Neck strap with straight soprano

[Stencilman]

I've always had trouble with my right hand cramping up when playing straight soprano. I'm playing a Martin that is heavier than the Yamaha that I used to play. I also play a Yamaha WX7 wind controller which is very light, but I still make use of its neckstrap ring.

Has anybody dealt with this problem? This is not something that gets better with more practice.

[MBushaw]

I've not yet found a good solution. But your post got me thinking of a splint arrangement, braced by the forearm. Imagine a 10 inch long slat that is bent on one end to either support the thumb, or to take the full weight of the sop, and is held in place on the forearm by a couple of hook-and-loop straps.
As we play, the angle of the wrist doesn't really change, so this splint may work....

[Tears June]

Arm is OK, I just need to use a strap. But I've big trouble on my right thumb even using a strap + a soft rubber hook. The joint on my right thumb is so pain, even can't use soprano to practice more than one hour. Get to take rest 10 minutes in each hour. Also, I can't continue to play soprano more than 2, 3 days straight. I need at least one or better have two days rest (switch to alto in between rest day). Two days alto, one day soprano....etc.


:cry:

[3saxes]

I use a LeBayle "Bird" neckstrap with my soprano. But I developed a very severe case of tendonitis a few years ago from over use and playing my soprano for hours on end day-in and day-out, probably without a neckstrap if I recall. It wasn't so much that my thumb was sore, but the radial nerve was damaged at the base of my wrist and I have permanent numbness at that point and some pain when I overdo it now.

I would strongly suggest icing your thumb and wrist when you feel any pain or when you finish practicing and maybe you will avoid a case of dequervins syndrome. Good Luck!

[MitchP]

I use a standard type strap for practicing the soprano but usually not when I'm on a gig. You can also rest the bell of the horn on your knee (sitting of course) when practicing. I do both of these things since I was heading into nerve damage territory with severe right hand numbness from long practice sessions.

[Stencilman]

I use a standard type strap for practicing the soprano but usually not when I'm on a gig. You can also rest the bell of the horn on your knee (sitting of course) when practicing.My vintage straight soprano doesn't have a neck strap ring. What kind of sopranos do have one?

Today, I did find that I can rest the bell on my legs while sitting and have the horn in the same position as when I stand. That will work great for practice but I still need to find a solution for long gigs.

Finding a confortable stance has helped a lot. I discovered this technique last night:- Stand feet should width apart, shoulders square, back straight.
- Take a half-step forward with the left foot
- Turn the upper body slightly to the left and point the soprano the same direction as the left foot.
- Brace the right elbow against the right side of the abdomenBasicly, this allows me to support the right forearm by achoring the elbow against my body. Shifting the upper body to the left allows the right wrist be just slightly bent. It keeps me from looking flat footed and I can shift my weight forward to the left foot and backward to the right as I play. All of this without being slumped over.

I'm thinking about modifying a wrist brace to help support the thumb. without compressing the wrist or inhibiting the fingers.

Well, it looks like all of these things might get me to the point where I don't need a neck strap. I'll keep experimenting.

[deblcooper]

When I started soprano, my thumb hurt like crazy, too. I thought the problem was the J-hooked shape of the thumbrest, not the use of the neckstrap.

I noticed my Selmer has more of an L shaped thumb rest. I can play for hours with no problem on it. So, I cut a bottle cork to fit in it to make it more "L" shaped.

No pain, and lots to hours to gain!

deb

[Stencilman]

My problem is not pain in my thumb but that my whole hand and forearm cramp up. The pain is in all my fingers and I get to the point that my fingers won't move. Using the posture I described above gets me about 75% of the way to a crampless hand, but I think I'd still have trouble on a gig if I had to play an hour or more of soprano.

Deb, I'm not sure what you are saying. Could you describe what you did with the cork to make the thumb rest/hook work better?

Thanks!

[MitchP]

Stencilman,
Most modern sopranos can use a strap. You can always have a tech solder a strap ring on your horn, I've seen this done.

[sthlsthl]

Hi,
I use a strap and hooked the usual position (the ring) for security, Then I looped or hook again by making a loop around the thumbrest, adjusting the height to fit the mouthpiece to mouth height. This I find freeing my hands from the weight on and off as I wish and releaved strain to the thumbe a lot.

Cheers
SL :P

[deblcooper]

Stencilman,

For me, the shape of the J thumbrest made my thumb...and hand ache, as it felt like the thumbrest was made for a different size thumb or for a left handed person. (I know you can't play it that way, but I don't know how better to describe it, it felt that bad!-)

Anyway, it looped around my thumb ackwardly, setting it a weird uncomfortable position.

I took a bottle cork, sliced it lenght wise, trimmed a little here and there and glued it inside the bottom of the J, filling it slightly, creating a thumbrest that looks like, for want of a better description.... an inverted roman numeral L.

Although it has lowered my thumb position slightly, my pain has subsided. I just acquired another soprano yesterday and that familiar ache returned after a half hour of playing. I will be doing the same with it.

Is this totally weird and extreme? Perhaps, but anything to play a little longer!

deb

[danodownunder]

If you have a mk6 style sop the best and i mean better than a proper neck stap ring is to use a brass cup hook inserted in the lyre holder and bent into a ring its fantastic as it doesn't touch your thumb the stap that is as the lyre holder is mounted further out from the body of the horn, I have done this on a lot of horns for pros and they LOVE IT. Properly fastened it s amazing and no stress on the the right hand, check it out. Dano.

[Buster]

Years ago my clarinet teacher made me unscrew the nicely shaped thumb rest of my Buffet clarinet and put it on upside down because she said it gave you a better hand position. It hurt like hell to start with but stopped any cramp in my hand. Thinking about your hand position and angle can solve the cramps.
I use a sling with my soprano but more as security. For those who want to use a sling but don't have a ring you might want to look at a range of slings designed for clarinets which slip over the thumb hook - I think they're made by the French company BG who make ligatures.

[Razzy]

I used to get cramps playing soprano until I started working out and lifting weights. Doing a healthy amount of bench pressing and bicep curl motions seems to also develop the muscles of the wrist and fingers. (must be freeweights though). So if you're into fitness this should definitely help. Otherwise, can't help you much. I play conservatitely though. After long practice sessions when I start to feel even a bit of pain, I sit and rest the horn on my right thigh somewhat. I've actually seen quite a few players do the same thing on long gigs.

[Stencilman]

Thanks Razzy for the advise. I could definately use some more strength in my forearms. Even so, I still had this same problem back in my college days when I did serious weight training including several types of wrist exercises.

The cramping doesn't seem to be about strength as much as how my muscles respond to the position of my hand. I've been in the studio the last couple of days and have had serious trouble. I could not play yesterday's session at all - after 10 minutes of playing my right hand was cramped. I could not play my saxes at all the rest of the day. Luckily, the producer used the studio time by having me track bass parts on the keyboard (I only needed my left hand for that!).

Today, I took an old wire music stand with me and draped a bit of fabric over it so I could prop up my horn. The producer was very patient with me to rearrange the booth with a special chair (no armrests), my music stand prop and a couple of mics suspended above my horn. After 15 minutes of setup time, I was able to play 2 hours straight without cramps.

I may need to see an orthopedic specialist or something.

[saxshooter]

Just saw this recently on Oleg product's website. Strap hook for soprano sax. Looks interesting.

http://markotech.com/ECscripts/ECware.exe/dcp?id=007&sku=210&type=A1QS0&lc=EN

[SuiZen]

How is it fastened to the sax?

Bill

[saxshooter]

SuiZen, if you are referring to the Oleg thing, I think it fastens to where the marching band lyre goes.

[MitchP]

Through the lyre clamp

[MM]

Runyon makes a special thumbrest for soprano. I think the website is www.runyonproducts.com or do a Google search.

I use a strap if I play soprano for long stretches, but not for quick little bits I sometimes get in shows.

[averageschmoe]

my professor had a post made that rests against his midsection and is connected to the lyre clamp. it keeps the weight off the right hand and keeps the instrument still. some of his students have done the same with good results, as soon as i get a straight soprano i'll probably have one made as well.