Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Poll: do you wash your hands before playing?

I'm with HermanM - out of respect for the instrument.

Maybe not sticky, but oily (from finger oils). Oily keyboards would be a problem since the fingers would have less grip but not sticky ones.

Has anyone seen the lysol commercial where the mom has two little kids playing her piano, then she takes a can of lysol and douses the entire keyboard. Yikes!

Oh, and to the question, no, it never occurred to me to do so. I'm the only one who plays and I have little kids who require multiple diaper changes so I wash my hands about 300 times a day anyhow.

I usually do only after playing with my dog , except for those few days a month when he's actually clean.

I wash my hands, and my keyboard, everytime before playing.

Always wash my hands first. Just an automatic habit.

Frank B.: I read somewhere that Arthur Rubinstein preferred to play unwashed piano keys because he felt it gave him a better grip on the keys. But I, like yourself, prefer washed keys. They just feel better to me that way. However, I find washing then about once a week is sufficient for my needs. (I'd guess regular hand washing helps in this regard.)

Yes.

But what is funny - for me - is I live in a shack (let's call it a studio) with holes in the walls. My computer keyboard and screen have layers of moon dust. I will stop there.

But the grand piano is cover with a beautiful piano cover that came with the piano, keys are exposed only when I play - else closed. The piano "lid" will remain closed until I can play Fur Else. And then only to play special pieces I have learned.

I keep the keys covered of the keyboards - and now that I have a piano I generally wash before playing the keyboards, too.

Fingerprints are created by oils released from the skin, but I don't need oil on the keys to move around!
So I like to key "it" clean.

I would hate to slip on a key, sharp or flat, of an otherwise perfect performance as a beginner ! ! ! - even though I never have an audience.

I play so badly, I wash my hands after I play.

No, not unless my hands feel dirty. But like signa, my hands are usually pretty clean and I can't stand any dirt on my piano keys.

That was funny
I wash my hands often before playing. I don't like a slippery keyboard...
How do you guys clean the keyboard? Can alcohol swipes be used or only water and soap ?

I've resolved to not use a hose to clean either my motorcycle or my piano.

Short answer, no.
While i wouldn't play any piano with dirty hands, dry hands trump washed hands. It's a violin thing. Depending on the weather, it can take hours for my hands to dry completely.
Also, this is not a public piano. Aren't escalator rails the nastiest things? Sorry for the OT.

I don't make a point of it, but I may have randomly washed my hands before playing.
Having said that, I don't remember the last time I had a cold, or gastro.

Life's too short...

I always wash my hands.

Part of me it is habit. Getting into the piano playing mood, so to speak.

The other reason... in my student days I worked at a call center, luckily one of the better once. They took great pains to clean the computer keyboards and computer mice, due to studies about the transmission of illnesses at the work place. Those studies showed that between sharing a bathroom, sharing keyboard and computer mice and shaking hands, the most common way to catch a cold from somebody was to share keyboard and computer mice, then shake hands and sharing bathrooms came last.

So, a lot more than we like to think sticks to those things. That kinda stuck in my head. So the idea is basically to make sure there is as little as possible to leave behind before I touch the keys.

And yeah - it is also out of respect for the instrument....

No, only when they feel or look dirty

Only when I visit my teacher. I ride to her on a bicycle which is always left outside. And I never clean my bicycle. I always clean my hands after riding my bike anyways.

I'm not in any other sense obsessed with cleanliness, but I am regarding the piano keyboard. I wash my hands before every practice session, and I wipe down the keys at least every other day.

Maybe I just have oily fingers, but I definitely notice an increased slipperiness on the black keys if I go even one day without cleaning the keys.

The fewer obstacles I have, the better!

I agree with FarmerJones, though, that when it comes to playing my stringed instrument, I'm much more sensitive to problems of wet hands than any issues about cleanliness. I hate to touch the strings on my bass -- or even the bow -- when my hands are wet.

I've had some guests who seemed to think I was neurotic about the piano because I wouldn't let them put their drinks down on it. Guess I can tell them they're lucky I don't make them wash their hands!

I do wash my hands if I haven't done it recently. But that presents a problem, because during the winter time my hands get so dry that my fingertips are really slippery. So I wash my hands, put lotion on them and then end up washing them again because I don't want that on the keys

I never do unless my hands are truly dirty (working in the yard or on my cars etc.). But then, I'm the only one playing it.

When I worked for a school district once, a Science class swabbed various things in the buildings, analyzed the results and found that the computer lab keyboards were the filthiest things in the school. Interestingly enough, the bathroom facilities were among the cleanest, whatever that means. Maybe it means most people wash their hand there but not in the computer labs.

After that, all the computer teachers cleaned the keyboards with alcohol pads in between classes.

I guess if I had a piano studio or lots of people playing my piano, my priorities would change.