Posts by Ethan Kind

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Banjo Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create an extraordinarily accurate and kind banjo performance.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

Why is playing the banjo consistently very softly through a passage difficult for many banjo players? Is playing the banjo pianissimo INHERENTLY difficult, and there is nothing you can do about it?

First, I’m going to describe what banjo players do that makes playing the banjo very softly for sustained periods hard. Second, I’m going to describe the remedy, so that playing the banjo pianissimo for long passages can be effortless. It should be effortless, shouldn’t it?

A prevalent belief among banjo players is that to play very softly, they need to KEEP themselves from playing too loudly. So, by definition, it is easier to play at a moderately loud volume than it is to play very softly. BUT IT TAKES LESS MUSCLE TO PLAY SOFTLY THAN TO PLAY LOUDLY.

But many banjo players are used to playing moderately loud. So, why is playing pianissimo harder than playing mezzo forte? Because, many banjo players believe playing very softly is about pulling back on the reins with effort. They believe they have to muscle the fingers, hand, and arm to keep from playing at whatever the banjo player’s most effortless volume is.

Think about it. If you believe you have to KEEP your fingers from playing the banjo too loud, then you are using muscle to keep yourself from using too much muscle. This is crazy. Is there a better solution? YES!

Why not use less muscle to play softer. To do this effortlessly on the banjo, two thing have to happen. The first is you gain conscious control over the musculature of your fingers and arm by using less muscle, and you do this by lovingly ordering your body to do less work to play pianissimo, not FORCING your hand and arm to do less.

This will only work truly effortlessly, if you move your fingers REFLEXIVELY, which means you move your fingers as quickly as you can, not slower to play softly. When you move your fingers slowly to play softly, you get a fuzzy sound, not a clean precise crisp pianissimo sound.

How do you combine playing very softly with moving your fingers as quickly as possible effortlessly. First when you move your fingers as quickly as possible, this is moving them REFLEXIVELY. By definition a reflexive movement is a twitch. So, when you twitch your fingers through the strings, this is an effortless movement.

That volume of that finger movement is determined by how much muscle you use to twitch your fingers. The less flexor muscle you use to twitch a finger through the string, the softer the note. You truly can have the conscious control over your flexor muscles to use less and less muscle effortlessly to play pianissimo.

So, the combination of twitching your fingers through the string using the least amount of muscle makes playing very softly on the banjo effortless.

One last point: What determines how softly you can play? Is it your technique or the banjo? It is the banjo. If you use the least amount of muscle and move reflexively, then it is the banjo that will determine how softly you can play. Simply, at a certain point the banjo will not produce a sound, if there is too little muscle behind a finger.