Finger Weights...do they really work?

July 31, 2007 at 09:31 PM · This company was located in the same building as my dad's office until it went out of business(arguments between owners or something along those lines). I'm surprised the website still works. I got a set of these for free and in theory they're a good idea but in reality i didn't find them very useful. They kind of pinched my fingers and they don't accomplish anything that you can't do by simply stretching. Instead I'd recommend the gyroflex ball http://www.gadgetuniverse.com/product_detail.asp?SKU=TH+512

July 31, 2007 at 10:16 PM · Sounds like a snake-oil salesman trick to me. By complete coincidence, just a few moments ago I was reading the chapter in Szigeti on the Violin in which he laments the enduring popularity of "how-to manuals" and quack "methods" for achieving "complete technical mastery in just ten lessons, buy now!!" Among the offenders were manufacturers of all manner of gadgets and "exercise devices" intended to be a shortcut to strengthening the muscles of the hands and arms. We apparently now have the sad duty of informing Mr. Szigeti that some things never change!!

I wouldn't bother trying these "finger weights", or whatever they are. At best they'd be useless, at worst harmful: Schumann (I believe it was) completely wrecked one of his hands, and thus his career as a pianist, by experimenting with a 19th-century hand-strengthening device.

You're better off just practicing lots of scales and etudes. :)

August 1, 2007 at 01:28 AM · They worked for Robert Schumann!

August 1, 2007 at 03:43 AM · heh.

August 1, 2007 at 04:28 AM · >They worked for Robert Schumann!

Well, do qualify "work", because Maura is right. Or so They say. They also say this:

- Schumann's right-hand disability was caused by mercuric poisoning; treatment for syphilis.

- He attempted a radical surgical procedure to separate the tendons of the fourth finger from those of the third (the ring finger musculature is linked to that of the third finger.

- He damaged his finger by the use of a mechanism of his own invention, which was intended to hold back one finger while he practiced exercises with the others.

So. No longer a pianist, he became a great composer.

Anyway. The moral of the story is this: use those little finger exercise things and beware of the consequences. They might turn you into a composer.