[BAROQUE-LUTE] Re: Rank Amateur [ finger tip feed back]

[Anthony Hind]

	Interesting your "finger tips feed-back" idea. It is often said that  
blind people make sensitive musicians because of their increased  
sense of hearing, but perhaps it is just as much to do with their  
increased sense of touch.
After reading Matthew Wadsworths article on learning music by heart.  
I tried closing my eyes after reading a tablature passage, and then  
trying to play it from memory (of which I have little); and I was  
very surprised to find that my fingers seemed to know better where to  
go than I did. Perhaps we should play more often with our eyes shut  
to develop this sense

I suppose this might explain the skills of a deaf musician such as  
Evelyn Glenny, who apparently plays barefooted so she can feel the  
vibrations for her cues on stage and no doubt the feedback from her  
percussion instruments; apparently there are also a number of  deaf  
pianist who must use this sensitivity to the feel of sound wave  
pressure to monitor their playing.

	As you well know, one of the pleasures from playing with gut, is the  
feel of the texture, and that trigger-like springiness, that gives  
you the impression that you have just that little more control and  
even time before you (well, in my case, if not in yours, that is a  
very nice sensation, "time before you"). That was also what a tennis  
player told me, as I mentioned here, once before. That little delay,  
as the ball struck the gut, gave him the impression he had time to  
direct the ball, and the resonant sound allowed him to monitor  
whether he had struck it correctly.
Perhaps I am wrong, but I feel any increased suppleness in the finger  
joints, goes in that same direction, shock absorbers; but that could  
lead us back to Schumacher...
Anthony

Le 26 févr. 08 à 13:36, LGS-Europe a écrit :

Your fingers are more than strong enough.

With pressure, less is more. It is easy to flex a muscle fast. Put  
your hand
in a flame, get stung by a bee or catch a falling lute to try. But  
it takes
time to relax a muscle, we all know that. So to develop speed on a  
lute, we
have to minimize our pressure. I can put down a finger fast enough,  
but I
cannot lift it fast enough. With less pressure, I can lift faster  
and my
speed will improve.
Another reason why less pressure is better: with more pressure we  
feel less.
Left and right hand shape the tone together, the only feedback we  
get before
we actually pluck the string is through the contact of our  
fingertips. If we
use more muscle, we feel less. Keep your sense of touch alive by  
using less
pressure, and your tone will improve if you 'listen' to the  
feedback your
fingertips give you.

David


****************************
David van Ooijen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.davidvanooijen.nl
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