As we have seen in the post of previous week it is essential for us to practice small parts to make sure we are able to repeat the notes without any mistakes.
If we have to play sixteenth or even faster notes we should try to practice them in groups of four or eight. Often they are even written like that.
We call this modular system.
When we merely practice in groups of eight notes, followed by the next group of eight we’ll run into problems very soon.
Take a look at this here:
We have three modules or groups to practice.
Imagine you run along the red line. What happens if we managed the first module?
Exactly – we fall into the gap between two modules and start again at the beginning of the second one. This goes well until we reach the next gap between the modules.
This is our problem if we practice the modules seperately without giving attention to the connections between them. When we assemble the entire passage finally we are able to play the segments isolated, but not together in one run-through.
The solution looks like this:
The modules are overlapping. We achieve this by playing the first or first two notes of the following module together with the previous one. So we are sort of welding the modules together without gaps.
How does it look like in “real life”?
We have a very basic C-major scale in groups of eight notes. Since it’s rather fast it’s impossible for us to play it flawlessly four or five times. We have to reduce the number of notes and the result is our first module:
It consists of eight notes plus the first note of the subsequent module.
We repeat this group a few times until we are happy with it and take the second module:
Again, we append the first note of the subsequent group. Some repetitions, followed by the third group:
And so on and so forth.
Perhaps we have to repeat the whole procedure but very often we can proceed right now.
Now construction work continues. Be patient. Do not put the whole thing together at this time! We need at least one intermediate step to the final assembly in our modular system.
Here it comes:
We chose a group of sixteen notes plus the first note of the second group. Repeat this a few times and proceed to the next one:
This way we have an overlap of eight notes, quite comfortable and very safe. Followed by the third version, starting on the high “E”.
Now we have finished the whole procedure. Chances are good that we can play the whole phrase now.
Give it a try! It’s a very efficient and most secure solution for problems related to longer and faster passages.
