 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Keith Ferguson
Date: 2013-07-09 23:18
Greetings, fellow clarinetists
I own a grenadilla R13 manufactured in 1998 and, for outdoor work, a Greenline R13 manufactured in 2004/5. I find the right hand keywork on the Greenline is noticeably more cramped and, in particular, I really struggle with the touchpieces for the right hand pinky finger. Often, when playing fast scalic passages, if I have to use the r.h. pinky, my entire right hand slips out of position and notes don't speak.
My questions are: (1) Is it feasible to have the keywork modified to give my right hand more room? (2) If not, which clarinets being manufactured today offer more comfortable/expansive keywork?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Keith
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-07-10 00:52
Go to a physical therapist who specializes in wind instrument players. Something as simple as repositioning the thumb rest may be all it takes.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2013-07-10 03:16
I would also humbly suggest that altering your RH attitude to the clarinet may be a simpler solution. There is a method touted by Elsa Ludwig Verdehr that calls for your thumb to actually point upwards slightly rather than downwards (that is if you draw a line from the base of your thumb to the tip of your thumb). This has several positive affects. Most notably, more of the skeletal system takes on the weight so you should have much less stress to your thumb. The next benefit is that your pinky is much further down, even requiring more curling of the pinky to comfortably manage the RH pinky keys. The only difference to note here is that your thumb rest must come UP on the body of the horn to accommodate this position.
.................Paul Aviles
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Author: Keith Ferguson
Date: 2013-07-10 16:15
Thanks gents for your input. It is all helpful. David, my serial numbers are 45X XXX and 51X XXX, so both were manufactured after the cut-off you mention. However, I'll keep my eyes open for an older horn to see how it feels. Ken and Paul, I agree that it's a good idea for me to focus on the problem being me, not the horn. I have had trouble with r.h. thumb pain in the past (and use a neckstrap) so this may be related.
Thanks again.
Keith Ferguson
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2013-07-10 16:19
Paul -
Elsa is a Martian. She does things mere humans can't imagine.
I agree that rotating my right hand closer to horizontal lets the fingers fall more naturally on the holes and little finger keys. But if I try to do that by pushing my thumb up under the thumb rest (even when it is repositioned upward), the muscles tire immediately. This happened even when I was practicing six hours a day. I quickly had to rest the bell on my right knee (or between my knees). In the Ken Shaw mere mortal world, after about 5 minutes my thumb sags until it is stopped by the limits of muscle stretch and the anatomy of my cartilages and tendons. I have to let it just hang there.
I've even tried laying my right thumb vertically (tip pointing up) and resting the weight of the clarinet entirely on my knee or using a neck strap. Needless to say, it was too distracting. The lack of the thumb rest as a reference point for the rest of my right hand position made my right hand unreliable. I tried a Fhred, but that didn't work either. Steve Fox's belly pad interfered with my breathing. Maybe a floor peg....
Ken Shaw
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Author: Tony F
Date: 2013-07-10 17:08
"The lack of the thumb rest as a reference point for the rest of my right hand position made my right hand unreliable. I tried a Fhred, but that didn't work either. Steve Fox's belly pad interfered with my breathing. Maybe a floor peg....
Ken Shaw"
Ken,
I also suffer from thumb fatigue, in my case a combination of old thumb, osteo-arthritis and old injuries. I've recently started using a Ton Koinan thumb rest, which helps a lot. I tried a Ridenour thumb saddle which also helped, but the Koinan is the best fix I've found yet. I'm considering an improvement on it to transfer the load to the hand rather than the thumb.
Tony F.
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