On the importance of a closed hand (by example), in the continuous music of Lubomyr Melnyk

[@him21016]

Pieces referenced in this video: Pockets of light: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYXIk5WVo8yBhrssi=bZxqsOFivtgwaSqh Cloud Passade No. 3: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a2SpiKKYZrx0rJosi=okR3FW409Kr_OSoh Parasol (with Arpegge mode): kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y52zaZiknpWnl9Esi=WvpvfkB2PWSyVbHP Circular Etude No. 4: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYa9e5ukha2XsJosi=cyfvlPA1SVnJif2l

[@cremerse1667]

hes back!!!!

[@graysonmcdonald8]

Very helpful. I find it’s pretty easy for me to do this technique with my right hand but my left hand gets tired pretty quickly (probably due to improper form in this hand), especially when I do them both simultaneously. Any tips on how to synchronize my two hands better other than just practicing with the left more?

[@him21016]

Nice to see you here. My first thought is that you should try practicing this with your eyes closed and just imagining keeping your hand as closed as possible, and imagining a swinging wrist coming to its aid. Probably, when you stop visually focusing on it, you will realise your hands still have a lot of stretching-tension. All continuous music should be played with the eyes closed, though sometimes eyes-open is necessary when practicing a new motion. Some very general points that you might be missing: this keeping-the-hand-closed idea, with fingers loose and not in unnecessary tension, returning to the equilibrium position of the closed fist when possible, is tiring IF you are consciously forcing your fingers back to the hand, snapping and pulling them back. Now, I think that’s ok to do as a sort of training, so your hand understands the right shape, but ideally the fingers return to equilibrium quite naturally, in an unconscious and relaxed way. A swinging, flexible and *active* (raised) wrist and upper forearm can be very helpful in achieving this (especially for making larger runs along the keyboard without stretching your fingers); it may be that you’re not utilising your wrist, or that your hand is still attaining a tense, clawed position (clutching your fingers inwards, rather than letting them casually return to the palm)

[@him21016]

But it’s worth mentioning: Lubomyr talked to me about having a closed hand for a very long time; I’ve been conscious of this for years, and trying to train my fingers to act in this way for years, but only more recently has it happened. It takes a good deal of patience and you can make the right movements and still find it tiring, as the body (or mind) is not yet fully ready. Now, as I wrote in my caption, my fingers will be in closed position even in day to day activity (they no longer prefer to be splayed) and I can feel a kind of springing sensation these days, each finger having some inner coil.

[@graysonmcdonald8]

⁠@@him21016ok thanks for the tips. I will try this. I have never really tried to play with my eyes closed before so maybe that will help.

[@him21016]

@@graysonmcdonald8Yeah, so I was lucky that I had already begun to play eyes-closed when I was studying some of Philip Glass’ music (the metamorphoses and Mad Rush aren’t a million miles away from continuous music, though still quite different), just because I randomly found it helpful, so when I started with Lubomyr’s music I already had this good habit. Getting a sense of the space around you is difficult at first (and at last: in Lubomyr’s arpegge motion, a complex mental perception of space is required) so I recommend testing it on some simple patterns (what Lubomyr might call “static-position”) such as doing a basic broken chord key change exercise, C-G-E-G-C-… C-A-E-A… C-A-F-A-… B-G-E-G-… B-D-G-D-… and so on, as you please, with either hand, just to get used to it. In general I found it helpful to train eyes-closed playing on pieces or exercises which don’t jump around much. “ Opening “ by Philip Glass is an excellent classical example of this, but of course I should recommend Lubomyr’s “meditations” which you can purchase from his webstore / direct email.

[@him21016]

One reason it’s important is that in full-blown continuous music, both hands are simply doing way too much! The visual stimulus would be wildly confusing and your brain would default to focusing on all the wrong things (“and now I put *this* finger on *this* note *there*”, x 10 notes per second). It is also necessary to gain the right sense of peace

[@JohnAdlam-k4f]

Tsk! Which no-one will read!! ❤ Ain't you just a marvel and a wonder?