When I play a D chanter, no problem. When I play a B chanter, which is relatively new to me, I get a cramp in the lower (right) hand, in the muscle that is between the little finger and the wrist - where I imagine the impact of a karate chop would go, on the side of the hand.
Is this a “play it more and the muscle will get used to it and not hurt any more” kind of thing or a “don’t play with that pain as it will cause damage” sort of thing? I know that I do not tense up my hands when I play, at least not that newbie white knuckle clench that I see frequently. I think my hands are pretty loose.
Other than playing more, any advice on getting over this more quickly, like exercises for that muscle?
Thanks in advance for your advice and I promise not to sue you as a result of taking your advice (well, unless your advice is to sell you the chanter!)
It may be a matter of what size your hands are. Some people with smaller hands find they can’t manage the longer chanters comfortably. Some makers move the tone holes closer together than others to compensate for this, but others find this messes with the tuning or tone, so you can’t please everyone. It definitely takes time to get used to the longer chanter, whatever the case.
Experiment with other hand positions. Don’t expect it to be the same as playing a D chanter, whatever your situation may be. Stop often to stretch and relax until you get used to it.
If it’s any consolation, once I got used to playing my B chanter in a new hand position, I found my playing on the D chanter had improved quite a bit.
John
I have small hands but I have no problems with the B chanter.Methinks that rather than risk permanent damage a visit to the local medicine man might be in order to check it oot.Then when your mind has been put at ease perhaps gentle practice thereafter.Ye don’t mention how long a period ye are playing afore the pain starts? this may have some bearing but let the shaman have a look see 1st is my advice.
Slán Go Foill
Uilliam
The pain is not huge but it is there and develops within 15 minutes of starting. Sort of an ache. I will go see some med dude. Maybe it is caused by my right hand being curled up during most musical time, playing mandolin! Thanks for the input.
By the way, since I got a PM on it, no that is not me in my avatar - that is my 4 year old son, playing uke and singing R Crumb tunes at top voice (with slight point deductions for in-tuneness or lack there of!)
It may be a matter of what size your hands are. Some people with smaller hands find they can’t manage the longer chanters comfortably. Some makers move the tone holes closer together than others to compensate for this, but others find this messes with the tuning or tone, so you can’t please everyone. It definitely takes time to get used to the longer chanter, whatever the case.
Some people have issues with thier smaller hand size, and they drive large cars to compensate for it. But in Mr. Liestman’s case I don’t think it is true. He drives a Mini Cooper and his hands are a little larger than normal, if anything…but he somehow still manages to play dainty tunes those diminutive NUSP chanters like a real man.
…whatever you do…DO NOT play through the pain. though you’re practicing/playing, it has ZERO relationship to the logic used in weight training/endurance training/running etc. if you do play through the pain, you’ll end up injured!
concentrate on relaxation and at the slightest moment of tensing, stop for a moment and shake your hand/s out. play in short increments of time as to get used to the wider stretch. it will come, but in it’s own time. don’t force/rush the matter
Chipping in a bit late on this one, but I hope this is helpful.
First: be sure to relax that bottom hand as much as possible.
Next: Experiment with your grip. I had to change my bottom hand grip slightly when first playing my B chanter; due to the more substantial dimensions of my B chanter (a very stout chunk of ebony), my long-accustomed grip developed from years and years of (skinny) concert chanter playing produced too much muscle tension and resulted in discomfort. It wasn’t that the toneholes were farther apart - they were slightly wider apart, but by no means uncomfortably so - it was that the chanter itself was much thicker in its outer diameter so some adjustment on my part was necessary
I ended up curling my bottom hand fingers around the chanter a bit more - kind of like Ennis used to, check out some of the old pics of him and pay attention to his bottom hand - than I would with a concert chanter. I also moved the contact points on my fingers - the parts that actually cover the tone holes - slightly closer to my wrist. I addition, I ended up changing how I positioned my bottom hand thumb, too , but that was as much about staying out of the way of a ring-style fnat key as it was about comfort. It all helped anyway.
Also: your bag neck may be slightly too long. You may not need to trim it, though. Sometimes you can move the chanter closer to your torso without cutting off air to the reed. You may have to twist the chanter top slightly towards your top hand side ( right handed players, this means to the left; southpaws, to the right) to achieve optimal comfort.
Above all, don’t let the instrument, your grip, or your posture push or bend your wrists into unnatural or uncomfortable extended posistions. You want your elbows, wrists, and the first knuckles of your hands (the ones closest to the wrist) to be in fairly straight alignment with one another. We don’t hold the chanter straight up and down like some other bagpiping traditions. Everyone is different so you will need to spend some time experimenting with your setup and grip before finding your optimal arrangement.
I had to give up playing my exemplary Quinn C set because of hand pain issues that I could not resolve. I had to accept that my hands are just too small to handle the spread on some chanters and the only solution, if I wanted to play a flat set, was to find another chanter that better suited my anatomy.
). I will take the advice and see where I land, but no, NEVER selling this thing!