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  • Noa Kageyama

    Administrator
    May 14, 2018 at 10:46 am

    Hi Vicky,

    Yes, sometimes our body just seems to have a mind of its own when the nerves kick in.

    As a bit of a thought experiment, let’s assume that you know in advance that the next time you perform this piece, your hand/fingers are going to do exactly what they did at the last concert. Knowing this, how would you prepare differently? Not so much to prevent it from happening, but how to manage it when it does?

    I ask because sometimes we get so focused on prevention, that we aren’t as well prepared to respond when something like this happens. For instance, having strategies for slowing things down a bit and making sure the passage doesn’t rush. Perhaps by having specific “target” notes to aim for that we may even want to exaggerate bringing out with an extra wiggle of vibrato (which will slow things down a bit, but in a musically meaningful way). Or by having a clear idea of what to focus on leading up to the passage, as well as during the passage so that our fingers don’t go out of control.

    Any other ideas of how you might approach this differently from this angle?

    Noa

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