Klarinet Archive - Posting 000730.txt from 2001/06

From: "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] A Thought on the Right Hand
Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2001 08:27:33 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Neil Leupold" <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subject: Re: [kl] A Thought on the Right Hand

> --- "Dee D. Hays" <deehays@-----.net> wrote:
>
> Yes, of course. That explains why thousands of players around the world
> have played their entire lives, decades on end, without debilitating
effects
> from using their thumb -- not even severe discomfort -- for many years
before
> neck straps, Kooimans, or any other modern remedial devices were invented.
> The thumb is a completely inferior means of support, destined to require
> some form of augmented aid before long. The numbers of clarinet players
> who use these forms of aid have been, continue to be, and probably will
> remain in the underwhelming minority for the length of time that the
> clarinet continues to be played by human beings.
>
> Neil

The fact that the majority of players are able to get by without does not
change the fact that the thumb is not and never was intended to be a weight
bearing structure. That doesn't mean that all are destined to have problems
but that those who do have a problem need to address it and should not be
made to feel that they are substandard because they cannot support the
instrument without strain. That the standard clarinet happens to be just
light enough that the majority of players don't need to use additional
support does not change the essential nature of the thumb. The thumb is
intended to allow us to grasp and handle objects so that we can manipulate
objects.

We will never know how many players quit the clarinet in the past due to
problems. This information was never recorded and there is no way to find
out. I knew several players in college who had to quit due to problems.

Unless you have taken structural engineering classes, you are not qualified
to comment on whether the thumb is a proper support structure for this
usage. Human beings have a long history in all areas of using things in
ways they were never intended and they often get by with only that
"underwhelming minority" ever having problems. That doesn't mean such usage
is correct.

Dee Hays
Michigan

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