This post is the fifth in the series “Task Specific Focal Dystonia” . The first was my discovery of the syndrome. Next came a very short selection of some of the literature that I read – I spent weeks searching for scientific and medical literature as well as first hand accounts. Other frst hand accounts were presented in a “YouTubePost” featuring David Scragg’s series of interviews with Joaquin Fabra. I had booked y seminars with Dr. Farias at this point and was ready to go!
In this post you can see exactly how Task Specific Focal Dystonia has affected me. This is the most (for me) exciting post. I took these videos some time ago and I have started to make progress. Unreliable progress, but progress none the less. The words of Joaquin are in my head as I watch these and start to create a totally new approach to playing music.
Here is a short Taranta in which you can see some of the symptoms of my Task Specific Focal Dystonia (TSFD). I have written subtitles to help you see the symptoms – but they do not seem to work…
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xg6eoqThis next video shows good examples of my dystonias and it looks evident to me (twenty twenty hind-sight here) that I was playing with far too much much muscular activity. This over activity causes my hand to become dystonic. See especially from the eleven seconds onwards. Playing any faster at all and that short section would have made any further playing impossible.
This video shows the same “cierre”. Before even playing there is spasm. At one time, I would get spasm even when taking the guitar out of the case and before it was even on my knee. Here, you can see that the little finger was in tension and sticking out. It was, therefore, in tension. I am currently learning to control this digit and have it move in tandem (more or less) with my third (a) finger.
Just before the one minute mark, I am almost unable to use my index finger and the others are all compensating. How horrible!
At 1’40″ I repeat the “cierre” played in the first video. Around the two minute mark you can appreciate the confusion in the fingers. Not one appears to know what to do nor where to go. The finger/brain switchboard is terribly confused here.
2’20″ – hear me breathe with the concentration… and the tension…
This video shows an exercise that I used to practise: GOLPE then “i” upwards. I could do this at such a speed - machine-gun -like. One of the causes?
Truly terrible. I have included it here only for documentation. I am unable to watch it. (:
And here is the way forward. Slow. Measured and within my boundaries of muscular tension. What a contrast to the previous video.
And there you have it. The next post will deal with relearning strategies and that is the exciting part. The retraining that I am undergoing (and will be for the next year or two years) is the kind of learning that is beneficial to everyone who would like to become a guitarist who understands the bio-mechanical and psychological processes of playing and practicing.
