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Shanta H., Minnesota

Carrie – It sounds like you may have tried this already, but I just hit on a way of describing Leaving Early this week that 3 different classes have “gotten” instantly – ranging in age from 6 to 45 and two of whom told me before that Leaving Early didn’t work for them. It was pretty exciting for me, because I’m a fairly new teacher and I clearly haven’t been explaining it well until now. Anyway, I hope it helps:

I start with demonstrating how it sounds with long pauses in the transitions and how it sounds evenly, explaining that the pause is what we’re trying to eliminate (they already know this but it helps to hear it, I think).

Then we talk about airline pilots. The pilot has to fly the plane to get it up in the air, but then he flips the auto pilot switch and just sits back. Our left hands have got to be on auto pilot.

Then I emphasize that this will ONLY work if they’re going REALLY slow, painfully slow, and I demonstrate how slow I mean.

Then I have them watch my right hand only and notice how I’m leaving early and how your ear doesn’t really notice it. And then I can explain, sometimes while playing, that you’re only having to focus on one hand at a time because LH is on autopilot. “And now I don’t have to think about RH, he’s already where he needs to go, I can think about moving LH, and now I’m already moving RH… etc.”

Then a volunteer from the class comes and tries it REALLY slow, and I’m calling out – your right hand is moving, and I keep reminding them through a couple lines of the blues piece. So far, I’ve only had to remind for the first two lines and by the third one the person has got it and is playing evenly, though extremely slowly.

Beth S., Tennessee

It’s not really about the hands so much as it is about the eyes. If the eyes have targeted the next note, the hands will get there. I liken it to drawing in a straight line — your eyes have to be on the endpoint not the line you’re drawing. In the same way, the eyes have to be, not on the hands, but on the upcoming note.

In Jackson Blues, especially with leaving early, the eyes are playing ping pong. First they’re on the LH position, then the RH position, then back to the LH one, etc. If the eyes are doing what they should, everything else will fall in place. So, I would recommend going through some drills training the eyes to switch and also to target notes and not look at hands, and see if this helps.

Amber B., Michigan

Carrie, I know first hand that you are a great teacher, and if YOU are having problems I’m not sure any of my ideas will add to the discussion. I also struggle with getting Jackson Blues smooth.

To skip ahead, it seems that when students start playing Jackson Blues in a duet they push lots harder at getting the rhythm smoother. So after extensive experience they naturally get very good at the physical aspect of playing. In the short term, I like the “leaving early” but I now first have them only play the right hand and I play the left hand. I also will have each student play each hand with another student and usually the right hand student goes too fast initially. Then we trade positions and start to feel what the other person was doing. We discuss how the left hand is more “work” and the right hand person does lots of waiting around for the left hand to finish. I might even play the left hand and have two students playing the right hand at the same time and we would have a race to see who can move their right hand the quickest without actually playing the chord until the left hand was ready. So we make it a game.

Finally, when we try the “leaving early” with both hands together we talk about how our left hand might go haywire while we try this new right hand motion. I set the student up for the left hand falling apart but tell them it will all come together with the right amount of practice at home.

Shelly E., Utah

Here is how I help students get the leaving early in Jackson Blues. I take their left hand fingers and tell them to “let go” and let me be in complete control. I then instruct them to play their chord and just let me control their LH. When they play their C chord I start moving their LH fingers for them extremely slowly and tell them that as I”m playing your LH be moving your right hand early into position. We go through this for a few lines, so they actually feel and hear how slow they need to go and how it’s **even** in the LH.

I then have them do their LH on their own but I instruct/remind them how slow they must go and I”ll talk them through the whole process. I might be saying as they are playing their LH very slowly, “now be moving up to IV” or “back to I” and I may have us count “1,2,3,4”, and exaggerate beat 4 to 1 in my voice.

The key is to get them to go very slow and even on their own, so there is time for me to be speaking their instructions as we go along and just controlling the whole thing as we go along.

It could be that if there are still pauses even though you have worked it out at the lesson, that they are not actually playing slowly enough at home. Perhaps try defining how slow they must go. For example, slower than a tick on a clock.

Kevin M., California

I know this subject has been just about played out by now. I would just like to add one more thing to consider. Have the student play Jackson Blues with the CD in class. Start with the R.H. only, the left hand can be slapping the lap, you can count aloud to 4. Make sure the R.H. is leaving early after the 2nd or 3rd beat. Once that is mastered regardless of 1 week or 5, go to playing only the L.H with the CD, then play two hands together when ready. If this isn’t something you have yet to add to your classes, you might start with something easier, dreams or Nightstorm. It is a great tool and works really well.

Best of luck.  I’m sure with the many great responses you will have this taken care of very soon.