|
|
|
|||
|
| Re: The "letting go" issue |  | ||
| Re: Re: The "letting go" issue -- guitarist | Post Reply | Top of thread | Forum |
|
Posted by: daved ® 07/05/2010, 12:09:40 Edit |
i think something needs to be cleared up here. many, including myself interpret the "letting go" issue as simply allowing dystonic movements to happen instead of working against them to try and correct them. and i think for some there is a danger of reinforcing the dystonic movements if this is all you do. if you clarify and say "let go of all the tension", then yes I agree with it. but for me, the dystonia is the tension, so allowing the dystonia to have it's way by just "letting go" is contradictory. i'm going to post your exercise here again guitarist because i believe in this method as i've had positive results following similar approaches. So here's my problem - my M finger is the dystonic one (used to stick out rigid and be un-usable, now it works again) and the A finger will overcompensate by curling in towards the palm when M should be playing, in certain configurations. Main problem is where I follows M in a sequence, so for example in a standard P-A-M-I, after A plays and its M's turn, A will continue towards the palm with M being a little lazy to get going. The faster I go, the worse the problem, the slower I go I get to a point where I can fully control the motion of M and A barely flickers Here's one of many little fixes I developed which help the recovery process and has helped me get more speed into that arpeggio. Practice P-M-I arpeggios (which would elicit the same problem in A) slowly on open strings, with say P on the 4th string and IM on 3rd and 2nd respectively. Play P, then just before you are about to play M, plant A lightly on the top string. Continue to play M, then I in the usual way with A still planted. Release A and begin the sequence again. Repeat this, relax and really feel what happens when A touches the string each time in the sequence. It should feel slightly confusing as suddenly you are interrupting the compensatory movement just before it kicks in, and giving your brain a clear signal as to which finger is which and where things are (proprioception). Do this a few times, now play the arpeggio without the A plant, then switch back again. See if it feels easier? Play with this process and with the right mindset you can help to unlock a compensatory finger's established pattern. Hopefully the above is clear enough so that you can apply the principle to any dystonic problem in your hand that involves a compensatory finger, but it does require you to fully understand what is happening in your hand. (For those unfamiliar with classical guitar finger labels P= thumb, I=index, M=middle, A=ring, though we use the Spanish terms). by planting the A finger, you are working directly against the dystonic reflex of merely "letting go" and allowing it to curl into the palm. it's clear to me by reading this exercise that you know what you're doing and that you've artfully created ways of working against the dystonic habits all the while learning to do so in a relaxed manner. i don't refute this in any way. but, i do think that when people read about "letting go" in the context of some of the doctors who propose it (from what's been written in this forum) that there's a lot that can be misunderstood there and that "retraining" for many (including yourself) oftentimes involves working directly against the dystonic reflex which is a way of "letting go" of the tension. Modified by daved at Mon, Jul 05, 2010, 12:11:33 |
| Post Reply | | | Where am I? Original message Top of thread Current page |
| Replies to this message |
|
