10 years ago by
A Pianist
Just wondering there are any thoughts on this theory?
"I also have a strong suspicion that it (collapse) can impact on rhythmic steadiness and the ability to play fast. When a finger gives way, there is a bigger gap in time between the initiation of movement and the time when the note actually sounds. If you eliminate collapse altogether, you are going to be able to predict the instant in which a note will sound, with some reliability. If you have variable levels of collapse, you can never know exactly how great the time-lag is going to be. We may be talking split-seconds here, but if you consider what goes into a rapid Chopin Etude, there's every reason to believe that these could be enough to cause sluggishness and imprecision."
I just added the above paragraph to my new blog post about efficiency.
It stands to reason that if there is any give in the finger, it will take longer between initiating the movement and the sound actually being produced. Obviously, when having to play fast and quiet, there has to be a longer time between starting to move and the note sounding. However, my suspicion is that when there is "give" in the finger, there's an even bigger time-lag between movement and sound- compared to when a finger produces an equivalent volume without that give.
I didn't want to state as fact that the time lag would be bigger for an equivalent volume produced via collapse, compared to that which occurs without it. I suspect it, but think I it would be very hard to prove. It's certainly beyond my level of physics, at least. Just wondering whether other people can relate to this possibility? Do you think that the sense of sluggishness caused by collapsing is just an illusion caused by having less ability to control and less predict the moment of sound? Or could it literally be the case that there's a bigger time-lag, compared to producing the same volume with a better connection?
