practicing with "doubling"

[christoph h.]

Hi Adam!

I'm currently trying your "doubling" practice method, but I'm not entirely sure how it works.

1) How do you choose your target tempo? When I see you demonstrating it on videos, you always seem to chose a tempo where you will succeed at the double speed segment. I can see why that is something you'd do at a clinic but how do you do it at home when practicing? How much do allow yourself to "fall apart" at the target tempo?

2) When choosing a "focus form" / phrase to work on, does it have to be continuous, ie no rests? Will you add notes to "offbeat" phrases to make the movement continuous?

Thanks for your help!

-Christoph

[adamnitti]

hi christoph!

great questions. for target tempos, you are trying to push the envelope of your current level of proficiency, so you want to start with a tempo that is easily handled and then continue to increase tempo for each subsequent iteration. at the point at which you begin to stumble at the doubled tempo, that's when you know you are beginning to reach your 'breaking point'. to draw an analogy, this breaking point tempo can be viewed as your 'maximum bench press weight', and becomes the target that you want to break through when you 'work out'.

if you are working on increasing your speed, i recommend using focus forms that are continuous. the reason for this is that you are going to be using very strict fingering alternation with the plucking hand and by keeping the patterns continuous, you condition consistency and predictability into your technical approach. yes, adding 'offbeat' elements and 'odd numbers' to make the phrases more challenging and 'lopsided' is also a great idea. this involves a higher level of concentration at first but them becomes automatic and comfortable after a bit of time.

hope that helps!

adam

[christoph h.]

Originally Posted by adamnitti

hope that helps!

yes, it does!

thanks!