Hand types

Thanks for the clarification. I just had the impression earlier that you were basically saying "you cannot rely on anything in a performance". In my recent technical progress, I have made the experience that you sometimes "forget your fingers", so to say, because they know their way around. Thus you can concentrate better on other things (like, the music). I was not talking of playing automatically, like a soulless machine. Maybe that exists in people who concentrate on delivering Islamey at maximum speed, but that might sound quite boring. On the other hand, it can be fun to really concentrate on various aspects of technique, even when actually playing music. Would you agree on that? As for "having more time", I see what you mean. But do you consciously weave miniscule "halts" in your playing at speed, so to say? Thanks Dominik

It's not a miniscule halt unless I am doing 'micropauses' for the heightening of rhythmic pulse - it is more like having time in your brain before you do something - making the space within your brain for A to happen before B does, so you avoid that effect of neurologically tumbling over yourself. I agree, yes, I do have fun concentrating on various aspects of technique even while performing - but it is always in the service of what the music wants to say, never for its own sake. As for playing automatically, we do need to have an "automatism" that serves us even if we play consciously. If you had to think about every move you make driving a car, you would crash in five minutes! regards, Alan