Posted by Chris B on November 29, 2002 at 16:07:57:
In Reply to: Making the Switch.... posted by Zac on November 21, 2002 at 15:37:02:
I agree with the consensus here. It takes a while. If you read about language aqusition or know people who teach foreign languages, they will generally tell you that there are few stages to go through that I think are similar. The real goal in a new language is to eliminate the "triangle" of hearing the language, translating in your head to English, then reversing this to speak. When you can simply think in the language, or as my French prof. said, when you start dreaming in the language, then you really have it. Same thing with the fingerings in CC. Don't fight the thing but try to eliminate the mental drill of transposition and learn to think in CC directly. When you can improvise or play by ear in the correct key on CC something like a Mozart horn concerto, then you have gotten there in your conversion. Strangely enough, after many years of playing CC, I still find myself thinking in BBb unless I stop and shift gears. Don't know how comon that is but it is kind of weird to me to still do this. Doesn't seem to affect the ability to play CC, just the mental thing. Going back to the language analogy, many people continue to "think" in their native tongues even after years of being in their new country.
According to a friend of mine, whose primary area of research is brain functions, the intial area of the brain used for primary language aquisiton is different from that used for a secondary language. Msybe this is what is going on with the fingerings.