Whole picking and half picking. Tremolo e staccato

Let's face it. Talking about 'half-picking' and ‘whole picking’ will give you, at a minimum, alarmed reactions of astonishment. The question will come in a second, how can even exist a pick in half.

But in the mandolin whole and half picking do exist and their definition is common to the vast majority of the classical methods for mandolin.

In particular, the whole picking is the movement by which the pick hits the strings TWICE, one down (from SOL to MI – from G to E) and up (from MI to SOL – from E to G).

The half picking is the movement with which the pick hitting the strings ONCE, up OR down.

When a note is played with 4 whole picking the strings will then hit 8 times, four down and four up.

Munier in the method assigned at the beginning, a 'correct' number of whole picking for different note values ​​ranging from 8 whole picking for the whole note, which is worth 4/4, up to 2 for the quarter note, which is worth ¼.

To this definition I would also add 1 whole picking  for the chroma, which is 1/8, cause that definition is then given (for the initial phase of the staccato study) and used in the text.

The use of whole picking in the precise measurement is used in the development of the tremolo mechanism, the wrist, arm and hand will gradually adapt to this new movement and, once well mastered the movement, you will first increase the speed and then double the number of whole picking per note, bringing to 16 the whole picking for whole note and to 4 whole picking for the quarter note.

In the  ‘staccato’  (an italian word meaning datached) the strings are struck only once, alternating, as a general rule, the strokes down and up. The Munier recommends, however, to start performing the quavers with a whole picking (down and up) and very slowly, and only then starting to run them with a half picking alternating down and up.

I found, personally, the Munier advice, very valid, because the double movement of each note has allowed me to 'have the necessary time' to find the next note while playing the picking up the previous note almost in automatic. After the memorisetion of the first notes on the keyboard I am then able to move with greater agility and playing in quick succession the staccato notes.

The structure of the method will lead to deepen the tremolo and staccato in parallel and will stand then at the sensitivity of each player to understand what is the issue on which to work harder to avoid noticeables 'asymmetries'.