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EH hand position, thumb rests, pain, etc.

Author: oboi
Date: 2012-01-07 08:40

I am very pleased with my new Fox 500, but the problem is I can't play it for more than a few minutes a day (or at all) without my wrist and thumb joint pain flaring up. Because I expect to do a lot of playing over the new few months (including some EH parts), I'm sort of desperate for a solution ... quick. Mind you, the EH isn't the only issue. My day job is exclusively on the computer, so I am either at my desk typing or working on my laptop on my lap at home. I get flare-ups due to mouse or too much laptop use. It dies down after I reduce usage for a few days. Then, for my oboe playing, I have recurrent RH bottom joint pain every few weeks that lasts a few weeks. Sometimes I end up playing with the bell on my lap.

So now bring in this big kahuna of an EH and I think I am screwed. The first thing I did after trying an EH out (I still am getting used to the whole playing of such an instrument, not just my new EH) was get a FHRED. BOOM, instant improvement. At least I can hold the thing up. However, it's very jiggly because I tend to do hand contorsions (i.e., play), so it twists/tilts. I just realized the tilt is largely affected by my not putting my thumb on the thumb rest....which comes to problem #2. I have tiny child hands. I am only 5ft tall and have the world's shortest pinkies. So in order to actually reach C# and Eb, I have to position my hand lower and stretch. First thought is to buy an adjustable thumb rest. However, even the adjustable thumb rest on my oboe I already overextended it, and looking at where I want to place my thumb on the EH, it's an even bigger span, so I suspect that won't work. Am deciding whether to glue a piece of cork or eraser to the existing rest. Then, I read a thread on this forum that said that one could try holding the horn farther out at an angle rather then close to the body. Actually that feels much better! More weight is put on the LH, which I do not have problems with. That could work! Then I realized no matter what angle I hold the horn, if I put my thumb *anywhere* on the horn, it hurts my joint and wrist. If I leave it hanging in mid-air, it doesn't hurt. Of course, that means I can't control the swaying of the horn at all and I'd probably screw up half of the notes

So I'm sort of wondering what to do or try first. It doesn't help that most of my EH solos are in Ab+, which have the *evil* left Eb, the bane of my existence even on the oboe, and also the horrible RH pinky keys. Without any changes, I will have to restrict EH playing to 5 minute spurts, lest I permanently injure my hand.

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