Suggestions for playing upbeat tempos...
« on: October 18, 2006, 09:24:38 AM »
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I am challenged when it comes to playing songs with fast tempo's (i.e. shouting music) particularly runs. I have been practicing slow and then try to speed it up. I just wondered if there is anything I should be doing that would help. i.e.-exercises etc. Thanks & God Bless !
One problem with slow practice is that one sometimes hits a "wall" where the technic used to play slow will not work after a certain tempo is reached. For example, if you practice slow and raise your fingers high, there is a point that that technic will no longer work. So the trick is to try to mimic the actual technic that you will need to play a passage fast.
Here are some ideas:
1. Practice staccato, even if the passage is legato. At a certain tempo, the staccato will actually become legato just because the notes become so close together. Also the staccato somewhat mimics the quick release needed in faster passages.
2. Practice in dotted rhythms. If the passage were, say, fast eighth notes, practice first dotted eight - sixteenth dotted eight - sixteenth and then sixteenth - dotted eighth sixteenth - dotted eighth. Say, you are starting at 1/2 the tempo, you would actually be practicing 2 note groups in tempo. By doing both types of patterns, you are practicing each possible 2 note group at the speed necessary. (this is easier to show than to type).
3. Backwards Practice. No we are not playing the passage from end to beginning. We start at the end of a passage. Say you have a 2 octave descending scale in sixteenth notes. First practice the last four notes close to tempo "Key C: F E D C" Then we can back up by adding a note or two -- e. g. "G F E D C" then "A G F E D C" Work this way until you get to the top of the run. This method can also help you determine the necessary fingering to use since the end of a passage will often determine how you should start.
4. Alternate fingerings. Granted, we have all been taught certain fingerings for certain scales, but sometimes those do not serve our purpose. Say the passage was a scale using fast triplet figures. Rather than the normal (R.H. Ascending or L.H. Descending) 123 1234 1, you might try 123 123 123 123 etc. Even if a thumb falls on a black key, it may actually make life easier.
5. Blocking. This works particularly well with chord based passages but can even be effective with scale based passages. Block groups of notes together and play the block for the duration of the total of the individual notes. You might simply block 4 note groups. Or block chords. You might play the first note alone and block the rest. Or you might block according to finger crossings. (This is easier to show than to type.)
e. g. say we have a fast ascending C major scale in sixteenth notes. Blocking the groups according to finger crossings would be something like this.
CDE FGAB CDE FGAB etc. 1 e & A 2 e & A 3 e & a 4 e etc
C D E F G A B C D E F G A B <----- each group played together
or you might do C(alone) Block "D E" then "F(alone)' then "G A B" together sort of like this
1 e& a 2e& a 3e & a4e etc.
C DE F GAB C DE F GAB
(I hope that makes some sense.)
Use a metronome or rhythm machine that you can increase by 1 bpm (the old Seth Thomas just increases speeds to fast) and work up 1 bpm at a time. Play 5 times correctly at that tempo then increase by one. Then start back at the tempo that you started at and increase by 2 bpm, then 3 bpm, etc.
It is important that you do not correct as you play, if you make a mistake, try to determine the cause. Often the actual mistake is a symptom of a problem that actually started earlier -- a bad starting position or fingering that only catches up with you at the "fracture". Do not count attempts that contain a mistake or that you "corrected" as you played. If you correct as you play then you are actually adding mistakes -- the first may have been a wrong key, but by correcting as you play, you distort the rhythm, etc.
I do two types of practice one is the type to work a passage (similar to the above) and the other is "performance" practice where I play from beginning to end of a section or piece even if every note after the first is wrong. One can always keep the rhythm going. By doing the second type practice, one becomes accustomed to playing through mishaps that can happen no matter how hard one has practiced and one gets used to keeping the rhythm as a force of stability.
I hope some of these ideas are of use. Happy practicing and God Bless.
