WHO: If you're over 40 years of age, and have been playing the horn a major portion of those years, I'd like some input here.
A COMMON DIALOGUE: First, some common terminology so we can understand each other. Let's leave the thumb out of this for a moment, and look at your finger: Starting closest to the hand, I'm going to label the parts as follows: NOMENCLATURE: K - knuckle (the sharp, bony joint that you'd wish to contact the nose of an assailant) S1 - "segment one" - a ring would slip down and reside on this lowest part of the finger MJ - "middle joint" - a ring has to clear this joint in order to get down to S1 S2 - "segment two" - straight segment between MJ and TJ TJ - "top joint" - little semi-joint just under the fingernail S3 - "segment three" - the top segment; your fingernail is located on this one THE PROBLEM: Now, I'm now half-a-century old (yikes!) and I have large, but not huge, hands. When I hold a regular horn with its regular fingerloop in its regular place, the fingerloop rests on S3 or TJ... right near the TOP of my pinky finger. Ouch! I have arthritis (I forgive you, grandma Crenshaw), and I need to do something about this situation as the finger loop is causing a lot of pain right now. THE CURE?: I'm pretty sure I'd like to move my fingerloop around the bell branch 'til it nestles down at the bottom of S1, VERY close to my knuckle (oops! I meant to say "K"). I'm don't mean to do a public hand-wringing about this simple act, but would like some input from others. I can move the fingerloop myself, but would like to know if I can expect it help as much as I THINK it might. I think it'll make it a pain-in-the-hindquarters to fit the horn into a normal case, but I'll come up with something for that. CURE #2: Over at http://www.hornmouthpiece.com Thomas "Moosewood" Greer has a neat-looking nylon & leather strap (click on "PRODUCTS") for sale. While I would rather walk onstage and just hold the horn up naturally and without gadgets, I can see the day coming... and SOON, where I'll be either using a leather strap or giving up playing altogether. Put that way, the strap starts looking pretty sexy. THE SURVEY SAYS: If you've done ANYTHING to make your horn easier to hold up, I'd like to hear from you. It could be posture, fingerloop moving, different fingerloop, strap, whatever, I'd like to hear what got you to that point, what you've tried, what has worked for you, and how you rate the improvement in your situation. Don't get me wrong, if I had to, I could probably hold up the horn as long as I needed to. But as arthritis creeps in, I can feel that things have changed. As a musician friend of mine says, "Ray, the audience doesn't award hero points for pain," so I'd like to be pro-active here and hold-off Mr. Arthritis--if I can--by being smart. Horns are heavy, and anyone who hopes to play past 50 might ought to pay attention here, even if you don't need anything right now. I hope you never require relief from The Big "A" (no, I don't mean the conductor), but I've been amazed at how this came on me from out of nowhere. Best to you each morning, jrc in SC _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
