Miguel de Maria -> RE: Picado info (Dec. 3 2003 1:53:03)
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The hand has to move back and forth a lot, which is ok in older styles but not so convenient for some modern stuff. --there are different positions for picado, arpeggios, and thumb work in old-school flamenco. in old-school flamenco the fingers are typically held straight There is a trend in flamenco to work from a more central hand position. What you describe with the fingers starting out in a neutral curved position for both picado and arpeggio seems to be pretty much what is done. --now it's more common to have a position somewhere inbetween the old-school positions, so that the various techniques can be attacked without changing the hand position 1. The curved finger is a functionally shorter lever from tip to knuckle, compared with a straight finger. This shorter lever length gives a better mechanical advantage, and it can be moved fast. --something to do with physics or mechanical engineering says that having a curved finger is good-and fast! 2. The curved fingers enable a more centered position for picado, compared with the old straight-fingered picado position, because the hand is more compact. --with a curved finger, you don't have to use an extreme hand position. you can do the picado from the same position you can do arpeggios in. 3. It is quite easy to minimize finger movement with the curved-finger rest stroke, partly because it is easier to control the shorter lever in the return stroke. --something about having the fingers curved, to do with mechanical engineering, makes it easier to make short movements--economy of motion! we need to consider two coordinated issues—timing of use of finger joints and relative amounts of force used at the joints. --the finger has three joints. In what order to they fire? Which one exerts the most power? 1. What happens often (and perhaps ideally) is that the movement is initiated in the knuckle, perhaps with the two finger joints held in fixation or perhaps with some movement in the second joint as well. --Usually, good players base the picado on third-joint movement. (I am following Carlevaro’s usage of ‘fixation’, meaning keeping the joint still but not rigid, the way an expert skier or horseperson keeps the torso centered, not floppy, but not locked.) --this is a good image, a good sensation to keep in mind. The initial string tensioning movement in one or both joints can be tiny if the stroke is started with the fingertip very near the string or from a planted position on the string. --any stroke requires string-tensioning--pushing down-- and then the release. If you keep your fingers near the strings, you can hardly see any movement at all. Because the movement in the knuckle is tiny, it may not be observed and described accurately, leading to a mispercepton that nothing is going on at the knuckle. --this is fairly comprehensible, for once! 2. As the string is released, the majority of the movement shifts to the second finger joint. The amplitude of movement in the second joint can be much bigger than that in the knuckle at this point without causing tension. --first you push down, then you release the string. Like in archery. He's saying the second joint is responsible for the release, and it can have a much bigger movement than the knuckle (which pushed down) without causing any problems. 3. According to a simplified description of this sequence that I often use in teaching, the power part of the stroke is mostly in flexion at the knuckle and the release part of the stroke is mostly in the second joint. -- This description is useful for students who are learning to correct a faulty stroke that is dominated by extension rather than flexion at the knuckle, because they never fix it until they get flexion in the knuckle. --I'm not sure what this means. I think it means that you can use the finger in two ways, by pushing out or by pulling, and that pulling is more desirous. 4. During the release part of the stroke there may or may not be further movement at the knuckle, depending on how high the wrist and/or the palm of the hand are above the string. Higher gives more freedom of movement at the knuckle but may limit speed, which is probably why we see a flat wrist in lots of flamenco players. --Lay the forearm on the guitar. That's flat. Now arch your wrist. That's high. 5. In this sequence of steps, the majority of the force is applied with movement primarily in the knuckle, or by movement in both the knuckle and the second joint. Of course this is before the string is released. If fixation is maintained in the second joint in this phase, force originating from flexion of the knuckle will be transmitted through the second joint without necessarily involving movement at that joint at that stage of the stroke. --I think he's saying that it's possible to make a stroke using _only_ the third-joint (or knuckle), and that if you keep the second joint fairly stiff it doesn't have to move at all. 6. As the string is released, force against resistance changes to relaxation and follow-through, regardless of the relative amplitude of movement in the two joints. I won't address the counterforces that are needed after string release, because that is a whole separate issue and area of possible contention. --an academic footnote. 7. Although I have mentioned several variants in joint usage, at no point have I suggested that flexion should be blocked in the knuckle. This seems to be a key to interpreting the advice that the movement is primarily in the second joint. Blocking the knuckle produces tension and speed reduction, so if you emphasize movement in the second joint you must be careful not to inhibit it in the knuckle. --No matter how much your stroke happens to use the 2nd knuckle, you need to use the third knuckle some! 8. If a player tensions the fingertips on the strings partly by moving the forearm and right elbow to move the hand toward the bass side to produce the tension, it may appear that the knuckle joint is fixed and all movement is coming from the second joint, but I don’t think so—the analysis stays like the one given above, with the addition of force from the arm. Note that for flamenco players this movement results in a straight slide of the forearm, not an arc of the forearm rotating on the elbow, perhaps as a function of the position of holding the guitar. As a result, the hand is likely to move toward the bridge as the lower strings are approached, lending more edge to the end of a run. --One way of getting leverage on the strings is to use the arm to push down slightly into the strings. That doesn't invalidate anything that has been said before. Because flamencos often do this, they slide their hand to play on various strings, whereas classical players move their hand in a semi-circular motion. In summary, the advice to move more at the second joint has to be considered within the context of the basic principles of maintaining balance in the hand and allowing all the joints and muscles to participate in an integrated action. --A balanced hand is a happy hand. Playing picado with just one joint is like running without ankles! (I just made that up). Trying hard to limit movement to a single joint is a mistake, but allowing more or less movement at a joint without interfering with other movements can usually be achieved without bad results if the player is clear about when in the stroke the movement is to be allowed and, probably most important, the player is scrupulous about using tension as a danger signal. --whew! hope that helps someone.
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