Help overcoming death grip

[zen]

Hi everyone
I've been playing for a bit more than a year, have a few tunes that I can play passably at the local session and am picking up more by the day. I work from home which means I can find time during the day for quite a bit of practice - sometimes two or three hours a day. I realised after an hour or so practice today that I need to do something about "death grip". I start off nice and loose with a few scales and the tunes I know but as I get deeper into learning new stuff my fingers seem to get tighter and tighter, my hands are like claws, my shoulders stiff and my jaw is clenched. This is weird. I am enjoying the process of learning so why is my body reacting like this? When I realise that I've reached this point I make a point of stopping to stretch and relax or make a cup of tea - but I'd like to know whether anyone has any hints to prevent this in the first place.

[zai]

What comes to mind is this, stop before you settle into the "death grip". Check before putting the whistle down that you were still holding it nice and relaxed. Figure out how long you can play and still be relaxed. Then see if you can expand that time. But stop as soon as death grip happens, preferably before. Perhaps you'll figure out what it is that causes you to go into it. Then it's a lot easier to work on not doing that.
Another thing that could work is to grab the whistle and put a death grip on it on purpose, start playing and while playing release the deathgrip, check every bit of you is relaxed before the tune's finished.

Or perhaps it's just a matter of needing more meditation.

As for working on new stuff, you are working on it 'dirt slow' when it's brand new, yes? Makes you learn a lot quicker and gives you more time while playing to check if you're still relaxed

[zen]

Thanks Zai - both suggestions sound helpful and I'll give them a go. I do practise slowly. I try to get the tune down first then break down the phrases going over the bits I find tricky many times - but it's hard to resist the temptation to bring it all together and try the tune with a bit of pace. I had the experience at a recent session of really flying - playing tunes I thought I barely knew but keeping up, hitting the right notes - even having the confidence to play at more volume that I might usually and trying variations. It was as if my left brain had completely shut down and it was all just fingers and intuition - lifted by the session god, according to my partner (who was really surprised having heard a great deal of me over these past months!) I'm sure it must happen a lot to experienced players but it was a first for me. I felt completely relaxed. I guess it's impossible to relive that sense of ease with the instrument during practice but I'm hoping.

I've become quite obsessed with playing - I am hoping this is normal?
PS. these are my first posts to C&F although I've used the board a lot through the past year. Lots of very helpful info here.

[brewerpaul]

Try going back to a tune that you know and can play in a relaxed manner. Get that loose feeling back, then work on the new, harder stuff.

[Nanohedron]

I've become quite obsessed with playing - I am hoping this is normal?

It is, among this lot.

This probably doesn't help you much but I'm reminded of the bon mot someone once offered up: Stop gripping so hard; it's already dead.

[mutepointe]

I read this thread because of the perceived relationship between the topic and your nic. That's all I'm saying.

[JTC111]

I'd suggest playing standing up in front of an open window sans belt and underwear. The combination of psychological, legal, moral, and (depending on the temperature) medical reasons to keep your pants up should loosen your grip on that whistle.

[zen]

I'd suggest playing standing up in front of an open window sans belt and underwear. The combination of psychological, legal, moral, and (depending on the temperature) medical reasons to keep your pants up should loosen your grip on that whistle

Wouldn't work around here. Plenty of screening trees along the fenceline and anyway the neighbours are extremely forward thinking. He rides a unicycle down to the shops when not playing the shakuhachi. Perhaps I should ask him about dealing with 'death grip'.
Last practice was better - perhaps just being conscious of the problem is enough.

[pancelticpiper]

It dawned on me one day that hand tension comes from the thumb and fingers being in opposition.

Take your thumbs off, and there's no tension.

Luckily, standard Irish whistles have no thumbholes.

I used a neck strap on my Low D so that I could practice with both my thumbs off. It really helped.

At least for me, my hands seem to remember how relaxed or tense they are when I learned a particular passage, so that relaxed practice results in relaxed performance (usually).

[mutepointe]

Here's a helpful video in case someone can't quite visualize the thumb removal thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHp4D64mH8s

[Whistlin' Will]

Here's a helpful video in case someone can't quite visualize the thumb removal thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHp4D64mH8s

I am now very afraid of using a neck strap.

[mutepointe]

An other visual aid regarding hand position.

[zen]

My dad used to do the thumb trick when we were kids. Creepy - but nowhere near as disturbing as the repeating finger hand thing.

[Clarinetcat]

It dawned on me one day that hand tension comes from the thumb and fingers being in opposition.

Take your thumbs off, and there's no tension.

You can reduce hand tension by using a neck strap, but by no means will it eliminate hand tension...

You can have PLENTY of hand tension without the thumb being involved in the process.


http://www.johnranck.net/studio/clinic/ ... hands.html

"...playing with relaxed hands should not be our goal, because not only is it is an unrealistic goal, it is an impossible goal."

"...our goal should be utilizing the right amount of tension and isolating tension where it is needed, not eliminating it, which is impossible."

[zen]

So I've been paying more attention to my practising habits and have found that I get tense when I'm learning new phrases and making lots of mistakes. It's a mix of frustration and exasperation that tightens everything up. When I get to this point I'm now just putting the whistle down and taking the time to do something else. It means my practises are much shorter...