Trumpet – Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Musicians)(Psychology)(Pain)(Strain)(Injuries)(Posture)(Alexander Technique)(Albuquerque)

This ebook, An Alexander Technique Approach to Trumpet Technique, is published on this website in a PDF format. It is very detailed and practical, and it will give you the physical tools you need to take the limits off of your ability to create the accurate trumpet technique you want without sacrificing your body.
This ebook is also for sale on all AMAZON websites in a KINDLE format.
Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A. (MOVEMENT THERAPY)

When I was practicing six hours a day, seven days a week, to become a concert guitarist at the Royal College of Music in London in the early seventies, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my left wrist. I went to an Alexander Technique teacher, and within few months I was able to practice as much as I wanted without pain, and I’ve never suffered from carpal tunnel syndrome since.

What was it that the Alexander Technique teacher taught me that got me out of physical trouble permanently? I was taught how to press the strings with the minimum strength necessary, to find the most mechanically advantageous hand position in relationship to the string and guitar neck, and to press the strings without immobilizing my wrist, elbow, and shoulder.

I’ve applied the above principles in my ebook on the trumpet. If the hands are in a mechanically advantageous relationship to the trumpet, when you press the valves and blow with released, not relaxed (collapsed) wrists, then you will be on your way to healing your carpal tunnel syndrome.

As a trumpet player, you want to support your hands with released forearms, upper arms, and shoulders, but not immobilizing the wrists, elbows, or shoulders. Then you can play the trumpet with arms, hands, and shoulders that are not held unnecessarily still. When the valves are pressed with a released supported wrist, then you won’t cause carpal tunnel syndrome.

Let me explain. If you were to learn how to play the trumpet with a static held body and arm positions, then as you continuously change valves with held immobilized tension, you’d be forcing the bones of the wrist to grind against each other.

Simply, tense muscles force bones together and cause 100% unnecessary wear and tear throughout the whole body.

Why do musicians use too much muscle to play the trumpet? It is to prevent mistakes. It is using physical negative reinforcement to press the right valve. So, when you practice a lot, you may become fairly accurate by using tension to minimize the number of mistakes you make, but you are damaging your body.

Then you seek out an Alexander Technique teacher who shows you that you can be extraordinarily accurate, if you release all of your excess tension, use balanced posture, and trust your fingers to hit the mark.

I want to say something here about injuries being inevitable in repetitive activities that require precision. They are not, but by the time someone comes to an Alexander Technique teacher with carpal tunnel syndrome from playing the trumpet, the trumpet player has lived with a powerful belief system that says injuries are inevitable on the trumpet.

I show trumpet players how to get out of physical trouble, and I also ask them to simultaneously question all of the beliefs they have about doing activities that require precision. I then ask them to consider giving up all of the beliefs that guarantee they will eventually get injured over and over in any activity that requires precise movements.

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An Alexander Technique Approach to Trumpet Technique

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Ethan Kind

AUTHOR, TRAINER "When you change old habitual movement patterns with the Alexander Technique, whether in playing a musical instrument, running, weightlifting, walking, or typing at a computer, you create an ease of body use that moves you consistently into the zone." - Ethan Kind Ethan Kind writes and is published extensively on all of the above activities. He teaches musicians, athletes, and computer operators how to stop hurting themselves, by showing them how to use their bodies with ease and coordination. He brings a unique perspective to his work, having been a musician and athlete all of his life. After training for three years at the American Center for the Alexander Technique (New York, NY), Ethan received Professional Certification credentials.

4 Comments

  1. bob dorn on January 17, 2014 at 8:36 pm

    I notice you’ve spoken about the valve hand and wrist, but not the support hand, or left hand/wrist, which is the principle way I have to immobilize the instrument so that lip contact stays consistent. I use so much pressure that the muscle on the outside of the palm, at the edge of the hand south of the little finger, is fat and tough and bows outward from overdevelopment.
    How do I keep the instrument stable if not by constant pressure from the left hand?



    • ethankind on January 18, 2014 at 1:09 pm

      The left hand, wrist, arm , and shoulder DOES support the trumpet against the lips, and does “stabilize” it. Notice I put stabilize it in quotes, because there is always a danger in playing the trumpet, of the arm, hand, and shoulder being rigid, and that is what “stabilize it” can imply.
      In the Alexander Technique we always find a way to do something, so that you don’t immobilize a stationary arm, like the left arm of a trumpet player. This means you use the minimum shoulder (deltoid), arm (biceps and brachialis), and wrist (flexors) muscles to support the trumpet securely against the lips.
      Probably when you were first learning to play the trumpet, you pressed the instrument too hard against your face with too much muscle, and never quiet let all of this excess trying/straining go, wanting to create a clean placement against the lips.
      In an Alexander Technique session we figure out how little it takes to get the job done. In other words, how LITTLE arm and shoulder muscle does it takes to support and place the trumpet against the lips with a great seal and not over-muscle the instrument, so that the left arm and hand aren’t rigid.
      There is another thing I believe you are doing with your left arm. It sounds like you are rotating your hand with your forearm and biceps to press the trumpet against your face. So, bring up the instrument to play, and notice if you’re torquing your left forearm, essentially pressing the instrument with the bottom of the hand and forearm. This isn’t necessary. Let me know if this helps. We can talk about this until you stop straining your left arm.



  2. Ned on November 13, 2017 at 12:53 am

    Hi—searching for info about my wrist pain. I have been playing the trumpet for 55 years and have never had this pain. I play 2-3 hours most days. I’ve also been playing the piano a hour a day. I take jazz lessons and have been practicing a left hand voicing that is a bit of a stretch. I have been lifting weights since I was 19 and work out moderately now without injuries. I stretch. Ski season is coming up. HELP!



    • ethankind on November 15, 2017 at 12:22 pm

      You can buy the 3 ebooks on trumpet, piano, and weightlifting for $22 on my website in a pdf format. Read them and ask me as many questions as you want about the Alexander Technique and its principles, to get you out of physical trouble.
      Ethan Kind