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Fly Away Little Finger

by Jeff Stanley
(San Antonio, Texas)

I've been working on Giuliani's Allegro Etude (Lesson 4), and on your recommendation, I bought Scott Tennant's "Pumping Nylon." Great book, but one of the first thing he goes over is the player keeping his or her fingertips near the strings when they aren't playing a note -- within a half-inch to an inch.

I've noticed, on Giuliani's piece and others, that my little finger has a tendency to "fly away," so far sometimes that it is pointing at the opposite wall. Any tips on taming the little guy?

Thanks so much for this site. Between the Noad and Tennant books I have, and the graded repertoire and instruction that you offer here, I'm looking forward to seeing my progress in a year.

Hi Jeff,

Great to see you're doing so well and I hope you continue to improve. In terms of the little finger, I've always found if something like the little finger is not performing as it should it's almost always to do with some sort of tension (probably unconscious).

Unfortunately, once we create habits they're very hard to break. But if you are aware of what you're doing you can develop your technique properly. That's why I always advocate learning pieces in slow motion first. You can also use a mirror to watch your technique developing the right way and at the same time you're "laying down" the correct patterns of fine motor control in your brain to make it second nature, as it were.

My questions to you would be:

1. Are you trying to play the piece too fast too early?

2. Is there some form of tension and stress in your body as you are doing this i.e. in your fingers, hand, shoulders or even in your whole body?

Once you become aware of these things you, in effect, bring the underlying stress (or causes) to the surface of your awareness. An important thing to remember is we can't change ANY behaviour unless we "bring it to the surface" and become aware of it.

On a deeper level, that's why you see people making the same mistakes in life over and over again. Their unconscious conditioning from earlier in their life has them "trapped" in patterns of behaviour (physical, mental, emotional) that they're doomed to repeat unless they become aware of it, bring it to the surface of their consciousness and are then able to change it.

It's a small point but one that has huge implications for one's life. I was lucky to learn techniques for doing just this some years ago in a personal development course and I was able to relate it to my playing which helped me to improve.

I wish I had known this at an earlier age though as bad habits, once formed, are hard to break. For instance, sometimes under pressure I find my right thumb bending at the first joint quite a way. Although it was only a minor technical flaw it really used to disappoint me until I saw the famous David Russell doing it in performance.

But given the choice, I would have developed the correct use of the thumb from the beginning. Oh well, you can't be perfect :))

Sorry I have "rambled" on a bit but I hope you get something out of it.

Kind regards,
Trevor M.