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I second Bruce's comments about learning to relax the muscles little by
little until you learn which are the necessary muscles and which muscles
are extraneous.
One thought that comes to me is that if you are getting dental pain it
sounds like your are tensing your lips/mouth so it pushes back into the
teeth. Rather, purse the lips so that they press into themselves, ie the
top lip press down to the bottom lip, the bottom lip presses up to the top
lip. The teeth should never feel any pressure at all. Imagine you are
holding a pin or sewing needle between your lips. In order for the needle
not to fall down, the lips need to press into each other to hold the needle
but the teeth have nothing to do with it.
Also, are you tensing the mouth via a "smile" technique so that he whole
mouth is squeezing sideways up to your ears? That type of squezzing can
press back into the teeth too. Once again, learn to use only the muscles
that are necessary and relax the rest. Keep trying to relax as much as you
can until you lose the sound, then go back to getting the sound again, then
relax again. With much practice you will learn that you can relax your
muscles much, much more that you thought possible, keeping only the barest
of lip tension to still get GOOD sound. If you are experiencing pain, there
is too much tension. And do you take breaks and stretch your lips out?
On the related topic of pain in the hand and fingers:
Posture of the neck if very important. Case in point, earlier this year I
had to go to a chiropractor for a lower back pain. As he worked on my back
he need to work on my neck. As my neck tension was released a chronic wrist
problem began to alleviate itself. I didn't even mention this to him. The
wrist pain went away faster than the back pain. I had the exact same
experience 15-20 years before when doing Alexander sessions. As the
Alexander practitioner released my neck, my wrist pain went away.
Why? The nerves that feed the arm and wrist come out of the neck. If you
have lots of neck and shoulder tension you are cutting of the nerve "food"
supply to your arms and hands. You said you had to "hold my head much
higher..." As one of the things to get the higher pitch. Does holding your
head higher mean pushing your chin higher, which means making the back of
your neck shorter and tenser? This could lead to the hand and finger pain
again.
It all interrelates, one "correction" can potentially create another
problem. Good posture will help it all: ie, a straight, ALIGNED, LENGTHENED
back, with a long neck, head balanced on top of the spine, not contorted
one way or another, and full, deep breathing, will help with better playing
and fewer painful problems.
There are lots of options for learning about a straight back, long neck,
head balanced properly. Obviously Alexander technique, which I highly
recommend, yoga Tai Chi, Pilates, etc. where they ask that you "lengthen"
the spine, not just ram it into place in an appearance of being straight.
With proper posture, and fuller, deeper breathing, the breath will come
easier, which will support the sound better, which will allow for less
tension because it is the breath that is supporting the sound instead of
your tight lips, mouth, head, finger, etc. With good breathing, I don't
think you should ever feel light headed or dizzy. That sounds to me like a
result of shallow and tight breathing. (Hum.. tight, tension, we have a
theme here...) Proper alignment will allow better relaxation.
I hope some of this is useful to your.
Herb
At 06/25/2003 11:40 AM, you wrote:
>I have been studying shakuhachi for a little less than two years. I have
>been making progress very slowly. (which means reasonably so by shakuhachi
>standards so I have come to learn)
>
>During the process of going through this initial period of absorption I
>have undergone several strange periods of pain and discomfort.
>
>My first problem was sudden periods of dizziness and near- fainting speels.
>This has become fairly uncommon.
>
>Then for a while my right hand and arm went through periods of pain and
>sorness - but this passed after awhile. (I now use my mouse with my left
>hand only.)
>
>Now here is my newest experience with discomfort in playing shakuhachi and
>wanted to know if anyone has had an experience like this.
>For a while now my biggest challenge was trying to get my high octave in
>pitch. (No surprise I was, and am still, half of the time very flat.)
>Using a pitch meter I discovered that I need to be holding my head much
>higher, and I need to purse my lips much tigher to get the right pitch.
>Good news: with effort I manage to do this. Not for very long periods but
>I get the idea of where I need to be to get right pitch.
>
>Bad news: I now have been pursing my lips so tight that I have been
>causing myself a good deal of soreness and even outright pain in my front
>teeth. By pursing my lips so tight for two hours or so each daily practice
>session I think I might even be shifting my teeth as if I had braces or
>something pulling back on them. I have been feeling this now for about a
>month or so. It is not serious pain, but it is distracting.
>
>Anyone go through something like this? Any advice to offer? I guess I
>should speak to my dentist, but I am loath to have to confront a doctor's
>advice to stop playing shakuhachi.
>
>thanks
>Stav
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8.
>http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
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<font size=3>I second Bruce's comments about learning to relax the
muscles little by little until you learn which are the necessary muscles
and which muscles are extraneous.<br><br>
One thought that comes to me is that if you are getting dental pain it
sounds like your are tensing your lips/mouth so it pushes back into the
teeth. Rather, purse the lips so that they press into themselves, ie the
top lip press down to the bottom lip, the bottom lip presses up to the
top lip. The teeth should never feel any pressure at all. Imagine you are
holding a pin or sewing needle between your lips. In order for the needle
not to fall down, the lips need to press into each other to hold the
needle but the teeth have nothing to do with it.<br><br>
Also, are you tensing the mouth via a "smile" technique so that
he whole mouth is squeezing sideways up to your ears? That type of
squezzing can press back into the teeth too. Once again, learn to use
only the muscles that are necessary and relax the rest. Keep trying to
relax as much as you can until you lose the sound, then go back to
getting the sound again, then relax again. With much practice you will
learn that you can relax your muscles much, much more that you thought
possible, keeping only the barest of lip tension to still get GOOD sound.
If you are experiencing pain, there is too much tension. And do you take
breaks and stretch your lips out?<br><br>
On the related topic of pain in the hand and fingers:<br>
Posture of the neck if very important. Case in point, earlier this year I
had to go to a chiropractor for a lower back pain. As he worked on my
back he need to work on my neck. As my neck tension was released a
chronic wrist problem began to alleviate itself. I didn't even mention
this to him. The wrist pain went away faster than the back pain. I had
the exact same experience 15-20 years before when doing Alexander
sessions. As the Alexander practitioner released my neck, my wrist pain
went away. <br><br>
Why? The nerves that feed the arm and wrist come out of the neck. If you
have lots of neck and shoulder tension you are cutting of the nerve
"food" supply to your arms and hands. You said you had to
"hold my head much higher..." As one of the things to get the
higher pitch. Does holding your head higher mean pushing your chin
higher, which means making the back of your neck shorter and tenser? This
could lead to the hand and finger pain again.<br><br>
It all interrelates, one "correction" can potentially create
another problem. Good posture will help it all: ie, a straight, ALIGNED,
LENGTHENED back, with a long neck, head balanced on top of the spine, not
contorted one way or another, and full, deep breathing, will help with
better playing and fewer painful problems. <br><br>
There are lots of options for learning about a straight back, long neck,
head balanced properly. Obviously Alexander technique, which I highly
recommend, yoga Tai Chi, Pilates, etc. where they ask that you
"lengthen" the spine, not just ram it into place in an
appearance of being straight.<br><br>
With proper posture, and fuller, deeper breathing, the breath will come
easier, which will support the sound better, which will allow for less
tension because it is the breath that is supporting the sound instead of
your tight lips, mouth, head, finger, etc. With good breathing, I don't
think you should ever feel light headed or dizzy. That sounds to me like
a result of shallow and tight breathing. (Hum.. tight, tension, we have a
theme here...) Proper alignment will allow better
relaxation.<br><br>
I hope some of this is useful to your.<br><br>
Herb<br><br>
At 06/25/2003 11:40 AM, you wrote:<br><br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>I have been studying shakuhachi for
a little less than two years. I have been making progress very slowly.
(which means reasonably so by shakuhachi standards so I have come to
learn)<br><br>
During the process of going through this initial period of absorption I
have undergone several strange periods of pain and discomfort.<br><br>
My first problem was sudden periods of dizziness and near- fainting
speels. <br>
This has become fairly uncommon.<br><br>
Then for a while my right hand and arm went through periods of pain and
sorness - but this passed after awhile. (I now use my mouse with my left
hand only.)<br><br>
Now here is my newest experience with discomfort in playing shakuhachi
and wanted to know if anyone has had an experience like this.<br>
For a while now my biggest challenge was trying to get my high octave in
pitch. (No surprise I was, and am still, half of the time very
flat.)<br>
Using a pitch meter I discovered that I need to be holding my head much
higher, and I need to purse my lips much tigher to get the right pitch.
<br>
Good news: with effort I manage to do this. Not for very long periods but
I get the idea of where I need to be to get right pitch.<br><br>
Bad news: I now have been pursing my lips so tight that I have been
causing myself a good deal of soreness and even outright pain in my front
teeth. By pursing my lips so tight for two hours or so each daily
practice session I think I might even be shifting my teeth as if I had
braces or something pulling back on them. I have been feeling this now
for about a month or so. It is not serious pain, but it is
distracting.<br><br>
Anyone go through something like this? Any advice to offer? I guess I
should speak to my dentist, but I am loath to have to confront a doctor's
advice to stop playing shakuhachi.<br><br>
thanks<br>
Stav<br><br>
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