I am not sure when I started anchoring my fingers on the strings while playing. It's probably a direct outcome of my inherently lazy disposition. Why leave your fingers dangling in the air when you can rest them on the strings? In other words, why stand straight if there's a wall to lean on? But this laziness has a method. It's about conserving energy for the real work at hand.
Anchor points provide important security and stability to the hands, two essential components in developing an efficient technique. Other instrumentalists understand this need for a firm support. Just observe any pianist, trumpet players, or harpist, to give three different instrumental examples. Notice how they always have their fingers on the keys or strings.
So here is one of the most basic instructions I give to all my students:
"Always try to rest the right hand fingers on the treble string when the thumb is playing and rest the thumb on a bass string when the fingers are playing."
To elaborate, try to keep a finger on a string whenever possible. Even in pieces like Asturias and Villa Lobos' Etude 1, I encourage students to keep the 'a' finger on the string while the other fingers are playing. For instance, in Asturias, after the chord strums, the 'a' finger and thumb should immediately and simultaneously find the first string and bass string before playing the 'pmi' tremolo. In other words, anchor your hand first before playing the tremolo.
There are many other examples from the repertoire, I could mention Villa Lobos' Etude 11, in the repeated pedal points played by the 'mi' fingers. To get more security and speed, rest the 'a' finger on the first string while playing those pedal points.
The concept of anchor points is closely related to that of "preparation" or "planting." I am firmly against what used to be called "full planting" but I am all for "sequential" planting. In fact sequential planting is at the core of my teaching. And anchor points is just an extension of that concept. To explain this, take Etude 1, to play the arpeggios, the fingers should always find the strings before playing. This preparation does not have to be right before the note is to be played. For instance, the 'a' finger can find the first string even as the thumb and 'i' fingers are playing, and that act of preparation will provide a firm anchor point for the rest of the hand.
Over the years, I have had a number of teachers who had tried to get me to stop using anchor points. The stubborn streak in me understood perfectly that if something is working for me, why stop doing it? But I do understand why some teachers are against anchor points. To be able to anchor your fingers while playing, you need great finger independence in all the fingers. If you are playing with a lot of "follow-through" in your fingers, your fingers will lack the necessary independence to make anchor points work for you. In that case, you might have to reduce the follow-through first before attempting to anchor your fingers.
So make a virtue of laziness, find ways to accomplish tasks with minimum effort and energy. And if you find that wall, lean on it, it feels much more comfortable.
P Hii
February 4, 2001