Talk:Manualism (hand music)

Douglas S. Pearce
Wait, what? Douglas Pearce did the theme to Jeopardy by manualism on Letterman? Douglas Pearce of Death in June? It must be a different man with the same name, it couldn't be Douglas Pearce of Death in June... could it?

66.38.169.238 15:33, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

It's a different Douglas Pearce. Here's the only citation I could find.

--R. A. Wilson 03:07, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

An example
...would be very useful. Surely some performer would agree to a 5-second preview being CCed. -- trlkly 23:22, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

There are plenty of short examples publicly accessible via the External links --R. A. Wilson 23:41, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I am very well capable of this form of instrument, but i must complain over the picture. that is not the only hand form for manualists, there are several simpler forms that we like to use. if i could somehow get my photos up here i could give a comprehensive range of hand forms that manualists can use. 203.185.58.237 (talk) 05:51, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

Order of lists in the article
Generally, the entire article, and the lists within sections, are shown in order of appearance. So, please add new items to the end of the bulleted lists. The section Manualists performing in 2007 is for current events / news about current national appearances. The Other manualists with national exposure section is for older or less seen appearances. It's a subsection of Historical references.

--R. A. Wilson 23:19, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Dominant hand vs. non-dominant hand
Since there seems to be some disagreement between which hand does the squeezing, I've changed it to the neutral "Using the fingers of one hand, the air is squeezed ...". I always squeeze with my dominant hand (right hand), which makes sense to me since it has to do most of the work. I thought this was what most manualists did. If you're a manualist that squeezes with the non-dominant hand (the left hand if you're right handed, and vice versa), please post here. You can't tell just by watching a video if a manualist is right-handed or left handed, so I'm looking for better references.

--R. A. Wilson 23:28, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm a manualist who recently discovered that the trait is called manualism and I play with my non-dominate hand. I'm righty and I put my right hand on top of my left to produce the sound but my left hand does most if not all of the squeezing. Scuud (talk) 01:05, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

References and Videos
Ahh... I see now. Sorry about that. I think the lack of a proper reference section (i.e. 1,2,3 etc. with the caret ^ ) led me to think these were just put there by random manualists and/or their supporters. Next time I shall try to be more careful, reading the article in much greater detail to see how those videos are relevant and not advertising. Good catch, and thanks Mr. Wilson and the rest for making wikipedia better. :-) ~ GoldenGoose100 (talk) 04:18, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Ease of learning
i must digress over the statement in the introduction quote:

"Playing recognizable tunes by squeezing the hands together is extremely difficult, and it takes many years of practice to master the art [1]. Some manualists practice for as much as 30 years before finally reaching a presentable level of proficiency."

I have been playing for 2 years, but i could produce a sound at 1 week and notes in 2 months. It is not as difficult as the article describes. I am performing for my school now and can confirm my ability readily, in 1/15th the amount of time as the article says it it is possible. i am just waiting for someone to back me up. anyone else disagree with the quoted statement? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ne0pets22 (talk • contribs) 05:59, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

As with any musical instrument or sport, some "prodigies" have a natural ability that allows them to learn much faster than others. However, mastering any art form or sport takes most people much longer than two years. So though it may not have been difficult for you to get started, the documentation and references indicate that in most cases it takes much longer to learn to play a variety of tunes really well. --R. A. Wilson (talk) 22:11, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

can we wait for a collective response here? if the majority of the people agree with either side, then we'll go with the consensus.ne0pets22 (talk) 11:02, 25 March 2009 (UTC)