Pivote

The pivote is a technique exercise for Asturian gaita devised by Tever, whose name comes from basketball: just as a player in that sport keeps one foot planted and pivots around it, here a reference note is chosen —the “pivot” note— and systematically alternated against every other note of the scale.

The goal is twofold: to build finger independence and to fix muscle memory for each fingering. The aim is for the gaitero not to have to think which finger goes where; for the hand to know on its own. It’s worked note by note: first the pivot on C —C against D, C against E, C against F, and so on through the whole scale—, then the pivot on D, on E, and so on until the full fingerboard of the punteru is covered.