Musicians with Dystonia Bulletin Board

When I started playing, I had several ways of getting by difficult passages. For instance, when I performed the Shostakovich concerto, I used extensive left hand to take over what is written for the right hand. And for the difficult cadenza I used a small rubber band tightened around my middle finger to give it an extra awareness - it's good for one minute - and that is long enough to get through the cadenza.

I recorded a CD with a cellist playing some very difficult works. Thanks to having very fast wrists and elbows, I used much alternative fingering. Nothing was orthodox.

Going back to the slow practice. I look at it this way. The motion¡¦s brain is similar like a computer (someone told me that computer was designed using human brain as a blue print). Before you ask it to do a complex job, you must first program it. This programming is done by simply going through over and over the movement you desire to do. You want to do it slowly so that the brain registers it correctly and un-ambiguously. First 100 times through a particular motion I do it so slowly that I will sense little bumps and cracks along. These are little dead points, little drop outs. For example, at a certain angle my finger may start to jitter. I would stop right there and wait until this jitter goes away. This is done by consciously relaxing my body and mind. It¡¦s like ironing out little wrinkles.

After that I would gradually apply pressure. After I have done enough legato playing, I would go to the non-legato. This is more complicated. I practiced two ways; one with all fingers in touch with the keys at all time except the finger playing; the other is all fingers are above the keys, only the playing finger reaching down to play. All of these exercises I would do at all different levels of the wrist.

What is even more important is the pure and simple dedication to these practices. A peaceful mind is a must. Sometimes I would get slightly frustrated, and as a result the movement had to be reworked the next day.

Metronome was a great tool; many exercises I did with metronome; 5 times for each speed. Each session I added modest amount of challenge. Also, I didn¡¦t do a certain exercise more than a week at a time. I came back to do it in two weeks later. This way I avoided being over-zealous with a movement, causing more harm than good.

For that fact I revisited old peaces on regular basis. Each revisit I improved a certain amount, but never tried to fix every single problem at once. There was always the next time.

Keeping the mind and the brain fluid is a good thing. In my garden I planted quite a few flowers, in the summer time I would cut some and put them next to me while I practiced. This helped keeping my spirit lifted for the better part.