Strengthening your fingers
In the last article we looked at playing your first Native American flute scale. It would seem natural that at this point you would ask the question "Now what?". There are a couple things that would be good to consider. Strengthening your fingers is one of them. The other is to begin "Playing from the Heart" which is the NAF word for improvisation, or just "noodling" around on your NAF and playing whatever pops into your head. We'll look at "Playing from the Heart" later, for now let's look at a couple easy ways to strengthen your fingers.
WHERE WE’RE HEADED
The point of this article is to start you on the path to freeing your mind from having to think about your fingers. The less you have to concentrate on your fingers the more you can focus on playing your music, and the music's what it's all about. To do that we're going to look at some very basic things you can do to prepare your fingers to move effortlessly, allowing you to play more freely.
A COUPLE THOUGHTS
The Brain Connection
The first thing to keep in mind is that you don't need strong fingers in the sense of muscle strength. You don’t need to do finger pushups. What is meant by strength here is mostly improving your coordination, which is handled by the brain. So what you're really doing is training your brain and it's messages to and from your fingers.
Repetition2
The second thing to consider is that like anything you do, and I mean anything, the more you do it the better you get. Repetition also mutiplies on itself nonlinearly. I like to point out to the people that attend my NAF classes that if you were to tie your shoelaces every day of your life, that by the time you were 35 years old you would have tied them 12,775 times! Odds are you've gotten pretty good at it. The exercises below work the same way.
REVIEW
Before we begin let's review the set up of the NAF. Remember that each hole has a number. We will also call the finger that covers any hole by the same number. So hole #1 is covered by finger #1.
Fig. 1 The finger holes of a six holed NAF
SOME SIMPLE EXERCISES
Here are some simple ideas that you can use everyday to warm up and strengthen you brain – finger connection.
#1. The basic NAF scale
What could be simpler? Play the scale up and down a couple times in one breath. Not only will this be good for your fingers but it will help build breath control and lung stamina.
Start this at an easy, relaxed pace (Tempo). Don’t try to be lightening fast. There is no reason for it. You’ll get more out of doing this slowly. Keep in mind the NAF is not know for it’s burning, guitar like licks. Most people find Native American flute music soothing and relaxing, not the lost Jimi Hendricks basement recordings.
#2. One finger at a time
This will isolate each finger one at a time.
Start with all the holes covered, open and close the bottom hole, or hole #1, by lifting and lowering finger #1. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Next move this exercise up one hole: Leaving hole #1 uncovered, open and close hole #2. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Move up again. Leave holes #1 & #2 uncovered, open and close hole #3. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Continue doing this with the basic NAF scale. Since you don’t use hole #4, just skip it as you would when you play the pentatonic scale.
Do the whole exercise at least twice. Don't forget to breath between working on each finger.
#3. Two fingers at a time
This is a variation on the exercise above, and is like playing just the first two notes of the scale.
Starting with all holes covered, first lift hole #1 and then hole #2, proceed by covering hole #2 and then hole #1. Repeat.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Then, like above, move up one hole. Leaving hole #1 uncovered, lift finger #2 then finger #3, proceed by closing hole #3 then hole #2. Repeat.
A LITTLE A DAY
Do each of these a few times each day before you begin to “Play from the Heart”. These will get you quickly started towards improving your playing skills and increasing your enjoyment while you play.
Leave a comment here or email me at blog@cedarmesa.com
OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES
How to Buy a NAF, part 1
How to Buy a NAF, part 2
How to care for your NAF
Playing your first NAF scale
DO YOU NEED TO BUY A FLUTE?
Visit the Cedar Mesa Music Store.
You can also find a list of makers who's flutes I play on my web site.
MORE REVIEW
NAF History and Construction
FINAL THOUGHTS
Please support these posts by checking out my recordings of Native American flutes.
Distant Spirits
Nominee: Native American Music Award
Sacred Dreams
Winner: Native American Music Award
New Fire
Nominee: Native American Music Award
You can listen to samples from all three and purchase them online. Members of my E-Mailing list get an extra 10% off all online purchases.
© 2006 Cedar Mesa Music. All rights reserved.
WHERE WE’RE HEADED
The point of this article is to start you on the path to freeing your mind from having to think about your fingers. The less you have to concentrate on your fingers the more you can focus on playing your music, and the music's what it's all about. To do that we're going to look at some very basic things you can do to prepare your fingers to move effortlessly, allowing you to play more freely.
A COUPLE THOUGHTS
The Brain Connection
The first thing to keep in mind is that you don't need strong fingers in the sense of muscle strength. You don’t need to do finger pushups. What is meant by strength here is mostly improving your coordination, which is handled by the brain. So what you're really doing is training your brain and it's messages to and from your fingers.
Repetition2
The second thing to consider is that like anything you do, and I mean anything, the more you do it the better you get. Repetition also mutiplies on itself nonlinearly. I like to point out to the people that attend my NAF classes that if you were to tie your shoelaces every day of your life, that by the time you were 35 years old you would have tied them 12,775 times! Odds are you've gotten pretty good at it. The exercises below work the same way.
- TIP: Practice makes better
REVIEW
Before we begin let's review the set up of the NAF. Remember that each hole has a number. We will also call the finger that covers any hole by the same number. So hole #1 is covered by finger #1.
Fig. 1 The finger holes of a six holed NAF
SOME SIMPLE EXERCISES
Here are some simple ideas that you can use everyday to warm up and strengthen you brain – finger connection.
#1. The basic NAF scale
What could be simpler? Play the scale up and down a couple times in one breath. Not only will this be good for your fingers but it will help build breath control and lung stamina.
Start this at an easy, relaxed pace (Tempo). Don’t try to be lightening fast. There is no reason for it. You’ll get more out of doing this slowly. Keep in mind the NAF is not know for it’s burning, guitar like licks. Most people find Native American flute music soothing and relaxing, not the lost Jimi Hendricks basement recordings.
#2. One finger at a time
This will isolate each finger one at a time.
Start with all the holes covered, open and close the bottom hole, or hole #1, by lifting and lowering finger #1. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Next move this exercise up one hole: Leaving hole #1 uncovered, open and close hole #2. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Move up again. Leave holes #1 & #2 uncovered, open and close hole #3. Repeat 3 or 4 times.
Continue doing this with the basic NAF scale. Since you don’t use hole #4, just skip it as you would when you play the pentatonic scale.
Do the whole exercise at least twice. Don't forget to breath between working on each finger.
#3. Two fingers at a time
This is a variation on the exercise above, and is like playing just the first two notes of the scale.
Starting with all holes covered, first lift hole #1 and then hole #2, proceed by covering hole #2 and then hole #1. Repeat.
Here it is in graphic TABlature.
Then, like above, move up one hole. Leaving hole #1 uncovered, lift finger #2 then finger #3, proceed by closing hole #3 then hole #2. Repeat.
A LITTLE A DAY
Do each of these a few times each day before you begin to “Play from the Heart”. These will get you quickly started towards improving your playing skills and increasing your enjoyment while you play.
- REMINDER: The less you have to think about what your fingers are doing the more fun you’ll have making music with your Native American flute.
Leave a comment here or email me at blog@cedarmesa.com
OTHER POSTS IN THIS SERIES
How to Buy a NAF, part 1
How to Buy a NAF, part 2
How to care for your NAF
Playing your first NAF scale
DO YOU NEED TO BUY A FLUTE?
Visit the Cedar Mesa Music Store.
You can also find a list of makers who's flutes I play on my web site.
MORE REVIEW
NAF History and Construction
FINAL THOUGHTS
Please support these posts by checking out my recordings of Native American flutes.
Distant SpiritsNominee: Native American Music Award
Sacred DreamsWinner: Native American Music Award
New FireNominee: Native American Music Award
You can listen to samples from all three and purchase them online. Members of my E-Mailing list get an extra 10% off all online purchases.
© 2006 Cedar Mesa Music. All rights reserved.
Labels: How to...
posted by Scott August at 5:51 PM
1 Comments:
This is very helpful for us beginners. The hardest part of getting started can be simply not knowing the basics. Your articles have clarified what I need to do, how to proceed and what my personal goal should be. Thank you!
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