Klarinet Archive - Posting 000061.txt from 2001/10

From: "webler1" <webler1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Pain in the thumb
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 14:30:18 -0400

Thanks Bill,

There is a significant difference between complaining just to complain and
complaining because there is a real problem. Most young players will try to
find every crutch they can rather than do what is necessary to strengthen
what needs to strenghtened. We have to be careful that we don't encourage
laziness by giving into every little whine. I have not had one student that
did not learn to use their thumb properly end up with some kind of injury.
What I have had, is the great displeasure of trying to retrain a student who
has used his/her right index finger for a crutch, while cramping up the
fingers, because they never took the time or trouble to strenghten the
thumb. I have also had to take as much as 6 to 9 months to get a student to
learn to relax their fingers from a virtual death grip, which is no more
healthy than ignoring a real physical problem in the the thumb.

Jay Webler
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Wright" <Bilwright@-----.net>
Subject: RE: [kl] Pain in the thumb

> <><> With all due respect, I think I'll have to disagree with this
> [ignoring painful thumb]
>
>
>
> So will I.
>
> But Jay has played and dealt with students for some time now, and I
> doubt that he meant his post to say what it appears to have said. It's
> OK to tell a child "Don't make a big thing of it" when you're removing a
> splinter or applying iodine to a scrape, but pain should not be blindly
> ignored --- especially when it is persistent or there's no obvious
> external injury.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>
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>
>

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