Melody and speed

July 10, 2007 at 4:55 AM

Greetings,
In the discussion section Melody wrote `need some practice tips on playing the scherzando part of the Barber , mostly the 32nd notes! any suggestions on how to build speed would be greatly appreciated!`
The concept of speed in playing is so vast and complex I am going to use her request as a spring board for some idle thoughts.
First of all, I think it is important to recognize that more is not always better. Sometimes people play so fast it looks impressive, may even be accurate, but at the end of the day is largely inaudible to the untrained ear. What is the point of learning to do something few people can hear, especially in a concert hall? Then one might note that what one sometimes thinks is extremely rapid playing is actually not so fast when checked with a metronome. It is actually just extremely even. This is true of Heifetz on many an occasion. Although he did arguably play some pieces way to fast (or is that just a question of taste?) it was also true he was simply more precise than the rest and sounded faster.
Having said this, let us address the physical component of playing quickly. Heifetz has often been described as a lame teacher but I have never found this to be true. He had a definite knack for expressing the most significant aspects of playing in rather simple (banal?) sentences that I think some people with expectations of `loftier insight` managed to miss. Among these one of the most important was `there is the right hand and the left hand. Then if they are not together it is not so good.` What he was saying highlights that a) speed is a function of coordination and b) perhaps less directly, that if the bow arm doesn’t know where it is going as clearly as the left hand then coordination will not take place. This is so often the case that if a teacher was to ask medium to advanced student playing a major concerto fast movement to play only the right arm there is a virtually certainty the bow arm will reveal itself as flailing, often going in the wrong direction and then rectifying.
Then there are some important aspects of left hand technique to be considered. Have you left the right fingers down for the right amount of time? Does your first finger know where it is going?
If not try playing only the first finger notes omitting all the ones in between. Then the hand will know exactly where it is going.

How is your technical preparation? IE Are you preparing the next finger in time?
If not have you done slow practice in which the string crossings are played as double stops?
Assuming that one has worked on these aspects then the next problem of coordination is almost always that the right arm moves ahead of the left. The simplest way to rectify this is to practice the `hooked bowing exercise` in which one plays the first note and the second as a dotted rhythm slurred, then the 2nd and 3rd, then the 3rd and 4th and so on. One gets this faster and faster with the metronome. However fast one gets it the fact of note repetition in a different stroke ensure the left hand –always moves ahead of the right-
What then is fast playing?
It is really a question of placing notes closer and closer together. That’s all. The problem is what happens between the notes. Very often there is contamination or error. As we play faster and faster we decrease the length of the note itself but the dirt remains a constant. In essence the ratio of actual note to dirt changes adversely. In order to clean things up one has to practice very slowly and listen. Slow practice for its own sake is meaningless. Very often slow practice is thought of only in terms of `the speed I am starting at from which I will get faster and faster via the metronome until I play like Heifetz.` But slow practice is where the mind must be deeply and profoundly active. Analyzing exactly what is being done, what errors are occurring and –correcting them- For many top players slow practice is so intense that even playing a piece up to full speed becomes unnecessary. Rachmaninov used to practice pieces incredibly slowly, as did Casals. For most of us however a judicious combination of slow and fast practice is best. Keep in mind that the purpose of practice is to program the computer in your head so at the slow tempo one must be organizing huge amounts of data very efficiently. I suggest you go to Hilary Hahn`s web page and read her discussion of slow practice for some wonderful advice.
The purpose of speeding up practice is to increase the amount of playing without increasing the length or complexity of the mental command that triggers it. Thus as more and more actions become automated (don’t require a command) the longer chunks we can play. The ultimate level is when one command is given and a whole piece is performed without the need for and more commands ;) We can do this by practicing a small group of notes up to speed correctly a few times resting in between each repetition. Then do the next small group up to about five groups. Now go back and combine the first and second group, repeating and resting etc. Notice you are using bigger chunks with the same mental energy. Build up the length in this way.
One important way of increasing the necessary mind muscle connection is to practice with different rhythms. This is the essence of the approach spelt out in Galamians work. Much is made of the need to continually challenge the mind but it is also important to remember that repetition is not the most effective means of ingraining a good habit. In fact, modern research has shown that achieving the same result by slightly doing something slightly different each time is more powerful. This is typical of the way Milstein practiced and why people who heard him noted the way he rarely played the same thing exactly the same way in practice. Perlman emphasizes the need to practice rapid passages with a huge variety of rhythms too.
Finally, with all the talk of slow work be careful of what you are doing with the left hand. At speed the pressure may be minimal but slowly you may have learnt to use a lot. To unlearn this tension practice using no finger pressure at various speeds. Then just a little, then a little more and so on. Find out what the least necessary amount of finger pressure is.
If you really can`t move your fingers fast enough it may well be that you are either using too much muscle in the forearm or tensing the base joint of the first finger (I pass on the obvious one of gripping with the thumb...) To check the first finger base joint select some places to pause and check what kind of condition the hand is in, especially the first finger base. Consciously relax and then play to the next rest point and so on.
Cheers,
Buri

From Albert Justice
Posted on July 10, 2007 at 5:22 AM

That was awesome Buri. I heard someone playing Rondo the other day, and it was as you said--impressive, but lost to my ear.

I like the chunks approach as well. And the varying rhythms too, would in my mind at least beyond helping with speed, help with making the piece 'truly' one's own.

Finally, the difference between slow practice, and focused purposeful slow practice is true too I think--I think Hilary's advice (it's in her favorites area incidentally) doesn't expound as you did on 'focus' in slowness as well as you just did.

From Thomas Vu
Posted on July 10, 2007 at 12:38 PM

It's kind of funny because Hilary Hahn plays the fastest barber ive ever heard--3rd mvt wise.

From Ruth Kuefler
Posted on July 10, 2007 at 8:29 PM

Thanks so much for posting this, Buri! It pretty much summarizes and builds on many of the practice techniques I've been discovering over the past several years. More and more I'm realizing that its not the notes themselves, but what comes in between the notes that is most challenging.

Haha, you're right Thomas. Hilary Hahn's Barber is insane . . . :)

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on July 11, 2007 at 2:37 AM

Buri, this is the best explanation on speed and slow practice I’ve ever heard. One can have great teacher, a lot of great books and audio/video tools to aid one’s practice, but it’s this type of comment and advice that give one the ‘vitamins’ that are so much needed in our daily practice. I echo what a V.comer recently said, our debt to you is incalculable.

p.s. Vols 2 & 14 of "The Way They Play" are fantastic! I think I'll get the whole set eventually. Manze is just amazing. Bodhipaksa's mediation CDs from Wildmind add another dimension.

From Corwin Slack
Posted on July 12, 2007 at 7:49 PM

I am finding that finger pattern analysis is very helpful. It is slow going at first to analyze all the finger patterns in a passage but it gets faster with eperience.

Finger pattern analysis helps one prepare fingers in advance. It can also help suggest fingerings that make a passage easier to play, e.g. fewer shifts, extensions instead of string crossings etc.

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Melody and speed

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