on the sharp on the way down the second octave, instead of four".
Then, you find yourself trying to repeat it so that you can actually see which finger you're using (because by this point you're totally unoblivious to it), and then you spend another week trying to break yourself of the habit and use the right finger.
[Dent] surely you must have taught standard fingering for scales? What do you do when your pupil consistently reaches the end of an octave with a finger left over?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 10 2008 I use a watchful eye, catch the mistake and stop them before it goes on., perfect practice makes perfect.-- dentworth, Mar 10 2008 God I miss Max. Funny as hell, clever, friendly, could even have different opinions on things and still get along.
And my god was he smart.-- doctorremulac3, Apr 17 2024 random, halfbakery