Klarinet Archive - Posting 000051.txt from 2002/02

From: Richard Bush <rbushidioglot@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Stiff Finger joint
Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 13:04:31 -0500

When I read something like this I get mad. Why wasn't this person
properly screened when she started? We shouldn't have very short people
with short parents start trombone---no seventh position, even when they
grow up. We don't put kids with course, shredding lip tissue on flute.
We don't (or shouldn't) put kids with very double jounted conditions of
their thumbs on clarinet.

Were these music teachers sleeping through college, or were their
colleges so inaddiquate that they didn't teach these BASICS to their
music ed students?

JMarioneau@-----.com wrote:

> I recently began working with a private student who has incredibly short pinky fingers. Her pinkies are also very low on her palm. I have never come across this problem to this magnitude. If I position her hand to where her right pinky can reach the keys in a curved position, the rest of her fingers will have the tips (the part just under the nail) going straight into the holes. The only solutions seem to be to have her play with a straight (and locked) pinky or to somehow get some kind of key extension made. I don't think that an extended thumb rest will help either. I am not real sure what to do. In hindsight, maybe she should have started on another instrument in sixth grade, but since she is a 10th grader, she does not want to switch. She does pretty well with the stiff pinkies, but sh could do much better if they were curved. Any suggestions or advice?
> James Marioneaux

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