Top 25
Stephen Shastay
How can you conquer those annoying "trouble" words or awkward strokes?
Create a short drill that contains the exact strokes that you need to practice.
It's not hard to create, and the benefits are wonderful.
Figure #1
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
Setup
1. Select any 25 words, briefs, and/or phrases that you need to work on.
2. Open Word. If you use a comparable program, adjust the instructions as needed.
a. Click Table.
b. Choose Insert.
c. Click Table.
d. Set the number of rows at five.
e. Set the number of columns at five.
f. Click Okay.
g. Your Word file now has a table that is five boxes down and five boxes across. It should look similar to the above table labeled Figure #1, but it will not have numbers in it.
3. Insert one word into the first box.
4. Click Tab to move to the next box.
a. Clicking Tab will move your cursor from box to box. When you reach the end of the line, clicking Tab will move you to the first box of the next line.
5. Insert the rest of your words.
Drilling
Move smoothly from word to word. Obviously, since you chose these words, they give you a little trouble. Don’t worry about the speed. Work on the hesitation between each word.
As a bonus, when you become comfortable with these words, you will become more proficient with any words with similar fingering patterns.
Please do not drill continuously in the same pattern. There is a definite rhythm to any set of words. It is important that you vary that rhythm by varying the pattern. It will increase your memory and manual dexterity. Same words. Different patterns. Better results. Cool.
Here are a few ideas.
1. Normal
a. Drill the first line from left to right. Go to the next line and drill from left to right. Continue with the other lines.
2. Backwards
a. Start with the bottom line and drill from right to left. Go to the next line and drill from right to left. Continue with the other lines.
3. Top to Bottom
a. Start with the top left word and drill the first column from top to bottom, then the second, and so on.
4. Bottom to top
a. Start with the bottom right word and drill upwards. Then go to the next column and drill upwards. Continue through the drill.
5. Snake
a. Drill the top row from left to right. Drill the next row from right to left. Drill the third row from left to right. Continue in this way through the drill.
6. Backwards Snake
a. Drill the top row from right to left. Drill the next row from left to right. Drill the third row from right to left. Continue through the drill.
7. Reverse Snake
a. Drill the bottom row from right to left. Drill the next row from left to right. Drill the third row from right to left. Continue in this way through the drill.
8. Backwards Reverse Snake
a. Drill the bottom row from left to right. Drill the next row from right to left. Drill the third row from left to right. Continue in this way through the drill.
9. Double Drill
a. Drill the top row from left to right and then drill from right to left on the same row.
b. Go to the next row and drill from left to right and then right to left.
c. Variations using the table labeled “Figure 1”
i. Drill the top row from left to right and then drill from right to left on the same row. Drill 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
ii. Stroking the word in Box 5 twice may cause hesitation. If it does, try this pattern. Drill 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
10. Reverse Double Drill
a. Drill the bottom row from right to left and then drill from left to right on the same row.
b. Go to the next row and drill from right to left and then from left to right.
c. You can vary the drill the same way as in the Double Drill.
11. Rearrange the words
a. No matter how you try to vary the patterns, there is only so much you can do. Swap the words from box to box. Try the different drill patterns again.
12. Replace the words that you have mastered
a. Eventually, you will want to replace some of the words with new ones. You don’t have to select 25 new ones. Keep the ones that still need work.
13. Use letters instead of words.
a. You can drill on left-hand letters.
b. You can drill on right-hand letters.
c. You can drill on left-hand letters with all of the vowels.
d. You can drill on right-hand letters with all of the vowels.
14. Numbers
a. Instead of words, you can use numbers.
b. You can use words and numbers together.
c. You can use letters and numbers together.
15. Prefixes and suffixes
a. Instead of words, you can use prefixes or suffixes.
b. If drilling on just prefixes or suffixes is too hard, look in your theory book for easy examples that contain those prefixes or suffixes.
