Klarinet Archive - Posting 000074.txt from 1993/12

From: "David L. Shea" <DSHEA@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: shoulder pain
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1993 21:48:17 -0500

The only time I experienced shoulder pain was in my undergraduate years. I
was working on Rimsky-Korsakov excerpts for the first time, need I say more?
Shoulder pain is caused by excess tension in your playing. Stretching can help
but will not cure the source of the problem. Two quick things you might try
are the following: as you play raise and lower your elbows. You should be
able to do this easily and freely. The other and more important is play
a passage by squeezing and gripping. On a scale of 1 to 10, it should be
a 10. Immediately after, play with a squeeze/grip of 0 or 1. Do not practice
the squeezing at the 10 level a lot, just every once and awhile so you can
really feel the relaxed tension of playing with a 1 tension. Try this and see
if it helps.

David L. Shea
Indiana University
dshea@-----.edu