If you want to strengthen your left hand, playing a few variations of walking bass lines continuously on a keyboard for about 15 minutes a day helps. The other trick my teacher used was to take a piece of heavy posterboard about 30 x 15, put a string through the corners on one long side, and hang it around my neck like a shelf to block me from watching while my left hand worked complex lines of more than my natural reach.
Being able to instinctively identify intervals is critical to playing HG well, identifying them without looking, like a fretless string player. But since you have keys as tactile indicators, learning to operate them without looking very much strengthens your abilities with your left hand. They say you have to do something the same way 1000 times in order for it to become 'spinal reaction', or instinctive (autopilot). This is especially true in music with new techniques and new methods - a change from organ to hkeyboard synth will not be difficult, as most built up instincts transfer between the two, but changing from keyboard to violin requires an almost entirely new set of instincts be developed. And to assist in the finger changing - walking your hand up and down the keyboard (something you will need to do on any keyboard instrument of more than 5 keys, but you don't have to do on horns), run 2 octave scales on a piano with your left hand, up and down, with the proper 3-4 finger crossings, do these 15 minutes a day for a while until you get used to the feeling. You will routinely find a need to mis-finger (finger against the 'rules' of crossing over the thumb) but at least learning how to position your hand with the proper wrist movement and to keep the other fingers out of the way, simple keyboard scale drills of 2 octaves can't be beat (except, of course, simply by practicing on your HG - which is the best way to get better at it).. Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 1/10/2007 at 10:29 AM Solberg, Bennett J LCDR NMIMC wrote: >Great Story. I am hoping that I may have an advantage as I played French >Horn for 20 years. We use our left hand exclusively for fingering. >Granted >there are only 3 keys (4 for a double), it may seem more natural. Crossing >my fingers. > >B > >LCDR Bennett Solberg, PhD, FACHE >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of >Chris Nogy >Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 9:30 AM >To: [email protected] >Subject: Re[2]: [HG] Drones vs. Key Changes, was Irish? > >My old piano teacher used to tape over the right hand parts and make me >play >only the left, week after week. > >"Your right hand is good, your left hand is WEAK!!! WEAK!!! From now on, >until I tell you different, when you play here you play sitting on your >right hand." > >She filled my practices with boogie-woogie, swing, jazz, but only the >basslines. The first to get a rhythm sense, the others to get my hand used >to going all over the keyboard. > >After 23 years of instruction, I finally got to play both hands together >(grin). And the doctors say they might be able to partially fix the >right-hand shaped dent in my behind. > >The moral of this story - most instruments other than strings don't teach >your left hand as strong as your right because that is not your melody >hand. >Guitar, any of the bowed instruments, bass, on those your left hand >controls >the melody. Thus you learn to favor it, and concentrate on it. These are >the 'left hand teaching' instruments. > >I started to build rebecs a few years ago, and I have learned more left >hand >control because of them than I ever learned on piano. > >Chris Nogy > >*********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** > >On 1/10/2007 at 9:35 AM Oscar Picazo Ruiz wrote: > > I agree about the percussion lessons. My first approach to music was >bodhran and afrocuban percussion (congas, bongo, etc) and it has helped a >lot with the right hand, and also to keep my left in time with the right. > > And for the left, ¿any ideas on other instruments which might help? >maybe keyboards? > > > 2007/1/9, Melissa Kacalanos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > Jim, (and hi to everyone in hg list land) > > I realized I could have summarized my advice in my last >email by advising you to first work on some simple hg tunes that are meant >to be played on hg. That's a much easier starting point than attempting >tunes that would be better on a fiddle, and might even be impossible on a >hg. That wouldn't have helped you with this particular performance, >though. > > Advice about drones vs. chords is one thing, but my main >advice to you is to find some other hg players to learn from. I guess >that's >what this list is for, but real live people are even better than email. > > If there aren't hg players around, it might sound strange, >but you could take drum lessons (particularly if your hg has a buzzing >bridge.) I started off as a drummer, and the rhythms I learned, and the >sense of rhythm I developed, are very valuable to me as a hg player now. > > I had a very similar experience to yours last summer, in >which I was working with extremely talented, professional musicians and a >composer who unfortunately composed stuff for me that was physically >impossible to play on a hg. (She wanted things like lots of rhythmic >buzzing >bridge, but she didn't want to hear the drone string the bridge is on. That >sort of thing.) Fortunately, I had the experience to know what was possible >and what wasn't, so we eventually came to a musical agreement, but it took >a >lot of explaining. It would have been awful if I'd been in the same >situation with less experience, since I wouldn't have been able to tell >explain things to the composer. > > Enjoy your hg, and get good at it fast, since it sounds like >you're in demand. > > > Melissa > > james kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Wow, > Thank you very much for the response. that was >exactly what I was looking for. The hurdy gurdy is my first instrument and >I >am just begining to learn what music, keys at whatnot are all about. I >live >on Orcas Island,WA where just about anything can happen. Including a bare >bones beginner being pared with a couple of musicians that play 100 >concerts >a year world wide. The violin my gurdy played with was built in late >1600's >Italy. I had no idea what I was doing and just listened to them. > > I must say though, It was a huge learning experience >to go on stage and know there would be no backing up. Rehearsal were no >problem, but during performances I could not hear well and had to watch her >play. It was my first experience playing along with someone else. I don't >even know how to count. I had the advantage of watching her bow, much like >a >baton. I also learned how to cotton my strings so I could get a clear note >on the entire range, I practiced so much I ended up changing the cotton >every day. > > Thanks for pointing out the difference in drone >instruments and other stuff.I had no idea on that . > > The father of the woman I played with was concert >master for seattle for the last 25 years and recognized how new I was to >the >instrument. He loves the Hurdy Gurdy and encouraged me to continue. > > Thank you again on your comments, > > Jim > > > > Melissa Kacalanos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hm. Some tunes just aren't meant to be >played on hg. Many tunes, I suspect like this one you mention, just >wouldn't >work with a constant drone on any note, whatever the note is. In your >example, your trompette and petit bourdon are playing a constant open E >chord. Then whenever your open chanter sounds (which it almost inevitably >will, between some notes) you're playing an E minor chord. I suspect that >if >this worked at all, it did so by making the whole tune seem like it was in >E >minor, so people couldn't hear the D major-ness of the first part. > > Actually, how do we know it really switched >from D major to E minor? That might just be the interpretation of these >musicians, who are trained to think in terms of key changes and chord >progressions all the time instead of drones. Maybe if one of us drone-based >people heard it, we would just say, "Nice tune in E minor, and I like how >the dissonance at the beginning resolves in the middle." > > Or, if they wanted to keep the D to E shift, >in a situation like this, I might have turned my drones off for the >beginning, and then turned on a drone in E at the change. This makes for a >nice dynamic change as well as a key change. This only works if the changes >don't come too fast or frequently, though. > > But in general, I don't like to waste my >efforts trying to get my hg to play tunes with certain key changes or chord >progressions, which would work much better on a piano or violin or >something. What hgs are good at is playing tunes that work well with >drones. >This includes, besides the vast world of early and traditional hg music, >tunes from drone-loving traditions from around the world. That includes >bagpipe tunes from Sweden to Morocco to Bulgaria, much Indian music (which >often uses a tambura to provide a drone), and much Arabic and Turkish music >(which often use plucked string instruments with both drone and melody >strings). That's a lot of music. Let's not get greedy and try to play music >that sounds better on piano or violin. > > Melissa > > james kruse <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hello, > A couple weeks ago I was playing a >street musician in a local adaptation of A Christmas Carol on Orcas Island, >wa. I am both a begining hurdy gurdy player and musician. The individual I >was paired with is a (very patient) professional violinist. > > One of the songs was a jig and >started out in e minor and switched to d major. I had no idea what to set >my drones to, and consulted her & her husband who is a professional >pianist. >Neither are familiar with the hurdy gurdy but both are top notch musicians >and finally they decided that I should tune my minstrel gurdy as follows. >the petit bourdon should be B, the chanter G, and the trompette E'. This >was not their first choice, but were taking into consideration the tension >allowances of the strings I had. > It ended up sounding kinda cool. > Has anyone else out there tried this >sort of arrangement? > > Jim Kruse > > > > Anthony Shostak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >wrote: > > Hi, folks. > > I'm sure this has come up >before, but I'm wondering what your collective > wisdom is regarding G/C or >D/G for playing Irish and related tunes? It > seems straightforward enough >to play out of G/C, using the upper rows of > keys and capos for the >drones, but with much of the repertoire fitting > well on pipes and flutes >that don't go lower than D, perhaps D/G would > wind up being a bit easier >and fit within the range of the instrument > without too much octave >shifting. Or is it really just a matter of > making a choice and sticking >with it? > > Best, > > Anthony > > > > > >__________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam >protection around > http://mail.yahoo.com ><http://mail.yahoo.com/> > > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection >around > http://mail.yahoo.com <http://mail.yahoo.com/>
