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RE: insanity

Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-03-12 04:04

A kind of thought experiment can be done:

1)Do you think your left hand problem is caused by your arm positions? For example you have to open your arms too wide(if you are physically small) or too narrow(if you are physically big). I was told by my teacher when I was young to set the both cantilevers of upper/lower joints matched exactly with each other. I was small and had to wide open my arms to do this. Therefore, after considering my own difficulty, I rotated the upper joint counterclockwise(looking from me) several degrees to let my arms closer to my body. After a few decades I found that this is a proper way when I talked with a repairman. One thing to note is that I needed a very slight adjustment between the upper/lower joints keys interlocking work by a good repairman.

2)If you use your fingers very 'little', i.e. try to move only the part beyond the first joint, your hands may become stiffened and cause hand problems. Many clarinetists use fingers this way because they think this can make finger movements faster. I thought so too for long time. But there are teachers who teach their students to use their fingers 'big' i.e. try to move all part of fingers nearly including palms.
Several examples of using fingers big can be easily found such as pictures of Reginald Kell or Benny Goodman.
Another teacher says it should be taken into account that each finger has a different mass and inertia and it is ridiculous to set all fingers tips at the same distance from the key hole.
It may be worth trial.

Lest you should have the same problem after you re-start practice,
you may better consider a countermeasure. If you can consult with phyisical therapist, it would be nice.

IMHO.

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