I bought an inexpensive hand exerciser a few weeks ago, and the improvement in my playing is quite noticable because of it.
My endurance has increased, cramping has almost disappeared, and my ornaments are sharper now than they ever have been.
If there’s anything other than dedication and practice that will improve your playing, this is it.
Don’t take my word for it though, try it for yourself and see how quickly you notice the difference.
What is your hand exerciser, one of those little gel/foam balls?
On 2002-01-21 22:39, avanutria wrote:
What is your hand exerciser, one of those little gel/foam balls?
No, it’s a kind of V-shaped device with rubber padded grips and a resistance adjustment dial… I picked it up at Sears.
I’ve seen those foam balls you’re referring to, and I’ll bet they would work pretty well too though.
Sounds interesting. I think I’ll pick one up; maybe it will help with the occasional pain in my arm too. What’s the brand name of yours?
Just be careful!
A young enthusiastic player around here bought a video on hand and finger dexterity exercises. He became obsessed with it and before every session, sat there doing these complicated hand/finger exercises. He ended up with repetitive strain injury and couldn’t play any instruments, or do much else, for 2 years. So…all things in moderation, and…you can have too much of a good thing.
Geez…darned if you do, darned if you don’t!
On 2002-01-21 23:25, avanutria wrote:
Sounds interesting. I think I’ll pick one up; maybe it will help with the occasional pain in my arm too. What’s the brand name of yours?
It has SPORTWORKS written on the resistance dial.
I bought one at Xmas called “Gripmaster” - I’ve only been using it a month but I can feel it’ll help. The real plus is that it has individual springs for each finger so you can concentrate on separate fingers (my ring fingers have always been weaker). It comes in 3 levels: light, medium, heavy (I got the heavy one which is fine, though medium may be better for women). You can’t adjust the strength rating, you get the one which suits you.
Although I bought it in London, it’s American: made by IMC Products Group, and their fax no. is 516-933-7881.
I too have recently experienced a revelation in hand exercises… chinese “health balls”. I find that these wonderful little balls will give greater dexterity, endurance and co-ordination. With a chiming plate inside they make a lovely sound, and I find them very good for meditation as well. They’re cheap AND effective. The point about over-doing it is well founded, I loved them so much I stressed my muscles a bit in the first week I used them! I now limit my time with them to about 10 minutes a day (NOT right before I play the whistle) and there is no more over-worked feeling in my hands, just more dexterity, etc. All things in moderation!
Phlebas
Zen and the Art of Whistle Playing:
Take the path of least resistence.
Be aware of and avoid using more energy than necessary.
Playing the whistle is the best exercise for playing the whistle.
Relax.
Breathe.
Quiet the mind of all thoughts except for how the tune goes.
Know when to stop.
I believe there is almost no value in the kind of gripmaster hand exercisers with regards to whistleplaying. What it does is it tenses your hand up (or makes your hand tend to tense up), which is incondusive.
You want your hand to be relaxed when you play so your playing is crisp. The more relaxed you are, the more potential there is for your fingers to go faster. So you are in a way sacrificing speed. Relax=speed (which is also one of the ideas used in traditional Chinese Kung Fu)
I am not sure if the Chinese hand exercise balls help a lot in whistling, but they won’t do harm to your whistling either, so I suppose that’s okay.
One note I should add to Eldarion’s post is that I recently saw Matt Malloy play at the Chieftains concert and even though I was only about 20 feet away I watched him play thru my binoculars…studying every move (I know it must have looked ridiculous but…oh well), I was absolutely floored with how relaxed his hands are. His fingers rather than slamming down on the holes seemed to be just dropping gently down onto the tone holes. His hands also didn’t appear to be overly muscular. I also noticed how humongously barrel-chested he is.
Anyway this showed me that rather than strength I should focus on relaxing my fingers.
One thing I might also mention is that I used to body-build in my younger days and body-building if done correctly will help your bodies ability too relax even better and it will also improve speed and flexibility. But I would never do any strength training immediately before doing a sport and likewise wouldn’t want to do any finger strengthening exercises before I play the flute or whistle.
[ This Message was edited by: CraigMc on 2002-01-22 11:56 ]