 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2009-05-04 02:12
I did a search on this but didn't find the exact answer to my question. My question is
What causes it
If you have one, is there any way to get rid of it, such as using callous remover medication that people use for their feet?
I have always used a rubber thumb cushion, but I sitll have he typical callous on my right thumb.
Is this just an inevitable part of playing the clarinet?
Leonard
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Author: GBK
Date: 2009-05-04 02:33
A neck strap will take most of the weight off your thumb, letting your callous recede ...GBK
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2009-05-04 02:46
>>A neck strap will take most of the weight off your thumb, letting your callous recede <<
At which point it becomes a race between the hairline and the callus! ![[grin]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie5.gif)
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
Post Edited (2009-05-04 02:47)
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2009-05-04 03:54
GBK is correct, as always. After 30+ years with my horn, 2-years of neck strap has virtually eliminated that tell-tale sign of the clarinetist.
Bob Phillips
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Author: kdolan01
Date: 2009-05-04 07:14
i dunno, i like my callous, it lets me know all my practicing is actually accomplishing something!!
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Author: oliver sudden
Date: 2009-05-04 10:04
I wouldn't remove mine if I could. It's the clarinettist's badge of honour!
(I'd also far rather have the weight on my thumb than on my neck, by the way. I do have a harness for bass but that goes round my shoulders!)
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Author: Avie
Date: 2009-05-04 11:02
I developed a callous but the soreness was what bothered me for years. I tryed a neck strap but it was too restrictive for me. I started using a rubber thumb rest a few years ago and now, no more callous or soreness. ![[hot]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/hot.gif)
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2009-05-04 15:26
If the bump didn't go away, it is probably a bone spur. After 50 years of playing, I have a nice one, which comfortably nestles between the thumb rest and the body of the instrument.
My hand doctor offered to remove it, and I declined.
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Author: skygardener
Date: 2009-05-04 17:50
I used to have a callous when I played sax several years ago, but when I switched to clarinet and started using a Kooiman Meastro it went away.
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2009-05-04 17:56
I don't have one..always used medical tubing for this area.
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2009-05-06 23:34
It's interesting that this is such a your mileage may vary subject.
Where do you buy medical tubing?
Leonard
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Author: hammer_sickle01
Date: 2009-05-07 05:23
the mark of the clarinet player.
ive had mine for 2 years now. Don't get me wrong, it does bother me sometimes (it can look a little unsightly) but at the same time...i'm oddly proud of it. It's nice to know I'm not the only weird one that doesn't mind it at all.
As far as neck strap goes, I prefer to use it as less as possible being that I already double on sax. I'd rather have the callous as opposed to my neck being sore.
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2009-05-08 19:17
I came up with the idea of taking one of those back rubber mouthpiece patches and cutting it to the size of the bottom of the thum rest and puting in on. Seems to give the best of both world--the curve of the thumb rest fits in the indentation in my thumb and the rubber gives cushoning. I'll see how it works over time.
Leonard
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Author: marshall
Date: 2009-05-10 19:11
I like my thumb callous. It almost feels like a status symbol in the clarinet world :p.
When I was meeting clarinetists in the studios over at University of Michigan my senior year of high school, the first thing one of them said to me was "Woah! Nice callous!"
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Author: crazy karlos
Date: 2009-05-13 14:26
There is a solution to this -- if indeed you see it as a problem, which I did. I really try to take care of my hands, so I didn't like having this big bump on my thumb -- incidentally, it's a "callus", the teacher who tells you not to give up your day job is either being honest or being "callous".
I'm a completely self-taught clarinetist, hardly ever even met any other clarinet players, as it happens -- one reason I appreciate this board so much. I found Keith Stein's "The Art of Clarinet Playing" more than 25 years ago, and that was my sole guide until I found this board. I did have one lesson last year, after I bought a bass clarinet, and the teacher said my technique looked fine, so many thanks to Keith Stein, it's a wonderful book.
However, back there on the board, there was a reference to a blog written by someone learning clari from scratch, which has had a huge impact on me. The relevant posting for this thread can be found here:
http://www.braintransfer.org/songblog/2007/06/
This teacher -- variously called Kurt or Kirt -- was apparently an accomplished player, until he met someone who had this particular technique, which impressed him so much that he sent all his students to this guy until he had mastered it for himself. You can follow it for yourself -- great attention to every detail.
However, as for the thumb, "the correct position is with the [thumb] rest on the middle of the thumb nail -- much more difficult!"
The left hand is also unusual -- you hold a piece of paper between your thumb and index finger, to keep your hand in the right position. An added bonus (to which I can testify) is that you get some exercise, and an opportunity to stretch, every time that little piece of paper slips out from between finger and thumb. When you get it right, you get the uncanny feeling the clarinet is actually playing itself -- your fingers hardly move, it's almost like the clarinet is rocking itself in your hands.
I was really impressed by this teacher Kurt's whole approach, so -- since I had never had a proper teacher -- I followed this whole blog, step by step. It is not easy or intuitive, until you get used to it, and now I find it feels quite natural, and I can't think of playing any other way.
It may sound very nifty, putting the thumb rest on the middle of the thumbnail. The thumbnail suddenly makes a whole lot more sense -- what else is it there for, but to support a clarinet? And really, no unsightly calluses (or even callosities).
The big problem is that this gives the weight of the clari maximum leverage on the whole thumb, so just as I was getting used to it, I was hit with terrible thumb pains. And in the blog, the student also suffers from tendonitis, this becomes a real problem. The suggested cure is a strap, which he seems to think is a bit wimpy.
Well -- I'm not scared to be a wimp, and since I play djembe drums and other things on stage, I figured a strap might be a very practical idea. Just as it happens, I went to a wedding of a friend in Tokyo in February, and following this board's excellent advice, on my final day I managed to get to Ishimori, the famous woodwind store, a whole story in itself, and got a strap. (If I get time, I'll write that up sometime, getting that strap was quite an experience.)
For a few days, I really thought I had solved the problem -- the strap doesn't by any means take all the weight off your thumb, but it really helps, and instead of your thumb only supporting weight, you can also push out a little bit with a ball of the thumb, because the strap balances the clari.
So far so good -- until I found myself waking up in the morning feeling as if I had been hit by a bus, aching all over. Couldn't work out what was causing it, until I realised -- it was tension from my neck spreading out across my back, and virtually crippling me.
So I was in despair again, I really thought the strap had solved the problem, and I was very reluctant to abandon it. So the final step was to look REALLY carefully at how I was tensing up while I was playing, and systematically learning to relax my neck and upper body, while keeping my gut as hard as I could. "Kurt" says you should stiffen your gut as if you're about to take a punch in the belly -- on the *in* breath, as much as when you're blowing out.
This turned out to be the real secret.
I had never been to Japan, and was terrified of the etiquette (I was only there for six days). I remember a karate teacher once telling us of visiting Japan, "Don't even try to imitate the bow, you'll just look stupid." So the first people I met, a very kind, very Japanese couple, they bowed and I stuck out my hand to shake. It was a bit of a comedy.
By the time of the wedding, when I met them again, I now was bowing as a reflex (you pick it up really fast), and the Japanese lady now stuck out her hand with a big smile to shake. Another comedy.
However, there was a postscript. My friend who got married then said that the lady really wanted to know the secret of my soft hands. I laughed, and said "Play clarinet -- you learn to look after your hands."
But after a bit of thought, I realised it was a bit deeper than that. If you really are playing from your diaphragm, I find that it is like your entire support comes from your belly. This is actually a very Japanese concept -- someone with dynamism is said there to have a lot of "hara", belly. And so I would say to her now, "Play the clarinet -- it teaches you to live from your hara. And the reason my hands are soft, is because when I pick something up, it's not my hands that are doing the work -- it's my hara."
Sorry, long story, but I really do think I've got this right in the last couple of months. I play at least eight hours a day over the weekends, perhaps three hours in the evenings during the week, and I am not feeling any pain. What was really was hard was learning *once and for all* to relax the neck and shoulders, while tensing the diaphragm.
Sigh, I'm going to give away the punchline of my Ishimori story. There are a whole lot of framed testimonials in his shop from famous players -- I wasn't there long, just half an hour, but Richie Cole was the one name I recognised. "Thank you for making me a better saxophone player", was one comment on the wall.
If I ever get famous (ha ha, I am not giving my day job, don't worry), I'll give Ishimori a testimonial that says, "Thank you, Ishimori-san, for letting me play the clarinet without pain."
-- But as with learning the double-lip technique, as mentioned by someone else on this board, I think the idea (if you actually decide to try this) of playing for three minutes, then resting for three minutes, is perhaps advisable.
I don't feel it's right to be racked with pain by your instrument (although learning double-lip per Keith Stein was excruciating hell for the first month) -- and impressive or not, I would rather not be identified as a clarinetist by the big bump on my thumb.
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