Mastering a woodwind instrument requires thousands of hours of practice
over many years. Among the most important and repeated exercises are
scales and arpegii, in which series of finger motions, sometimes
complicated or awkward, are rehearsed many times. Without doubt,
these exercises allow musicians to keep practise their articulations
and to coordinate them to rapid finger movements. But much of the
benefit from these exercises comes from coordinating finger
movements. But what degree of synchrony is required or achieved?
Could there be advantages in slight differences in the time at which
keys are moved for a particular transition?
We modified a Boehm concert flute for the real-time, analogue
measurement of all key positions using reflected light sensors. Beginner and advanced players were asked to perform phrases including multi-finger
transitions, and the detailed motion, average speed and intervals
between finger movements were analysed. Although experienced flutists
are more precisely coordinated in their movements than less experienced
players, fingers involved in a note transition do not always move
simultaneously. Indeed, experienced players often prefer to move
slightly earlier a key that has little effect on the sound, if this
ensures a 'safe' transient, i.e. one that introduces neither a non-
sounding key configuration nor an unwanted note in the transition
between the two desired notes. We will present data measured on flautists revealing different strategies used to overcome the problem of coordinated finger motion.
Authors: Andre Almeida, Renee Chow, John Smith, Joe Wolfe
Event: SF08: Speed Papers