A.Darr. Exercise 5

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Musicmaker
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Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2018 9:32 pm

A.Darr. Exercise 5

Post by Musicmaker »

My 6th week into Zither playjng.
https://youtu.be/ZHog51zG70w
Pete
NutmegCT
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Re: A.Darr. Exercise 5

Post by NutmegCT »

Good day to you Pete!

Your right hand seems greatly improved, keeping all fingers on the adjacent strings after playing. You seem also to be finding the right hand notes easily, so I am envious! One thing others have noted: keep your thumb from going up into the air after playing the melody note; let it come to rest on the adjacent string.

Two things I'd suggest:

- try to keep as many left hand fingers down as possible. For example, when playing D on the A string, you use finger 2 - but finger 3 is up in the air, not on the string. The note played after the D is C, so having fingers 3 and 4 already in place makes it less cumbersome to play. In other words, when possible, keep your fingers on the string instead of lifting them "up up and away".

- as Dave has suggested to me on a similar exercise, you might want to play the A with finger 1 (thumb) on the D string, instead of the open string A. Open strings may "twang" a bit. The difference in timbre between the fingered notes and the open strings is sometimes pretty obvious.

Seems it's 50/50 on zitherists resting right hand on the bridge. Some do, some don't.

Progress!
Tom M.
Musicmaker
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Re: A.Darr. Exercise 5

Post by Musicmaker »

Hi Tom
Thanks for your good advice.
I am playing the open A strings as in the Darr book it has not instructed me to use the 4th finger A yet.
I have tried it quite a few times though and my 4th finger A rings very softly.
It is a different colour than the two A strings so I think it may be Bronze which may explain the soft ring.
Re resting the thumb on adjacent strings with the right hand....well I dont know what to say.
I have tried this and find it almost impossible to then lift the 2nd and 3rd fingers whilst performing a rest stroke with both the thumb and 4th fingers.
So i watched a few videos of Zither players and they all seem to lift the left thumb just a little.
I would like to suggest that if you are doing this then it could be part of the reason why you struggle to play the second and third fingers on the right hand whilst resting the thumb and 4th fingers on adjacent strings?
It is quite a strain on the right hand.
Yes.....my thumb comes up TOO MUCH so I will keep a watch on this habit.
If I am wrong about what I have said then I gracefully accept but I would like to hear from others about this.
Should the right hand thumb always rest on an adjacent string when playing the melody?
Pete
NutmegCT
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Re: A.Darr. Exercise 5

Post by NutmegCT »

Hi Pete - thanks for the follow up.

Regarding the RH thumb, I was referring to Darr's explanation in section 15 (page 7). (Maybe your Darr doesn't have that?)

" ... after striking, the thumb must rest upon the next following string, until prepared for the next stroke."

That's what I've been trying to do - having no recommendation not to. Keeping the fingers and thumb "in place" just makes it easier to play the next notes with less searching motion.

Sometimes this all feels like balancing plates on a stick held in one hand, playing an accordion with the other hand, and whistling "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" while tap dancing to Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever".

Yikes!
Tom M.
Musicmaker
Posts: 148
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Re: A.Darr. Exercise 5

Post by Musicmaker »

Ha ha ha!
Yep.....I reckon you are right.
I missed that Darr bit you referred to.
It all makes sense.
I will give it a try.
I am having a go at ex 15.
It sounds like a tune now and i like it.
Pete
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