Klarinet Archive - Posting 001017.txt from 1998/11

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Flat fingers and tension
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 03:58:29 -0500

(My only thoughts on this one - you may be glad to know...).
Different people have different lengths of fingers and different sizes of
hand. My own fingers are quite long and, in absolute terms, thick.* I
couldn't play with flat fingers even if I thought this *was* a good thing.
Some people may be in a complementary position.
Nobody seems to have mentioned this up to now.
Roger Shilcock
*too thick to play an A flat clar. or a sopranino recorder.

On Wed, 25 Nov 1998 CmdrHerel@-----.com wrote:

> Date: Wed, 25 Nov 1998 11:35:44 EST
> From: CmdrHerel@-----.com
> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Flat fingers and tension
>
> I'd like to point out that to everything there is an exception. So if we
> decide that physically, lightly arced fingers are more ergonomic than flat
> ones, there will ALWAYS be someone from history or present who plays like a
> madman with flat fingers, his teeth on the reed and a slumped back.
>
> So the argument that Joe Flat is truly AMAZING with flat fingers, does not
> support that it's fine to play with flat third fingers.
>
> As a teaching technique, although I would not use it, I do understand how you
> are using the flat third finger to set hand position. I myself use some other
> "bad" habits to teach kids how to move their fingers correctly and to teach
> hand position.
>
> One that I use is to lift the fingers HIGHER than necessary in order to get
> them to lift correctly (from the back knuckle and not the middle). Without
> exaggerated motion, we can't always tell if it's moving the right way.
> Reducing the height of the motion later on after the finger's moving correctly
> has always been easy.
>
> In lines with the "flat third finger" I do sometimes have students keep a
> pinky lightly on the low E keys during some exercises to help hold the hand
> position in place. Not for long, though, as a student can pick up the habit
> of anchoring the pinky on that key and using it as a pivot point for hand
> motion.
>
> But teaching a flat finger to arc later on *can* be very difficult.
> Especially the weak ones: Ring and pinky. The little "things" that hold the
> arc are very weak in those fingers and encouraging a flat finger will not let
> them get stronger. (I myself spent six months on one dang pinky that I could
> not get to arc and I won't even TELL you how I solved it! )
>
> My reason for arced fingers? When you hold your hand loosly at your side,
> your fingers arc. They don't flatten out. In order to flatten them, you have
> to tense them. And I avoid ANY and ALL extra tension in the hands no matter
> how minuscule. Some tensions can't be avoided, but flattened fingers
> certainly can.
>
> Remember, just because some can play beautifully with no tension or problem
> with flat fingers, does not support that this is a valid technique. As a
> surivivor of hand problems, I am a supporter of using the safest, least tense
> methods of hand motion for all my students. I feel there are much better ways
> to teach hand position than with flattened third fingers.
>
> Teri Herel.
>
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