Peter, I used to think I used peripheral vision a lot for years and I always put myself on my singers' right so I could see them and my left hand in the same glance. Recently, however, a singer said she heard me better on my right so I'm looking at my left hand much less. It feels different but I find that I can use different cues for understanding where my left hand is. I'm finding that if I give my mind a mental image of bridge-nut-5th fret, I can generally "see" in my mind where the 7th fret is. (the 7th fret is exactly 1/3 the distance nut to bridge; the 5th fret exactly one fourth) Naturally, the 9th fret is a little hairier! I have a few different length lutes but once I do a mental/visual check of bridge-nut-5th fret for a few seconds it starts to fall back into place. What I find harder is playing 7th, 8th or beyond courses on a non-6c lute.
I suspect there are different patterns we teach ourselves to use in higher positions or difficult fingerings. Maybe it's like parallel parking. Some of us use methods of splitting the view in the rear-view mirror into thirds and turning the wheel at such-and-such time --as my driving instructor did many years ago. Others see a moving picture from above. So in lefthand-neckwork we take in visual clues as well as tactile or motional. Or so I'm tempted to imagine. Sean At 06:29 PM 11/14/04, you wrote: >Dear All, > >Periodically, I've been wondering how big a role peripheral vision plays, >if any, in the accuracy of left hand position changes. > >Observing myself suggests that paying more attention to peripheral vision >helps, but the trouble with self-observation of course is that it may be >self-fulfilling, simply because it increases genaral awareness of the left >hand. > >Any thoughts or suggestions? > >Regards, >Peter. > >-- >the next auto-quote is: >It is a terrible commentary on Christian civilisation that the longest >period of slave-raiding known to history was initiated by the action of >Spain, Portugal, France, Holland and Britain, after the Christian faith had >for more than a thousand years been the established religion of Europe. >(H.A.L. Fisher) >/\/\ >Peter Nightingale Telephone (401) 874-5882 >Department of Physics, East Hall Fax (401) 874-2380 >University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html --
