Klarinet Archive - Posting 000089.txt from 1995/04

From: Pete Temko <ptemko@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Schmidt-sticks etc.
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 1995 16:21:10 -0400

Hi-

Thanks to Jim Sclater for the nostalgia trip - Harry Schmidt was my
teacher off and on for 15 years. I was "intimately" acquainted with his
device - I kept telling him it was solving problems I didn't have, and
that he'd need to invent something else to solve the problems it was
causing. Oh well -

Thought I'd take the opportunity in the discussion about tendonitis to
mention again the simple loop of elastic (we make ours from waist-band
elastic for lady's clothing easily and cheaply had at the fabric store)
hooked to the thumb rest. The support can be varied by the length of the
loop and the thickness of the elastic. There is a rather pleasant springy
effect and no negative side effects that I've noticed - other than the
occasional sore adam's apple area from the device popping loose under
tension. One positive side effect for students re-building an embouchure
is that this seems to make the initial stages easier for them by making
the instrument a bit more secure in the mouth. All this FWIW-

Thanks again-

Pete Temko
Prof. of Music
UT-Chattanooga
(ptemko@-----.edu)
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"There is poetry as soon as we
realize that we possess nothing."

John Cage
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