Nadal gives the more or less standard keyboard fingerings for the pentatonic scales.

These must be learned, of course. But there will come a day in the gymnastics of the pianist when you may find some alternate fingerings that can be useful in certain of the keys. This will sometimes exhibit itself in the proverbial, "running out of fingers" when improvising a run or a phrase. Don't be afraid to violate those fingerings when you fid it useful to do so. For one thing, a different sound can be achieved for the same notes, merely because of the way the fingers and thumb work (or don't work) for us, as the case may be. For example, the Melodic goal can be greatly impacted by choice of fingering when we're talking the pianoforte and not the organ.

I personally associate this sort of thing with the Martial Arts, the example being that at first we absolutely must learn the katas, no way around that. But at some point, you then build on that and learn when to throw the kata to the wind, forcing a changeup that can domnate the match. Ala Bruce Lee, who was an advocate of "no kata" style. In order for Bruce to do the things he demonstrated on a daily basis like that, though, he obviously firs had to become an all-out disciplined master of the katas. That is what gave him the freedom to improvise the way he did on the mat.

Or, as Charlie Parker said about Music Theory, "Learn it. Forget it. Then PLAY."

It is a wonderful gift from God, the ability to continue to learn, IMO.

I still love going to a gig with a new trick or two up my sleeve. Quite often that new trick is "new" only to me, but the joy in it is that now I've made it mine as well.

Prof. Longhair called them, "devices" -- an apt nomenclature IMO.


--Mac

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