Klarinet Archive - Posting 000139.txt from 1995/04

From: Dawn Anthes <danthes@-----.EDU>
Subj: Bscl & A different tendonitis
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 19:35:51 -0400

Bill I have the same problem! The cause of my problem is definitely
posture. I have a very bad habit of tensing up my shouders, particularly
the right one when I play. What has helped me is to first of all be
constantly aware of my posture, bad habits take a lot of serious
monitoring before they change. One thing that I believe was agravating my
problem was my bass clarinet playing position. I play on a nice heavy
Selmer low C with a peg and neckstrap. I kept the bass at an angle so the
mouthpiece position would be more like that of a clarinet. This
unfortunately reulted in the instrument hanging off of my neck, Ouch! I'm
currently experimenting with a more vertical bass clarinet position. With
my clarinet playing I'm using a neckstrap now (I also have some wrist and
lower arm problems) which helps greatly. I reccomend going to a
chiropracter. Mine is doing wonderfull things for my back and shoulder.

Dawn M. Anthes email:danthes@-----.edu
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* Bass Clarinetist *
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On Sun, 9 Apr 1995, Bill Tomczak wrote:

> I've been particularly interested in the tendonitis issue but my problem is
> slightly different. I've never had any trouble with my wrist, but my right
> shoulder and upper arm will start giving me pain after a particularly hard
> weekend of playing. Stretching excercises help as well as a massage
> therapist on one particularly bad week. Has anybody else had this problem?