Klarinet Archive - Posting 000136.txt from 1995/04

From: "<Laura Avery>" <lapod@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: tendonitis
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 15:35:36 -0400

You wrote:

>I don't have many problems with tendonitis, but once upon a
>time I did. Right now, my problems have to deal with things like
tension in
>my playing (particularly in my left hand). I have to be careful,
because my
>wrists are weak as I have broken both of them in various accidents.
My
>question is: does anybody have any ideas on how I can stop grasping
the
>instrument so much. When I play, I hold on so tight that the holes
leave
>marks on my fingers. I don't have anywhere near as large of a problem
with
>my right hand.

>Ben Maas
>bmas@-----.edu

Ben,

I also have a problem with grasping the horn while playing.
Something that has been helping me in the past couple of weeks is
thinking about the wind blowing your fingers off the clarinet. It is
true that we play a wind instrument...the fingers don't play the
clarinet. Another thing is to allow more of the air to do the work
rather than the fingers. You could also think of a couple of analogies
such as thinking the clarinet is a piece of clay and if you squeeze to
hard, it's going to lose its shape. I will say that the quicker you can
stop holding on so tight the better. Take it from experience, it will
only get worse the longer you continue to grasp the clarinet like it's
going to run away.

I hope these help!

Laura Avery
Graduate Student, University of Michigan
Lapod@-----.edu