July 01st, 2012

Working on Finger Technique

If at first you don't succeed on a technical passage, try something different! Many students revert to practicing slowly when they need to fix a finger glitch, but just practicing slowly might not necessarily be the fix. Try practicing from right to left (the passage backwards), and try breaking up the passage into several smaller chunks of notes. Work these smaller bits with different rhythms (dotted eighth and sixteenth notes, then reverse that) as well as triplet rhythms. Make sure to practice the 'seams' of the problem, getting into the trouble spot smoothly as well as getting past it. Vary the articulation. Switch up the octaves. Try a practice chain: play the last 4 notes in the passage perfectly, and add a note onto the chain (last 5 notes, last 6, etc) until you complete the chain. Repeat each small chain perfectly 4 times. Now go practice!