Teeth clenching?

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?

So high pitched whines make your teeth clench. Maybe you have watched Marathon Man too many times.

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.

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.

I bite my tongue whilst playing Bach.

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.

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.

[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]

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...

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.