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Old 09-04-2005, 01:29 PM   #5 (permalink)
davidquinlan
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Make sure that your right hand position is not hindering your speed. Difficult to describe, but make sure you are approaching the valves from "above", with your thumb resting in the gap between valve 1 & 2 and your little finger resting on top of the pinky hook! Your fingers should be almost perpendicular to the direction of the valves! if this make sense!

For an upcoming band contest, I've got quite a few fast passages semi-(quavers & triplets etc) to play with awkward fingering etc. I've taken the approach to go back to Arban triplet and semiquaver exercies and build up speed using them (working with a metronome).

After about 5 or 6 days doing this, I found immediately that I could play scale studies from Vizzutti and other semiquaver passages at a much higher tempos then previously.
I think it's like everything else, repetitive practice of appropirate technical exercises, and being tough on yourself, don't proceed to the next exercise until you have played the current one correctly!.

I remember trying to play those very same passages in the Hummel years ago, working on them in isolation, with little success. If I had to do the same again, I would spend my time on appropriate techincal exercises.

I have used this approach ever since reading about it in Howard Snell's book The Trumpet, and of course talking about it in lessons with Howard.

Another advantage to this method is that you don't spend as much of your time playing the recital piece "incorrectly" while you get your physical skills up to speed, therefore you don't build up any "mental barriers" about the particular passage.


Best of luck!
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