I come from a harp background. I have had to build up the strength in my left pinkie finger, which I never used on the harp.
Barbara On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 3:30 PM, Augusto de Ornellas Abreu < [email protected]> wrote: > Coming from a piano background as well, I feel tempted to use my thumb > every once in a while. > > For traditional HG repertoire (especially French and Galician), the thumb > is NOT necessary at all, all the progressions work perfectly with four > fingers, with easy fingering and shifts. > > For other kind of music, though, sometimes the thumb comes into play and is > quite useful. In some of the music my band plays (we play a sort of > contemporary folk take on some traditional Celtic tunes, mixed with a lot of > Brazilian influence), I use my thumb a lot. I don't find it that unergonomic > (is there such a word?) if I keep the same hand position throughout the > tune, that is, if I do not shift from a 4-finger style to a 5-finger style > during the tune. But I can see how it puts some extra strain on the wrist > and how that could be a little painful if you had some tendency to develop > tendinitis, etc (I used to have some tendinitis when I played the piano more > vigorously, but fortunately it's been years since I felt it last!) > > Augusto > > > On Sun, May 8, 2011 at 6:06 PM, Arle Lommel <[email protected]> wrote: > >> I think Death in a Fen is the only piece where I routinely use my thumb. >> For anything else that I play, it's not useful. You can play that piece >> without it, but I find it easier (= more ergonomic) with it because of the >> particular progression of notes. So it really comes down to the piece: use >> it if it makes sense, otherwise don't. And for probably 99.55% of all music, >> it won't make sense... >> >> -Arle >> >> On May 8, 2011, at 13:56 , Ulrich Joosten wrote: >> >> Hi everybody, >> >> I had a 5-day course with Gilles Chabenat in the week after easter and we >> discussed that question. Gilles said he rarely uses the thumb but mentioned >> that it might be helpful to use it in certain situations. Me personally I >> find it really un-ergonomic to use the thumb. Just my point of view. >> >> Best regards, >> Uli >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "hurdygurdy" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected] >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy >> >> The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at >> http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from >> new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "hurdygurdy" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy > > The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at > http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from > new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "hurdygurdy" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/hurdygurdy The rules of posting, courtesy, and other list information may be found at http://hurdygurdy.com/mailinglist/index.htm. To reduce spam, posts from new subscribers are held pending approval by the webmaster.
