Pointy Protrusions Impede Playing

Nails on a Chalkboard

When I was growing up, I never liked that my piano teacher kept nail clippers at the ready. I was a nail biter, so it wasn’t like I had much to worry about. But the fact that they were there felt like a threat. It felt shaming. I knew I never wanted to be that teacher.

Over the 35 years I’ve been teaching, I only had to bring up finger nail length a handful of times. (No pun intended.) Every time I had to raise the topic, I felt bad. Hadn’t I vowed to myself that I was never going to be a teacher who made students feel bad about their fingernails?

Yet, when the problem presents itself, I’m forced to suck it up and be the grown up. If I’m going to be a good music teacher, I must deliver the message and do it in as kind and gentle a way as possible.

Unfortunately, no matter how I do it, I still remember the feeling of seeing my old piano teacher’s clippers. I can’t shake the feeling that it feels like a bit of body shaming. I hate that and hope my students don’t hate me for it.

The History and Reason for Trimmed Tips

Believe or not, keeping one’s nails trimmed and clean goes back decades and wasn’t just about piano playing. In old time single-room schoolhouses, a teacher would check student hygiene as the kids filed in, including the cleanliness of their hands and the absence of dirt beneath their nails.

In those days, nails had to be kept short because of the regular chores people performed at home. (Certainly, Bessy the Cow wouldn’t appreciate being milked by someone with long talons.)

Lengthy nails could put a person or animal at risk for injury when work was performed with the hands. At that time, long nails were a symbol of status and wealth. They indicated that the person could afford to hire people to do the manual labor that resulted in dirty hands and broken nails.

Piano players, as well as those who play many other musical instruments, play with the tips of curved fingers. Flat fingers that press on the more padded part of the finger don’t move as freely or as quickly.

Developing this proper hand posture starts at the beginning of our musical journey. But when students come in with long fingernails, the adjustments they need to make to avoid clicking loudly on keys or putting uncomfortable pressure on the nails reinforces poor hand posture and hinders their ability to play fluidly.

Personally, I never cared about clicking on the keys. It’s undesirable, but not in a nails-on-a-chalkboard kind of way. What I honestly care about is hand health. Playing the piano or wind instrument with ease while preventing long-term repetitive stress injuries to the hands is my jam. So when I see long nails that prevent students from having curved fingers and comfortably pressing piano keys or woodwinds with their finger tips, then I’m put in the position of having to say something.

Me as Buttercup, Sucking it Up

The first conversation I ever had to have with a student about fingernails wasn’t a piano student, but a high school clarinetest. She had long nail extensions applied at a spa. I wasn’t sure if they were acrylic or gel, but they were thick and really long.

The new extensions rendered her unable to play her clarinet without her nails pressing on side keys across from the center keys that she needed to close. The fact that she’d had them applied especially for prom made my having to say something that much harder. But I told her that as soon as she was able she would need to have them shortened to “sports length.”

For several weeks we had ineffective lessons because she couldn’t play her instrument due to the length of her nails. Of course, I realized that the nails were expensive … but so were private music lessons. The conversations regarding the nails was something I dreaded, but it had to be addressed until she finally had them shortened, after which we were able to resume making progress.

Recently we have begun to notice more long fake nails on students who are quite young. I get it. Lee Press-On Nails were a big thing when I was growing up. But these newer press-ons seem to have a much stronger adhesive. When students have them, they generally let them “grow out” just like acrylics or gels. However, they will pop off with enough pressure, but it seems to take quite a bit. Watching an elementary aged student play while attempting to avoid putting pressure on the nail tip or pop them off is very uncomfortable. Not only are they developing some remarkably poor playing habits but the contorting of their fingers looks painful. Sometimes, we have to have multiple conversations about the nails before they are removed.

Nailing Down Our Policy

It’s likely long overdue, but we feel strongly that for the sake of our students’ hand health and good playing habits, we have to implement a policy on nail length:

• Natural nails are preferable.
• If a student has acrylic or gel nails, they must be maintained to be no longer than “sports length.”
• If we have to have a discussion about nail length that prevents a student from playing on their finger tips or impedes playing by contacting multiple keys, the first instance is considered a warning.
• For the second instance, we will end the lesson for that day.
• Failure to remedy the situation will result in full dismissal from the studio.

If your child is in a sport, be it hockey, gymnastics, soccer, volleyball, or really anything that involves contact or handling equipment, it is highly unlikely that you would permit or pay for long nails that would be a detriment to your child’s performance or be a risk for unnecessary injury. What’s more, you are paying good money to foster your child’s sport’s skills and enjoyment. Can you imagine what a coach would do if your child’s nail length affected their athletic performance?

Playing a musical instrument is no different. We as teachers don’t want to be the bad guys. All we ask is that you don’t make us be.

Learn more about our updated Policies & Procedures. Feel free to reach out to us with any questions.