Klarinet Archive - Posting 000252.txt from 2010/08

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Spit leakage on mouthpiece
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 09:37:13 -0400


Lee Ann Hansen wrote,
>In the case of tendinitis, your instruments are too big for your hands.
>The next time you're going to change horns, find something that has a
>smaller reach. LeBlanc for clarinets fits better with small hands.>

I have very small hands and agree that an instrument that's too big causes
trouble, but my experience with which instruments are too big has been just
the opposite: the Leblanc clarinets stretch my hands the most. I'm much
more comfortable with Buffet and Selmer models. In fact, when I tried a
friend's Leblanc "paperclip" E-flat contra-alto, I needed such an
uncomfortable stretch to reach the pinkie keys that it seemed to me I'd have
tendon problems quickly if I tried to spend any amount of time practicing on
that model. I ended up with a Bundy 1440 contra-alto instead.

(Specifics: The measurement from the crease where my palm meets my wrist to
the tip of my middle finger is 5-5/8". I've barely got an octave on piano
and it's a stretched octave, not a "tennis ball" octave. I support my bass
sax with a stand and don't use the thumb rest at all, because to reach
everything in the right hand, I have to move my entire right hand around
front to the key stack. I can reach the bass sax octave key and the
left-hand pinkie keys at the same time, up there where the body of the sax
is narrower, but even that takes a big stretch.)

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

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