SPOILER: It has nothing to do with muscle strength. In fact, the fingers do not have muscles.
In this video I discuss the importance of mindful practice as I navigate Philipp’s “Exercises for the Independence of the Fingers”. Often, students of the piano ask how they can develop stronger fingers. Finger strength is not really strength at all. What the piano student really means is independence. In order to achieve independence of the fingers, we need to create a strong neural connection between our brains and our fingers. To develop this, we need to go through the daunting task of focussing on isolated movements and ridding these finger strokes of any recruited muscle that come to assist.
This is not the way to play the piano. This is about developing new neural connections so we are able to control our movements, independently, with intention and control.