I had a rough week last week in regards to practice, but I’m back. I’m bobbling through a few of the transitions right now in this piece due to my hands. I have a couple of issues:
1) My hands hurt quite a bit due to the cold and due to my chronic illness. So they’re not as nimble as they once were.
2) I have my family’s “essential tremor” that we’ve never gotten a definitive answer on, (though grandma was given a quasi parkinson’s diagnosis) and when my hands hurt and get tired, they shake.
Both of these make some of these quick transitions pretty difficult. But I am continuing the play and work on them. They do, however, make me afraid of recording a video and sharing it with people. But also, since I believe in authenticity and being real, I will probably still do so anyway. I’ll also keep working on this piece and hope to make it better before I do.
I’m not sure right now what answers I might have about working with sore hands and/or a tremor. I probably should dive back into some clarinet groups and see if there are any answers or ideas for building hand strength and dealing with the pain. (Tylenol/Advil don’t cut it.) As always, I’ll keep you posted and I’ll keep playing.
Hi, my name is Mary Caelsto, and I’m addicted to reeds. I love trying new brands, even those cheap Chinese knock-off reeds, and of course collecting accessories for my clarinet (collection). If what I’m doing here speaks to you and you’d like to support it, I’ve curated an Amazon wish list of things that would be helpful to my journey. Feel free to browse.
