Heitor Villa-Lobos - Étude No. 1 • Karol Samuelčík (played with 5 fingers of right hand)

LET’S START USING ALL FINGERS OF THE RIGHT HAND We can use the play with a little finger not only in many techniques, but also to achieve a specific musical expression, such as in arpegios, five tone chords, harmonics, rasgueos, tremolo, muting, bringing out a melodic tone, color, intensity, etc. The other reason why we should develope this technique is to have more relaxation, independence and freedom in whole hand. Heitor Villa-Lobos also played the guitar and naturally used all five fingers, and I think in many of his compositions I find better use for playing with the little finger. We also read about the mentioned issue from his meeting with Andrés Segovia in 1923 resp. 1924. In the etude, therefore, I intentionally used the following fingering: p i p m i a m e a e m a i m p i Regular use of the little finger of the right hand in a common play is a future that will come sooner or later. Personally, I would like the whole process to start now. 200 years ago, Dionisio Aguado taught and played with the little finger of the right hand, which is confirmed not only by his words in the book Escuela de Guitarra (second edition, Paris) in 1826. More than 100 years have passed since then, when he published his most important book Domingo Prat. La Nueva Técnica de la guitarra was indeed the first, detailed publication dealing with the issue of playing with the little finger. Another major step came in the 1990s, thanks to Charles Postlewate, who published several publications, including Right-hand Studies for Five Fingers. Other players who involve the little finger in the play for specific moments or practising sessions include Pavel Steidl, Ricardo Iznaola, Štěpán Rak and Kazuhito Yamashita. Honestly, I think we have been able to do more for the development of the little finger in the last 200 years, but it is far too easy to talk about it as something real to do in this regard. Therefore, me, as a pedagogue of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, have already started and I will strive for improvement in this area, as it is my and our common responsibility to push the boundaries of play and interpretation to a higher level. Let’s take a step forward together, the same step that players of other instruments did a few centuries ago and take full advantage of the opportunities that our hands offer us. We still have a long way to go, but I believe that in the end it will lead us to a deeper, more significant and more interesting interpretation. PS: If you decide to play with your little finger, start with just a few minutes a day. video production: Vladimir Slaninka