 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-09 23:37
Hi,
I wondered if I could tell you about a really interesting thing that I just found?
I was reading a long covid forum to learn how to fix myself up, and I learned about this gadget called the Sensate 2.
https://twinperspectives.co.uk/review-of-sensate-2-does-it-help-anxiety-attacks/
It effectively plays a 20Hz to 140Hz buzzing noise directly through the breastbone to calm the vagus nerve and activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms a person right down.
I'm not sure if you've come across the vagus nerve but it's the one that connects the brain to the stomach and means that our digestion can tie itself in reef knots when we're stressed. This is a problem that I get a lot. I especially noticed it after the building work that we just had here.
I realised that this healing by sound must be the phenomenon that I notice when I go to see the orchestra here and there is a bass clarinet solo.
I always noticed that the vibrations of the deep sound seem to go through my back and relax my interior in a very nice way. That must be the sound speaking to my vagus nerve.
Discussion of the vagus nerve is really big in self-care discussions on the internet just now, and I think the music community could tap into that, if you wanted to.
I think people could really enjoy being treated for anxiety and long covid by listening to bass clarinet music.
I looked up and 20Hz to 140Hz is E0 to C#3
https://pages.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.html
That's pretty magic isn't it? I just wanted to pass it on, in case any of the professionals would like to tap into that.
Jennifer
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Author: Gerwin
Date: 2023-03-10 00:07
“Does the Sensate 2 work?
According to the Sensate team, this device and the powerfully relaxing state it brings about absolutely works;“
Very convincing evidence!
If you buy one, and it doesn’t work, I have a small supply of snake oil I can send to you.
In any case: just start playing bass clarinet and inform us of your progress. Much more interesting than quackery.
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 00:11
Hi Gerwin,
"Just start playing bass clarinet" was exactly my thought. :-)
I've tried it and it definitely works.
Jennifer
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 00:18
The science also shows that deep breathing "tones" the vagus nerve, so actually playing the bass clarinet would be ideal.
Sadly, it seems to be impossible to rent one.
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Author: ruben
Date: 2023-03-10 00:53
Humming also seems to work: why not the Tibetan "ohm" sound?
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: kilo
Date: 2023-03-10 01:20
That's interesting! I noticed that when I first started playing bass clarinet I felt this relaxing resonance that seemed to travel right down my esophagus and lodge deep in my core. However, this sensation faded over time – I must have worn out my vagus!
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 01:22
That does work for some people yes. Apparently also "cold water swimming". <shudder>
I think I'd prefer the bass clarinet though.
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 01:36
Hi Kilo,
I noticed it early on too, when I started playing the deepest notes on the Bb clarinet, and loved it. That's why I decided to learn the instrument.
I haven't been finding it so relaxing recently, and I realise now that the further on I go through the grades, the higher up the notes go and the faster the music is. Now that I'm approaching altissimo and playing like the clappers, it's not at all the same as just noodling around with long notes in the low chalumeau.
I think I need a rethink about exactly what I actually play on my Bb.
At the beginning I did try an actual bass clarinet, and it was wondefully therapeutic, but after 5 years financing a Bb clarinet habit, I look at the Bass clarinet price tag through very different eyes.
Jen
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Author: Gerwin
Date: 2023-03-10 01:42
It’s bad enough that you try to make money out of other people’s ignorance, but please don’t abuse the word “science” for this. It’s not.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2023-03-10 02:26
The vagus nerve is no joke. I recall in a brain biology class we were told that manual stimulation can RAPIDLY bring down your heart rate, with the cautionary note that you can go too far and shut off your heart.........so be careful.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: Djudy
Date: 2023-03-10 13:01
Perhaps this is why I find playing the alto is such a "zen" experience for me ? It doesn't go as low as a bass but is much lower and mellow than my other instruments and is my favorite for just enjoying noodling around with jazz standards. Covid has done a lot of damage, personally and to the music community, and the alto has been one of the few good things that has found its way into my life from that period (which I hope is now in the past !!).
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 13:15
Hi Djudy,
That does sound like the same thing. I'm really glad that you are enjoying it.
I love the idea that music could be the thing to help us all recover, after all this time where there has been no music because of social distancing.
I found this man on youtube today and his music is doing me no end of good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGMuF_Xsaas
It's a shame that it's not possible to rent bass clarinets in the UK.
The English National Opera were given government funding to run a wonderful course for long covid people, where the the opera singers taught deep breathing and singing exercises.
It would be brilliant if the clarinet community could also be given funding to help people through bass clarinet playing. So much pleasure, and no side effects. :-)
Mind you, I imaging it's probably quite hard work playing a bass clarinet so it might not work out too well for people with chonic fatigue. Maybe listening to youtube is the best way to start.
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Author: ebonite
Date: 2023-03-10 13:30
Hi SunnyDaze,
Re: renting bass clarinets, have you tried Howarths? I think they used to rent out rare instruments like basset horns and bass oboes, so it's possible that they also rent out bass clarinets
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 13:37
Hi Ebonite,
Thanks, that's a good thought.
I just looked online, and they do, but it's £150 a week.
I'm enjoying my man on youtube very much though. :-)
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-10 13:44
New joke for the post-covid era
-----------------------------------
A musician walks into a doctor's surgery.
Man: "Doctor, I feel terrible, I have long covid and I just can't seem to sort it out."
Doctor (looking grave): "I'm sorry to tell you, but you're going to need a bigger clarinet."
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-03-11 00:18
My wife plays bass clarinet and tends to practice for about an hour a day .
Listening to someone practicing on a musical instrument with the inevitable mistakes and repetitions can be grating on the nerves, but the rich mellow tones of the bass clarinet I always find pleasant . I think ' centering ' would be my best description . Playing definitly has a strong calming/ relaxing effect on my wife who is a working woman and very busy mother of our three children . I already see her bass as a sort of magic staff of domestic wellbeing ,so I'm not surprised if indeed it produces frequencies with calming / metabolism lowering effects on our bodies.
Hopefully health and safety regulators won't end up insisting that all bass players are fitted with pacemakers .
Or bass clarinets with built in defibrillators . Ha-ha !
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-11 00:33
Hi Julian,
That's really interesting to hear you say that, and I love the phrase "magic staff of domestic wellbeing". That's what my Bb clarinet is too.
I'm in the sandwich generation (teen child and elderly parents). A few years ago when I tried a bass clarinet I had a strong feeling that I would be needing one at some point, when the sandwich generaton thing got really tricky. Maybe I'd better start saving.
Jennifer
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-03-11 10:44
Maybe we can get the public health system to subsidize the cost of getting a bass clarinet ?
" Well Doctor !..... This time I was rather wondering if you could give me a prescription for the Selmer Privilage instead of the Diazepam ?". Ha-ha !
( Ah !....the things we'd like to see ) .
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-11 12:15
Hi Julian,
I think it might actually be a good use of some of the long covid recovery money. Given how tight funding it for music just now, if I was a professional bass clarinetist, I think I would be tempted to make a pitch to NHS England, with a plan to do something similar to the ENO Breathe programme.
I have written to the Country Health funding board to ask what they think. Probably a forlorn hope, in the week before the entire Junior Doctor population of the UK is about to go on strike because of funding shortages.
Jennifer
Adult learner, Grade 3
Equipment: Yamaha Custom CX Bb, Fobes 10K CF mp,
Legere Bb clarinet European Cut #2.5, Vandoren Optimum German Lig.
Post Edited (2023-03-11 12:44)
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-03-11 13:22
In the meantime, I wonder if it would be possible to write something for the Bb clarinet that uses loads of really cosy low notes to relax people?
I've noticed that it is only the grade 1 tunes that have lots of nice low notes, but it seems a shame that the harder pieces don't use those notes so much, because they sound so nice.
Maybe I will try to do that.
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-03-11 22:27
Hi Jennifer.
Indeed !
The world of conventional medicine tends to look down on alternative medicine ideas , although they have come to accept that placebos can be very effective , so that's basically to take a position that something that's known to be nothing works , but something that's actually something is unlikely to . Modern medicine is supposed to be scientific , and science is not about believing or disbelieving in something , it's about taking the trouble to investigate and establish the facts .
It sounds like this Vagus nerve business has already received some study , so if your ideas are based on the results of those studies then they should be regarded as being of potential value .
Well I believe you could be onto a good thing and I love the idea of it .
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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