Klarinet Archive - Posting 000634.txt from 2000/05

From: Mark Thiel <thielm@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] an interesting article
Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 09:32:50 -0400

Diane Karius wrote:
. . .

> The study looked at the ratio between the length of the second
>and fourth fingers in musicians from "a British symphony orchestra".
>a low ratio indicates that the fourth finger is longer than the
>second finger, 1 indicates that they are the same length. The ratio
>between these two fingers is apparently set in utero by exposure to
>testosterone (at least in part) - the more testosterone there is,
>the lower the ratio between those two fingers. Their hypothesis was
>that prenatal testosterone exposure may "facilitate musical ability".

>
> They found that the male musicians of the orchestra did in fact

> have a lower ratio between those two fingers than the average male
. . .

It would be interesting to hear how they measure this too. It
seems to me if you hold your hand up flat, you can move all
your fingers side to side and make whichever digit (index
or ring) you want appear longer.

It strikes me as one of those obscure measurements of physical
characteristics that is probably utter nonsense, but at the same
time we all of course want to run off and check ourselves
out in private (Am I really straight?? Am I really a musician or
should I be playing drums??, etc.)

I know personally that if my PINKIE to other finger ratio
were a little higher I would have an easier time reaching the
dozen pinkie keys on my bass clarinet; but then probably
people with eefer-sized hands that insist on playing bass
are just doing so in denial of their sexual/machismo
inadequacies.

OK everybody, time to turn on your
pop physiology/pop psychology filters!

Mark Thiel

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