Training finger dexterity
and co-ordination
In the chapter on the basics of physiology it was mentioned that fingers have varying degrees of dexterity. A small experiment illustrates this fact quite impressively. One hand is placed flat on the table and one finger at a time is slowly lifted. Playing on the recorder however, apart from the right thumb, demands equal treatment and dexterity of all fingers. The aim of the recorder player is to compensate for any natural differences in dexterity. In order to achieve this/an attempt should be made to place the metacarpi, i.e. lower finger joints parallel to the recorder, with the fingers of each hand rising and falling onto to the holes in one smooth movement. This should be done with each hand individually until one is confident that one movement has been made and not just that of three or four fingers.
J. M. Hotteterre, Principes de la Flute... (Paris 1707)
This experiment is then repeated with the recorder. Neighboring fingers can be alternated whilst keeping the others still eg. 1212..., 2323... (enumeration of the left hand fingers: thumb 0, index finger 1, middle finger 2, ring finger 3. Right hand fingers: index finger 4, middle finger 5, ring finger 6, little finger 7.). If every movement is slowly and consciously executed for a long time, the differences in the fingers are felt less and less, and it is like having a small machine which has hammers that are identical in length and have the power to raise by means of a mechanism (muscles), and which lower when the mechanism is switched off (relaxation of the muscles).
The feeling of identical movements can be better achieved with eyes closed. (All combinations of fingers should be tried and not only alternations of neighboring fingers, eg. 36, 27, 46, 57,....or 12, 23 ... and later on with 0.)The description of further exercises is not attempted at this point for there is a plethora of suitable studies on finger dexterity and co-ordination available.