How is fingering affected by acoustics? Sit down at a piano and
starting from middle C play ascending C, D, E, F, G and descending G, F, E, D, C
and play it as fast as you can, than repeat the same thing in minor, with
an E♭instead
of E♮; You can easily hear the difference between major and
minor. Now make the same comparison starting from the lowest C on the piano; in
this register it’s suddenly very difficult to discriminate a difference between
major and minor. Of course, tubists rarely play that rapidly in that extreme
contrabass register, but the above experiment clearly demonstrates that the
lower the register the more difficult it becomes to hear, and when the clearly is difficult to hear, it’s easy
to be lenient regarding digital precision.
Similarly, the fact
that the tuba has the largest sound of all the instruments in the symphony orchestra
family also can cause clarity problems. Like low register, sonic mass can make
discriminating tonal clarity more difficult and therefore allowing the fingers
to become less defined. Thirty years ago while preparing a piece (Sarturnalis,
by Meyer Kupfermann), which had many technical passages in the extreme low
register, I naturally approached the work with a CC tuba; the principal
problem, however, was tonal clarity (pitch recognition). Finally, in desperation
I tried the same low passages on F tuba, and although the fingering patterns
necessary in this extreme low register were far more complicated, I was able to
hear more clearly, which required that the fingering be absolutely accurate.
The F tuba liberated me from the unnecessary sonic mass, which resulted in
masking the clarity of the CC tuba in the low register.
Any difficult passage played by a tubist in the low register, if
played by a trumpet two octaves higher, would in all probability result in
greater digital accuracy simply because the trumpet player can better hear what
he’s doing! Of course, the tuba can
be equally as accurate as the trumpet, but the fact is, we tubists have to be especially
careful that we are equally accurate.
A FACT ABOUT FINGERING: Some people have faster fingers than
others. It’s interesting to note that there is absolutely no correlation
between those who have naturally fast fingers, and intelligence, musicality,
manhood or which instrument one plays; it simply means the fingers can move
faster and more accurately, just like some people can run faster than others.
Those people who are blessed with natural digital dexterity are
lucky but those of us without that good fortune can develop fast fingers by practice! Personally, I am not one of
those lucky ones, but I have discovered several steps that can help train
digital clarity and velocity with extraordinary results.
Educational psychologists have learned that the old system of
working on a technical passage, that is playing under tempo until perfect,
turning up the metronome one click faster, and repeating that process until
finally the passage is at the correct tempo, is tedious and frequently not successful.
The newer more efficient method is to take the difficult passage
at a slower tempo, and master that passage at that slow tempo. I have added the
following five steps for this method and have observed almost 100% positive
results. In dealing with these five steps please keep in mind:
Play the passage at half tempo or less,
The tempo, should not change once the procedure is started,
Whatever the articulation, each note should be as long as possible
(note lengths should be proportional to the slow tempo)
And all tongued notes should be articulated very clearly.
The 5 steps:
1. At
the slow tempo, change the fingerings from note to note quickly, simulating the
speed you would need to change fingerings at the real tempo. Repeat. Be
patient.
2. Same
process concentrating on the fingers that go down. Repeat! Be patient! Do not go faster.
3. Same
process concentrating on the fingers that go up. Repeat!! Be patient!! Stay at the slow tempo.
4. Same
process concentrating on fingers used in common between notes. Repeat!!! Still
be patient and still stay sotto tempo.
5. Only
change to the real tempo of the passage after the passage has become stable and
dependable sotto tempo.
Usually this process goes quickly,
occasionally not; patience will be rewarded.
Fingering need not be the weaker member
of the corporal quartet, but especially for lower register instruments, we need
to give special care that fingering functions equally with breathing, articulation
and embouchure. Sadly, many students see this kind of fingering work as
embarrassing or child like. Focusing on fingering when necessary is nothing to
be ashamed of and knowing when it’s time to focus on fingering is the sign of a
brilliant student. Get the Herbert L. Clark fingering exercises and go to work!
Kyoto, Japan,
March 18, 2006
Revised July
2, 2012, Tokyo
