Klarinet Archive - Posting 000023.txt from 1997/01

From: Roger Shilcock
Subj: Slight jaw pain when playing in altissimo register... (fwd)
Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 00:58:15 -0500

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 1996 15:14:34 EST
From: FROM ME MAN <musicandkeyclub%JUNO.COM@-----.UK>
Subject: Slight jaw pain when playing in altissimo register...

At 01:23 PM 12/29/96 EST, you wrote:
>Lately, when I have been practicing I have felt slight jaw pain just
>above and behind the right and left temples when I sometimes play in the
>3rd 8va. I know that I'm not pinching...I'm always keeping the jaw
down.
>
>Does anyone know why this may be occuring or has anyone experienced this
>before? Could it just be that I'm "overdoing" keeping the jaw down?

You've probably figured it out for yourself. The most likely cause of
what
you're describing is tension, which certainly can come from "overdoing"
pulling your jaw down (or away from the reed) or forcing it too
conscientiously in any direction it doesn't want to go.

---Yeah, it hasn't been bothering me because I'm not really thinking
about it much...

The cure, if this is the cause, is to find a more natural, relaxed way
to form an embouchre.
You need resonance, which can be damped as much by stiffness and tension
as
by too little space inside your mouth.
Of course, there could be other explanations (I don't know much about
TMJ,
but it seems to me that you would have other non-clarinet-related
symptoms), so probably a consultation with your doctor would be in order.

----It only bothered me for a couple days...nothing lately....I think I
was thinking about it too much...

Thanks,

Kenneth Chin
New York Youth Symphony
Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division
http://www.geocities.com/South Beach/7413 (<--Check it out!)

Dear Kenneth C:
Are you sure your sinuses are O.K.? Playing with sinus trouble can be
hell, both because of pain and because you seem to be playing with no
resonance at all. (This impression may be correct ...)
Roger Shilcock