Simple trick to holding your instrument without pain
So, this question has been coming up a lot lately in my workshops…
How do we hold our instrument without pain?
Short of tying helium balloons to your clarinet, here’s a simple trick to make your instrument feel lighter.
First off, there are two things to note:
Take your thumb and pinky and touch them together. Your thumb begins where the palm starts to bend in. This is why skeletons look like they have such long fingers - your thumb is actually twice as long as it looks!
With greater flexibility comes less stability. We have two lower arm bones - the ulna and the radius. They lie side by side when your palms are up. However, when the palms face down (as in when you are holding a clarinet) the radius rotates around the ulna, making an X. Pair the rotating ulna with your super-movable opposable thumb and you get flexibility. Yay! But when you hold your clarinet with your flexible side, you don’t have as much stability or strength, and the instrument can feel heavy, leading to unwanted strain.
Now for the trick:
With your thinking, transfer the weight from your thumb to the strong side of your arm (the pinky/ulna side). Then follow your arm all the way up and through the scapula so it feels as if your arm is coming out of your back. Finally, still with your thinking, keep following all the way to the bottom of your trapezius muscles (the ones that make a big V down your mid-back). Hold your instrument from here, allowing your whole back, whole arm, whole wrist, whole thumb to take the weight.
Does it feel lighter now? Let me know!
