> Hi, everyone!
> A question was raised: >>Is pain, cramping, just a normal every day thing
> for for harper/harpists?<<
>
> As one of those hybrid harper/nurses, I say, "No!" (snip)
I heartily agree with Debbie, it is NOT supposed to hurt. We had a LONG
discussion on the list in about May about pain. Look over the archives,
there were letters from everybody with good suggestions on how not to
hurt yourself.
Specifically on the fourth finger problem if the pain is in the finger,
below the palm, you may be pulling too hard and overstressing the
muscle. If the pain is in the hand and goes from the fourth (sometimes
between 4th and 5th) up through the back of the hand check your hand
position. When this happens to students I've noticed that the 4th
finger is stick straight with most of the fingers and the palm centered
around the top of the chord stack. In other words the fourth finger is
way out of alignment with the others -- kind of like a catcher pulling
the first baseman off base with a throw that's too far out. The stretch
is too much and pulls the muscle. (Hey, the Indians are in the playoffs
-- for the moment)
This is a real easy habit to get into, especially if you are rolling the
chords -- some people have a tendency to roll their hands in whatever
direction the chord is being played. You'd have to discipline yourself
into rolling the chord - not your hand on the strings. The only
exception is I can think of is little hands and big whomping chords
where everything is stretched. At this point you HAVE to relax more to
get the reach -- or edit the chord a bit. (do you REALLY have to make
an octave between the fourth and second finger for example) Kindly
don't flame me for that, I would love to have huge mitts, but I'd rather
edit than not play because of the pain.
Practice carefully, relax and NOTICE what your hands are doing.
Hope this is helpful
Robin