Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2016-05-31 16:52
Philip Caron wrote:
>> I've gradually (on my own) approached the belief that, in many contexts, finger speed ought to be fast, independent of whether the note sequence is fast or slow. That seems true for both fingers down and fingers up. As the OP notes, those are two different things - different, opposing muscles AND different neural connections. It's as though one ought to use speed equivalent to a fast trill even on other note sequences. This is not at all what some other and more experienced musicians have said, so . . . .>>
As so often here, we come up against the fact that people are different, and so something you might want to say to one person who generally moves slowly, is different to what you might want to say to someone who generally moves faster.
Indeed, not only in technique but in the interpretation of different sorts of music, much of our advice as teachers is designed to have people who 'are swans' be able to play 'like squirrels' – and vice versa.
My point is that if you start with slow finger movement, you very quickly find out where you need to move faster. And, as I think is implied by what you write above, that needing to be faster may be driven not only by your being able to PLAY the passage, but by your wanting the passage to SOUND DIFFERENT. Finger speeds can subtly affect that.
>> One reason finger down motion seems more natural than finger up motion is that the down direction comes with built-in hard stops - end points that don't change. The up positions may be more vague and variable. Another poster mentioned defined & practiced up (or "rest", a slightly confusing term) positions. About those, I don't know; they might be of value to some, but see YouTube for numerous examples of incredibly agile playing (not just clarinet) where the up or in-between positions are fairly, or even grossly, far flung.>>
Yes. Again, the principle is: do what works. If it isn't working, think about it and try something different.
I'm not the only one to say that practising is very largely about THINKING.
On that note, thanks to you, and to Gene and some others for your thoughtful posts. There are people here who just type the first sentence that comes into their heads.
Tony
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