Klarinet Archive - Posting 000493.txt from 1998/07

From: glsk622@-----.com (Gary L Smith)
Subj: [kl] Hand Position
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1998 22:44:32 -0400

On Thu, 16 Jul 1998 10:22:12 EDT <CmdrHerel@-----.com> writes:

>As they move on and start playing more notes, I move to positioning
>the hands.

I've read this with great interest - it looks like you've given a lot of
thought to hand position, and this is an area where I sometimes have
trouble teaching beginners. Many students are fairly persistent in
playing with their fingers pointing somewhat down. IOW, their back
knuckles are higher (vertically) than their fingertips. It creates two
problems right off the bat: it causes their right index finger to crowd
(and sometimes open) the trill keys, and it effectively shortens their
reach to the RH joint keys which are operated by the 5th fingers. Then,
of course, they start rotating their wrists to reach those keys, which
creates all kinds of problems...

The question is - how do you communicate this to students? I have some
who seem to understand what I'm asking for, and the problem goes away.
Others watch me demonstrate the proper position, watch my hands on my
clarinet, watch themselves in the mirror, then go right back to a bad
position every time.

Are there some better ways of demonstrating it or getting the point
across that I'm missing?

Gary

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