 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: vitoclarinet
Date: 2006-06-06 23:33
umm i'm pretty sure this topic came up before but i'm just too lazy to search....
Anyways, going back to the topic, i need help with relaxing my fingers. My teacher repeatedly tells me to think of my fingers as "blobs" but you know really it's easier said than done. Is there something i can do to not tense up my fingers when playing? I've tried all the tricks my teacher told me but none of it, so far, has worked.
well thank you in advance for your help
Post Edited (2006-06-07 00:50)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Kchui999
Date: 2006-06-07 00:29
Before any recital or gig that i play, my hands get incredibly cold and stiff as well. My teacher suggested i run them in warm/hot water for a while right before i play, and for me, it works pretty well.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ClariTone
Date: 2006-06-07 03:57
I'd just think of the alternative, rather expensive trip to the repair shop to have my keys re-adjusted from having "mashed" them out of alignment...
Or perphaps, rather you could imagine your clarinet as say a dog's chew toy. Try not to make it to squeak (by not squishing it).
My examples are weird, but thats what works for me!!!
Best of Luck!!!
Clayton
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-06-07 15:27
vitoclarinet -
As you've found, you can't relax just by deciding to do it. You need to learn a relaxed way of playing separately, perfect it and then substitute it for tense playing.
Before you start playing, shake each hand hard twice. Not 3 times. All you want to do is get the blood flowing and focus your attention.
Then do "the sound of one hand clapping." Hold both forearms vertically, thumbs toward you, fingers straight. Flap all your fingers down and back up 20 times -- no more. All you want to do is get the joints fully extended.
Then, play a scale very slowly, reversing your effort. That is, use muscle strength to raise your fingers, but let them drop back down by gravity. This isn't easy at the beginning, because you have to think about things that are normally automatic.
Of course, you can't do this 100%, since you don't hold the clarinet out horizontally, and you need to use a little muscle power to push down keys and rings that are held open by springs. The point is that you can finger the clarinet with much less effort than you're using now.
Practice very slow scales and etudes -- so slow that you can think about each finger movement. Concentrate on using the lightest possible finger movement. Find out how lightly you can press and still have the instrument play. One teacher suggests that you think about moving only the tips of your fingernails. These are so small and light that they move without effort.
Go as slow as you need to. The moment you feel yourself tensing up, stop and begin again slower. Go so slow that you have plenty of time to think about what the next note is, visualize the change, and then do it lightly and perfectly. This gives you the experience of perfection and trains your muscle memory.
You then put the practice passage aside and let it "cook" for three days, so that each perfect change becomes automatic, and part of the way it feels to play the clarinet. Never play the passage so fast that you tense up. This would be like throwing something rotten into the pot just before it simmers. The great oboe player and teacher Fernand Gillet said, "You can destroy in thirty seconds what you have done in thirty minutes."
Going slowly engraves the change into your muscle memory just as effectively as going fast.
It will take at least a week to get the right feeling. Once you do, use it for scales and easy melodic passages, expanding it and going faster only when you can do it perfectly.
Come back in a week and let us know how you're doing.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Dancer
Date: 2006-06-07 16:28
I know this is random but i find that drumming my fingers helps me ( this can make some people tense up) and pressing the fingers together stretching the joints out adn then linking the fingers and squeezing thim together helps then i do movements as if you are gripping something curling the fingers inwards. This helps me but can do the reverse affect. Hope this helps
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: ginny
Date: 2006-06-07 16:34
I have found that my finger tension (yours may be different) is actually in my arms neck and shoulder. Almost like a cringe... I have found it helpful to practice feeling the difference between relaxed and tense during the day, away from the instrument. While driving, typing, walking, doing chores etc.
I also found playing in a dark room just a note or two, very slowly, enables me to focus on the physical sense of being relaxed. I have had some sucess in bringing this relaxed feeling to my playing and it caused a really remarkable break through when I first got it.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: stevesklar
Date: 2006-06-07 17:55
I double Kens recommendation and all the other good ideas.
Do you think the problem is simply being tense or due to more practice needed. or maybe your clarinet is slightly out of adjustment and you need to play heavy handed?
I know practice makes perfect and the more "calm" you are about playing then maybe the less tense you will be.
==========
Stephen Sklar
My YouTube Channel of Clarinet Information
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: pmgoff78
Date: 2006-06-08 21:10
Ginny,
You're dead on. I teach a student with CP and all of his tension issues are founded in his shoudlers. We've screwed around with his seated position, but it is much better. I also have an accomplished student who founds her tension in her shoulders. I've taught whole lessons with her just holding her shoulders in place. That tension from the shoulder goes straight into the arm and then hands and fingers.
Might I suggest a Marching Band attention position...if you're familiar with George Parks then this will sound equally familiar. Heels Together, Toes Apart, Stomach in, Chest out, Shoulders back, Chin Up. This brings your hips in the proper position(in line with your shoulders) and relaxes your shoulders. Try standing like that and then sitting....it works.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-06-09 16:24
There are many sources of tension, and you need to work backward. Tight shoulders communicate tension to your forearms and hands, but as everyone who has tried knows, you can't simply relax your shoulders. This is because they're being cued from somewhere else.
WARNING -- IF YOU'RE EASILY SHOCKED, STOP READING NOW.
The large muscles in the lower abdomen are involved in breathing and also in defecation. This general squeezing is known as the Valsalva Maneuver. Since it involves large muscles, it's slow and is frequently causes tension elsewhere.
One of the most important breathing exercises is to avoid making the Valsalva Maneuver while tonguing. If you "huff" while tonguing, it both slows down the process and produces tension.
SECOND WARNING
Abdominal tension *very* frequently radiates from holding your anal sphincter tight. In women, it also comes from a tightened vaginal sphincter.
Stand up, relax your sphincter(s) and let that relaxation spread into your hips and up your spine to your shoulders and also down your legs to your feet. You'll be surprised at how tight you've been holding yourself.
It's difficult to maintain this relaxation while playing, since you automatically do what you're used to. As with the hand and finger relaxation, you have to learn it separately and go slow.
I have to work on it all the time.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Bruno
Date: 2006-06-09 18:39
Ken Shaw said:
"Going slowly engraves the change into your muscle memory just as effectively as going fast."
This is so true! I think the reason players try to practice a lick, passage, (whatever) fast is because they have the idea that they'll get in more repititions and get past the fingering problem sooner.
Just the opposite! The brain is an "equal opportunity" learner. it will learn a mistake just as happily as it learns anything else (meaning in this case, learning it right). So wailing away speedily on that tough passage and making one mistake - only one! - nullifies the entire effort.
I saw a film about a famous classical guitar player (forget his name), who played the circle of scales before each live concert. I was astonished to see how funereally slow he played them! Needless to emphasize, he didn't make one single mistake.
Incidentally, there's an anecdote about Andres Segovia: some student asked him at a master class, "What's so special about scales?"
Segovia replied, "They will solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS.(emphasis mine)
I have found this to be absolutely true.
B
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-06-09 20:00
Rachmaninoff was one of the greatest technicians ever. He was famous for practicing so slow that a listener couldn't recognize what he was playing.
Post Edited (2006-06-09 20:02)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Phurster
Date: 2006-06-10 05:29
I also agree with Ken's advice but with a slight qualification. Once a passage has been worked up to speed and can be played perfectly THEN there is some benefit in repeating it many times at tempo. The passage can then become more ingrained if you allow your mind to wander whist doing this. There is also some advantage if you can memorise difficult parts.
This should be the end product of the process not the start as Ken and the others have emphasised.
Chris.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: vitoclarinet
Date: 2006-06-24 21:45
thank y'all for all your help... But this just dawned on me--- i think i know the reason now why i have tense fingers all the time... i think it's because of my poor embouchure. i think i'm trying to support my poor embouchure by tensing up my arms, shoulders and fingers... i don't know if that made much sense, but that's what i saw myself doing in the mirror. If it's the embouchure problem, how can i improve? I've always had trouble forming the right embouchure, and i almost always leak air...
Post Edited (2006-06-24 21:46)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
