Teeth clenching?

Posted: 6/16/2007 6:15:02 AM
computerweekend

From: Oxnard, CA

Joined: 6/14/2007

This is going to sound odd...

I've played many different kinds of instruments over the years, and never had a problem with this. For some reason, whenever I'm hunting for a note, the closer I get to the pitch aerial, the tighter my jaw gets - I clench my teeth, press my tongue against the roof of my mouth, etc. And after a while, my jaw gets sort of sore. I'm pretty conscious of it, so I try to relax. But even when I KNOW I'm doing it, it's near impossible to stop.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?
Posted: 6/16/2007 7:45:57 AM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

So high pitched whines make your teeth clench. Maybe you have watched Marathon Man too many times.
Posted: 6/16/2007 8:33:51 AM
kkissinger

From: Kansas City, Mo.

Joined: 8/23/2005

Keep your upper and lower teeth slightly seperated while playing. After a while, this will become habit.

The problem with teeth-clenching is that it transfers tension to your chest, shoulders, and arms. Clenched teeth steals your dexterity.

This applies to any instrument, including the theremin.
Posted: 6/16/2007 3:16:54 PM
computerweekend

From: Oxnard, CA

Joined: 6/14/2007

Oh lord. Gordon, Marathon Man, it all makes sense now.... Hahahaha!!

kkissinger: thank you so much for the information, I'll give that a shot - I've noticed that it transfers tension into my arms, so I must put a stop to the EVIL jaw...

Let the epic battle begin.
Posted: 6/16/2007 5:08:40 PM
Charlie D

From: England

Joined: 2/28/2005

I bite my tongue whilst playing Bach.
Posted: 6/16/2007 7:54:00 PM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

Charlie, which is worse?

Computerweekend, don't hold your teeth too wide apart - thereminists already look a little vague when playing on account of listening so hard. Adding [i]slack-jawed[/i] to the list may not be the best idea ever.

Posted: 6/17/2007 3:10:17 AM
computerweekend

From: Oxnard, CA

Joined: 6/14/2007

It's true, thereminists do look a little vacant already. Maybe I should wear a hockey mask?

With... a soulful expression drawn on it?

No one will ever know I look like a yokel.
Posted: 6/17/2007 4:05:50 AM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

[i]Maybe I should wear a hockey mask?[/i]

I can think of a fictional thereminist known for wearing a hockey mask...





(From Hannibal, by Thomas Harris, chapter 54:)

[i]At Sotheby's in New York, he purchased two excellent musical instruments, rare finds both of them. The first was a late eighteenth-century Flemish harpsichord nearly identical to the Smithsonian's 1745 Dulkin, with an upper manual to accommodate Bach - the instrument was a worthy successor to the gravicembalo he had in Florence. His other purchase was an early electronic instrument, a theremin, built in the 1930s by Professor Theremin himself. The theremin had long fascinated Dr Lecter. He had built one as a child. It is played with gestures of the empty hands in an electronic field. By gesture you evoke its voice.[/i]
Posted: 6/17/2007 4:20:42 AM
computerweekend

From: Oxnard, CA

Joined: 6/14/2007

Gordon, you have just inadvertently named my theremin.

I'm a bit troubled that I had the distinct image of Hannibal Lecter playing the theremin in anti-cannibal regalia before I was actually aware that he actually DID own one. (fictionally speaking)

But I'm comforted by the fact that I was not the first person to imagine it...
Posted: 6/17/2007 4:56:40 AM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

Well, he does have the necessary characteristics: He is fastidious in everything he does, he has superior taste in music and he enjoys making people suffer.

I too imagined he played the theremin before I learned that he did.

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