Articulation and coordination
- Coordinate the right and left hands at a regular pulse:
- playing with clarity, dexterity and fluency at a variety of tempi
- using a large variety of articulations and rhythmic patterns
- using advanced techniques requiring specific coordinations (e.g. sweep picking, two-handed tapping, and waterfall or harp harmonics)
Teach learners to play solo pieces that incorporate an alternating bass part with a syncopated melody.
Ragtime pieces are a useful source. The activity can be extended to include improvising while maintaining the bass part.
Ask learners to play tunes from their repertoire an octave higher in order to develop fluency on the fingerboard above the 12th fret.
Ask learners to choose a well-known tune or melodic passages from their repertoire and play it (by ear) in as many positions and octaves as possible, and also in a range of keys. Make sure that the shifts are as smooth as possible.
Ask learners to play arpeggios of extended chords in various positions, using a range of rhythmic patterns and tempi.
Demonstrate the use of various sound-effect pedals or simulators and help learners to operate them in order to produce a larger range of tone colours.
An amplifier simulator is useful for this so that the whole range of effects can be demonstrated.
Teach learners more advanced techniques such as sweep picking, two-handed tapping and waterfall or harp harmonics. Focus on the coordination requirements of each and develop suitable technical exercises to enable learners to gain fluency in these techniques.
After listening together to suitable examples, ask learners to consider how articulation and legato phrasing are approached on different instruments, and what these consciously applied expressive qualities contribute to the overall effect of the music, e.g, making a dance movement seem more animated or a melodic piece more song-like. Explore ways for learners to recreate what they have heard in these examples in their own playing.
Listening to other instruments’ means of expression can broaden learners’ musical awareness. Some instruments have a more natural capacity for legato, i.e. through playing several notes in one bow or breath, and non legato, i.e. through changing bow on tonguing between notes, Internalising different phrasing characteristics through vocal imitation is a good place to start, followed by playing short passages by ear.
With learners, choose an item of repertoire in which articulations, slurs and phrase marks are specified in the text, e.g. a 20th- or 21st-century piece. Ask them to internalise and apply these expressive qualities from the start of the learning process, using the appropriate techniques.
Next, select together an item of repertoire in which articulations, slurs and phrase marks are not specified. From the start of the learning process, ask learners to add their own expressive qualities, using their knowledge and understanding of musical style, etc., and combining the appropriate techniques with an awareness of phrasing and structure.
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