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Re: Thumb position

Author: seabreeze
Date: 2020-12-30 18:08

If you can get this link to work, it shows some pretty realistic thumb positioning, especially in thought #4, "efficient thumb use."

https://www.clarinet-now.com/clarinet-left-hand-position.html

The positions of your own thumb in the photos you sent look forced and abstracted from the job the appendage has to do. It has to move from closing the throat F tone hole to opening the register key so it 1) does not occupy a fixed, rigid position; 2) rather, it assumes a range of positions depending what it is doing at the time, and it must therefore be capable of fluid and gentle but also firm and accurate TOUCH and MOTION. You need to map out what the entire range of motion looks like as the thumb flexes and bends. Don't fixate on a single "ideal" position, because that would be static and unproductive. In classical physics, you can't calculate the trajectory of a projectile just by taking a snapshot of it at one single point. You need more information to get the entire curve. With the thumb you have a back and forward curve; the thumb is going to and fro like a (curved but) swinging pendulum. But unlike the pendulum, its also closing a hole-ring mechanism and depressing a key.

The real question is how to get the thumb to wiggle just enough to do the job. As the lyric in the old rock tune goes, "there's a whole lot of shaking going on." But what kind of shaking? The answer can come only by trial and error as you finger passages across the break and from one register to another. Never mind how the thumb looks; the relevant information is in how the result sounds and how it feels to your hand. If it sounds even and smooth and the hand is unstressed, then you are probably doing the thing right. Photos can add interesting and possibly useful information but the main information comes from the auditory and haptic senses (ear and feel).

Michelle Anderson has a Youtube video on thumb movement (from 5:31 on) in which her thumb movement looks and sounds reasonable (at least for the conformation of her left hand) and might be of some help. The video is called
"Michelle Anderson Clarinet Lesson Faster Fingering Crossing the Break More Easily--Left Thumb Position." Some of the best etudes for establishing the left thumb range of movement are found in Eric Mandat's clarinet practice book "Finger Food" (available from Van Cott and Groth Music).

Post Edited (2020-12-30 19:49)

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Thumb position new

SunnyDaze

2020-12-30 15:30