Dynamics¶
Summary: Vary the volume of your playing using only your hands and fingers.
A fantastic exercise for speed and accuracy is to take something that you can already play at a decent tempo, and varying the dynamics.
Here’s the start of Kreutzer Etude #5:
Kreutzer etude intro
Rather than play it through at a single dynamic, try using a cleaner tone or acoustic, and play it through softly, loudly, and increasing and decreasing volume:
Piano (soft)
Forte (loud)
Crescendo
Decrescendo
You can also try accent variations.
This is good for two reasons:
It’s potentially more musical!
It increases your control over the muscles and impulses in your regular motions.
As mentioned in Excitation and inhibition, moving your hands and fingers fast is not just about the contraction and relaxation of muscles at precise times. It’s also about suppressing (or inhibiting) superfluous or harmful excitation, both in the muscles directly involved, as well as in other muscles. In other words, it’s about less effort everywhere. Altering the dynamics can help your nervous system fine-tune the impulses it sends.
In particular, pianissimo (very quiet) practice at varying tempos can be good, though it’s mentally taxing. A quieter approach will mean less “noise” and chance for tension, and you can refine your playing.
For slow tempos, be sure you don’t start playing in slow motion in order to reduce the volume! This might lead to inefficient movement patterns and mental processing, which is what we’re trying to avoid. Try to keep the velocity of the pick through the string high. It’s tough to do and requires a lot of control.