Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum That irresistable darn ITCH..!!

I'm trying to play a new piece I've learned all the way through as best as I can and all is going well,...until I started getting this annoying itch on my nose .

As I'm continuing to play.....the itch grows :t: .

I fought off that damm increasingly itchyful itch until the very last note.

As I was holding that last note to let the deep bass resonate for a while, I suddenly realized that the itch had gone way!

Mr s_h tearful?? Surely kicking sand in some whimp's face is more par for the course.

Ya know, I get the itch too! Not always the nose

Come to think of it, usually on difficult sections is where the itch surfaces. It's always the difficult sections where I'm suddenly super-aware of everything that could be bothering me - the bench is a millimeter off, the keys feel a bit sticky, my shoe just shifted a bit on the pedal, there's a draft in the room, I'm itchy all over...

For me, it's probably some subconscious excuse-maker

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. :p

LOL!

What I hate is when I have to sneeze while I'm playing. I don't want to get, um, fluids all over and in the piano so I try to twist all the way around while still playing, usually with very little success. :rolleyes:

mr_super-hunky - one would tend to think that if many pianists can learn to turn pages of sheet music with dexterity while flawlessly performing some extended and complex piece of music, then it seems that it would be safe to assume that it should be possible to scratch an itch with equal ease and facility while playing - or so one would think, but as we all know it's not the same thing and scratching often requires much more effort and time.

Or you could get someone else in the room (if anyone) to scratch it for you (depending, of course, on exactly where the itch is located).

However, if this is the initial occurence of the notorious "7-year itch", then probably no amount of scratching will bring any relief at all (except when applied by mrs_hunky, but I can assure you it won't be "scratching" that it applied in this case! )

Regards, JF

Itches are funny like that, the more you are unable to attend to them, the greater the sensation, which is likely why it all but disappeared upon completion of your piece.

Reminds me of a quote from Mark Twain's "Huck Fin"

Maybe you're allergic to llamas?

Possible idea for prevention of your "problem": Slather yourself entirely with calamine lotion before starting to play.

"Calamine is a mixture of zinc oxide (ZnO) with about 0.5% iron(III) oxide (Fe2O3). It is the main ingredient in calamine lotion and is used as an antipruritic (anti-itching agent)"

I always like to scratch my nose "before" I play (just in case). =:-p

i always lower my head as i am playing and scratch my nose with my forearm while still playing, seems to do the trick. what i hate is when a fly gets in the house and keeps landing on the nose!!!

Once in a master class a spider lowered itself ever so slowly on a thread down towards the piano pretty much right over the keyboard while one of the students was playing. It kept inching lower and lower.....she finally saw it but kept playing, trying to ignore the spider as it eased itself lower...and lower.... It was large enough that we all saw it. Bless her heart, she went all the way to the end of her movement (while we, the other students, alternately watched in fascination and exchanged nervous glances with one another), and after playing the last chord she, and all the rest of us, burst into laughter as she sprinted away from the piano. After the spider was convinced to leave the room, she went back to the piano and played the other two movements (after a glance at the ceiling).

Think I'd rather have an itchy nose.

Monica, a word of advice. Never twist and sneeze! Apart from the time I had an argument with a fully-laden shopping trolley in a supermarket car park, the worst bad back I ever gave myself was from sneezing in an awkward position. You have been warned!

This sounds like a meditation exercise. The itch gets bigger and more important as you pay attention to it. It's hard to do, but shut it down and tell the itch it is not important and concentrate on the music.

Also, vaccuum your piano!