Am I suppose to lift my fingers up high when I am praticing? How high should they go, cause one of my old teachers told me to lift them each individually high and I thought it was wierd so I quit lessons when him. So when I am practicing any piece of music, what methods should I use to ensure that the outcome will be smooth, and containing good dynamics? Thx.

hey
it's not really about lifting your fingers u just have to keep ur wrist higher that the rest of ur hand to ensure that u got control over ur fingers ans so u can movefaster and play scales more easily.jst dnt try to play by moving arms or shoulders, it's ur fingers that do this.f u practice pieces try doin each hand seperately, that helps hope u find this helpful, greetz

Czerny and Hanon are great technique books. They teach you correct fingering and playing with their skill-building exercises. By learning from them, skill comes easily and noticeably. Highly recommended if you are willing to practice these everyday.

when use hanon, practice the first 20 exercise, very slowly and in fact raising your fingers as your old teacher said.
gradually, when you play a little faster, obvioulsy you will not have to raise your fingers that much.

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read instead of raising= lifting raise= lift

Of course, you have to practice hanon, the first 20 exercises, but 1 at a time. lets say, for one week each, then the second and so, when you get to the 20th, practice the whole twenty for a while before continuing. well, that really worked on me when i was 18. (now im 30 and i play really fast).

Ok thanks for all the replys.. But I'm still concerned on how high my fingers should be lifted/raised when playing the exercises. Just a few centimeters? or an inch? Thanks everyone.

when slow (of course), the highest posible WITHOUT HURTING your fingers.