Klarinet Archive - Posting 000270.txt from 1996/09

From: niethamer@-----.EDU
Subj: Re: Slings
Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 23:37:04 -0400

> On Wed, 4 Sep 1996, Serge Gariepy wrote:
>
> > I've noticed a lot of tension in my right thumb also. What was it
> > that you used to hold the sax strap in place? Usually in band, I set
> > my clarinet on my knee for support, because of my right thumb hurting
> > me after two hours of practise. Any advise would be appreciated!!

On Wed, 4 Sep 1996, Neil Leupold wrote:
>
> I've noticed a number of people indicating that they rest the clarinet
> bell on their knee or knees when playing, in order to alleviate tension
> in their hands (or thumb). This stop-gap remedy would seem to have the
> effect of placing the clarinet at a high angle relative to the player's
> body, almost to the point of a Pete Fountain imitation, unless the person
> is compensating by moving their head back. This technique, compensated
> or not (and the "compensation" could create serious problems of its own),
> is not recommended and might do more harm than good in the long run.

A PT I visited urged me to *not* rest the bell on my knees. In my
instance, resting the bell in that way caused me to "round over" my
shoulders, and thus put extra stretch on the shoulder/arm/hand muscles
that were already overstretched and painful. Unless your torso and arm
length perfectly match the length of the clarinet, resting the bell on
your knees will cause this problem. The PT gave me an exercise
to aid in good posture and help my arm support of the clarinet -
*situps*!!

> The neck straps which people have been talking about are made
> specifically for the clarinet and are not modified saxophone straps. The
> principal of supporting the instrument is similar, but the manner in
> which the strap attaches to the clarinet is handled differently, given
> that there is not a hook - only the thumbrest. I _have_ seen a few
> people who actually soldered a hook onto the edge of the thumbrest in
> order to enable use of a conventional sax strap, but typically the
> clarinet-specific straps are configured in one of two ways: 1) there is a
> slit of some kind which enables fastening directly onto the thumbrest
> without any additions or modifications to the instrument; or 2) an
> attachment is fastened around the top ring of the lower joint, which has a
> protrusion of some kind for attaching the strap (this is the
> configuration of the BG strap). Neckstraps of both types are available
> from all of the major warehouse shops like Woodwind/Brasswind, Weiner,
> and even Muncy (he has the BG strap for sure, since that's where Ricardo
> Morales obtained his).

I'd also be wary of how neck straps work for you - If the pad resting on
the neck is too thin, the weight of the clarinet on the neck and shoulder
muscles could just move the problems elsewhere.

David Niethamer