Erhu Pinky

[mrchopstick]

Hi Everyone. Just wondering if anyone else might be going through the same thing as I am. I started erhu some months ago and I think I'm doing ok. As far as fingering goes all is more or less ok except when it comes to the left pinky, which seems to keep sticking out every time I do excersises. Pinky is most usually in the air while the other fingers are busy doing their thing. When other fingers are involved it begins to mostly feel like there's a string around my finger and the string is looped around a pulley on the ceiling and someone else on the other side of the string is pulling it. Would this "pinky in the air" be considered bad form or is it ok as long as my notes land? Or is it something I have to painfully work on keeping my pinky down while it's not playing any notes? . Thanks for the help

[song]

The pinky in the air is a sign of tension in your left hand. The best state is for each fingers' movement to be independent of each other. eg. when you are using your second finger, the rest of the fingers are free from tension. You still get things done I suppose when your pinky's up in the air, but you lose mobility and accuracy. Esp when you play fast tempo notes, your left hand will look like the tentacles of an octopus.

I had the pinky in the air problem when i started out too. You have to consciously make an effort to relax the muscles of the fingers that are not in use. Took me years to resolve that.

Thanks.

[damien]

So simple but actually very helpful when you don't have a teacher.

I can't help my pinky going in the air because when i drink tea my british pinky stands up haha

Not the right place to type it but i also have a problem with changing strings and playing songs on the one string which on the high notes can be impossible.

[mrchopstick]

Actually I think you may have hit on something there, because this is mostly when the pinky goes in the air -- during string changing and places i know when a high note is crucial. I discovered that while learning a song, notes are still tenative in my head and im still anticipating what to do next so as a result, the tea pinky goes up. However when I have at least a few of those hard notes down packed after hours of running through them, I put erhu down for the day, then run by the parts again the next day. This time pinky seems to curl up in relaxed position. I don't think it's as much in my pinky as it is in my head.