Klarinet Archive - Posting 000882.txt from 1999/02

From: "B. Keplinger" <bcaslin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] What is a Kooiman thumbrest?
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 06:11:49 -0500

At 07:55 PM 2/23/99 EST, you wrote:
>I get a lot of stiffness in my right thumb which results in sluggishness in
>the right hand...

Don,
Although I do not use the thumbrest you are inquiring about, one of the
clarinetists at Ithaca College does (I believe he is on the list, but I
can't recall his name just now...), and I was able to look at the rest and
hold his clarinet, and indeed, I see the usefulness of such a contraption.
Essentially, it is adjustable in three dimensions, so that one can
experiment and find the position resulting in the least fatigue and
physical damage.
The reason I do not use this rest is that I spent a lot of time
experinting with thumbrest position before I was aware of the Kooiman rest,
and through my experimentation I was able to find a position that worked
for me, and so had my clarinets modified accordingly (I use a bass clarinet
rest (with a piece of pad cut from a cellulose sponge) on both my A and Bb,
and it is shimmed away from the clarinet body by about 3/8", and about 5/8"
or so above the typical factory thumbrest position.).
You can also eliminate a lot of fatigue by praciting with a neck strap or
by resting the bell on your knee (I do neither when performing, one or the
other *always* when practicing).
-Bruce

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