Yes, Virginia, all those thirty-second notes _are_ meant to go by lickety
split.

In fact, there are some, like the "Variation Ejusdem" that comes after
Bull's setting of Piper's Galliard, that really can't be conceived any
other way, because there's only so much that you can slow the piece down
before the underlying musical structure disintegrates.  The same goes for
Peter Philips' madrigal intabulations (and those of anyone else, for that
matter), Playing them is largely a matter of deep breathing and forcing
your pulse to slow down, keep yourself relaxed, lean on whatever your
invisible support system is, and let them come.  And if they still don't
come, asking yourself, "Why is this bit throwing me for a loop?" until you
find the answer and fix it.

Physically, though, it can also be a matter of the instrument that you're
playing.  What helps
with doing the really fast runs is to have a shallow key dip.  When I was
learning that Bull piece as a masters' student, I actually took it over to
play on the Ruckers muselaar that was owned by New England Conservatory and
housed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and whether that instrument was
in an original state or not, it let me play that piece like greased
lightning. I think the key dip was on the order of 1/8 of an inch, but this
was over 20 years ago.

On the other hand, if you're playing this on a French double,you have to
think of playing more on the string.

I write as much for my own benefit as anyone else's, by the way; I'm
working on a mini-program of this stuff as we speak, and if you're coming
to the HKSNA conference, I'll be giving it there.

Beth

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