Klarinet Archive - Posting 000706.txt from 1999/03

From: "Paulette W. Gulakowski" <pollyg@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fingers eveness! How??
Date: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 02:52:05 -0500

It is a mistake to practice mistakes.
As a practice you could be mistaken
If what you are doin' makes your fingers go achin'.
Paulette

On Thu, 11 Mar 1999 16:53:00 -0500 "Craig D. Butcher"
<cbutcher@-----.edu> writes:
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>Soo Khoon Goh wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I have been really frustrated lately with my practices
>because my
>> fingers seemed to have a mind of their own. I know it is all my
>fault, but
>> I was wondering if there are any exercises I could practice to get
>> my fingers to be even on scales in running passages? Another thing
>is, I
>
>I don't know what level you are playing at, and I'm hardly in a
>position to
>advise anybody, but I used to do the same thing with (believe it or
>not)
>swimming --stroke and breathe, stroke and breathe, faster and faster
>and
>faster in increasing panic until I was exhausted and drowning.
>Teachers told
>me to "relax" and "take it easy"-- which is absurd, how can you relax
>when you
>have to breathe because if you don't breathe you'll drown, which is
>why I'm
>breathing fast in the first place--to ensure that I get the air in
>before I
>drown. I never did learn to swim until I was 18 years old and someone
>told me
>not to relax but rather to breathe out slowly through a mostly closed
>mouth;
>that made breathing out take longer, and hence regulated my breathing
>and
>stroke. This set a pace, and it worked! All those lessons at the 'Y'
>and
>summer camp and all I really needed was a metronome!
>
>I find myself doing the same thing with scales, chromatic passages,
>and so
>forth, particularly if there are sixteenth notes. You know the
>sixteenth
>note--it's fast, right? If I don't play this one fast enough, the
>next one
>will be here before I'm ready and I'll play it late, and the next one
>too, so
>I have to hurry! In point of fact, the trick (for me anyway) is
>usually to
>slow down, use a metronome, and actually count out the four notes per
>beat. I
>am always amazed by how much time I actually have to complete the
>passage
>compared with what I think I have when I'm worrying about fouling it
>up as I
>play. So I use the metronome and try not to let myself fool myself
>into
>rushing any note. If I screw up or get tense I go back to listening
>to the
>beat of the metrinome, counting the subdivisions (WITHOUT playing).
>It helps
>a lot.
>
>Of course, I'm still not very good, but I do have a good attitude!
>And at
>least by not practicing so many mistakes, I'm not learning to play
>mistakes as
>thoroughly as I would be if I were practicing more mistakes during
>practice.
>(?)
>
>
>
>
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