Becoming Touch Sensitive

As we all know is, it’s a virtual given that when we step in front of an audience to perform the whole game seems to change – even to the point of “all bets are off,” for some of us.

Must it be like this? Of course not! And here is one hot tip to help you.

You see, one of the drawbacks of having adrenaline coursing through our veins is that we tend to loose sensation and control at our extremities, and those little sausages at the ends of our hands are certainly out there.

The antidote is the rigorous practice of a form of sensitivity training – all the rage in American workplaces these days.

Of course, what I’m talking about is increasing the physical sensitivity of our digits. If we become acutely aware of how we move and place them, through practiced attention, a kind of headroom can be opened up such that the presence of adrenaline has less, or NO impact on what the audience hears.

Are you with me?

One of the move effective tactics I use to accomplish this has a secondary benefit. It requires the fingers to address the string with very little pressure whatsoever, increasing the efficiency of my left hand.

So here’s what I do:

I play in such a way, slowly, as I can feel the vibration of the string traveling up through my fingers on each note. The sensation is akin to having a little electrical energy flowing into the fingers when contacting the bowed string.

Breathe from you belly as you do this and the effect is even more potent as an adrenaline buster.

All the Best, Clayton Haslop

P.S. In a short while I will be giving a Skype Coaching to a gal living an ocean and a continent away. She will perform the etudes found in the first volume of my instructional DVD program, Kreutzer for Violin Mastery. These prime studies can be used to develop just the kind of touch sensitivity I’ve been discussing here.