As one who plays the piano, I also don’t want my fingernails touching the keys as I play. If it happens, feels ‘yucky’ to me and I know that I need to remedy the issue the same day. There is no waiting another day for me to take care of it.

I rarely cut or trim my nails. Reason being is that they usually never reach the state of being needed to trim. As such, I file them every couple days. Not that I enjoy giving my self a manicure, that’s not what I am doing. I don’t care how they look but I do care how they feel.

One of my OCPD behaviors is to have zero ‘white’ of my fingernails on any of my fingers. I don’t want the white area of my fingernails showing. Most importantly, I cannot stand the tactile feeling of any fingertip anywhere on my skin or as it brushes against my own fingertips.

I generally never speak of this to others simply because most all of my idiosyncrasies are definitely something that most people do not personally share. However, I have come to a firm understanding in my life that I like what I like and I don’t like what I don’t like.

Lately I have been watching a lot of online piano performances. I love watching them. I think there is a lot to learn in watching others play the piano just as it is important for children to listen to adults read out loud. The viewer is able to see the performer be the music. We get to experience a part of the music that the performer feels. Art is more than visual, it is more than audible. Art is, or at least should be, an experience.

True art enters the person and emotes a feeling or an emotion for all.

While watching these online performances, I have noticed that some of the performers have fingernails that make me cringe. No, they are not ‘long’ by any stretch, but the whites of these fingernails are visible and for me I can imagine how that would feel on my own fingers. It’s not as bad for me as the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, but it’s close.

These fingernails obviously do not bother the performer otherwise they would do something about it. Good on them. I just don’t know how they ever do it.