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Nositional Visualization I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but you've forced me to resort to revealing my REVOLUTIONARY and TOP SECRET technique for avoiding thumb crossings while playing a smooth slow legato. No stupid "thumb crossing", no discomfort, just a smooth legato line. Instead of pumping your fingers up and down, and straining and stretching to get the thumb under the 3rd or 4th finger, you are effortlessly playing the notes in sequence in a relaxed manner. I originally became aware this technique while watching Bill Evans play. I noticed that he wasn't simply hunched over the keyboard, but his nose was actually TOUCHING the keyboard. AND he was pecking away at the keys like a barnyard chicken!!! "So this is how Bill gets those incredible smooth legato passages" I thought to myself. Bill wasn't just playing with five fingers in the right hand - he had SIX! After some experimentation, I realized that in order to make the legato as smooth as possible that the nose should get in there just BEFORE the thumb. In other words, if you're tempted to do a thumb crossing DON'T! Simply use your nose to effect the transition by having it play the note just before the thumb hits. This could be called the "Nose In There" technique, but I prefer to use the term "Nositional Visualization". Long intellectual sounding names always inspire wonder and awe in everyone. Some might lament "But my nose is too [fill in the blank] to do that!" Plastic surgery is always an option for the well-heeled, but for the rest of us there are a good number of probiscoidal prosthetic devices readily available. These reduce wear and tear on the nose, and have the added benefit of increasing friction to help keep the nose from slipping off the black keys. One of the most popular nose-enhancing devices is a simple red bulb, not only are these inexpensive, they impart a festive atmosphere to any gathering. To sum up: If you shift your thinking to "Nositional Visualization" for smooth legato passages, the thumb does not cross under. This should be intuitively obvious to any casual observer, as plain as the nose on your face. 7
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