I understand you concern's as a pretty new player myself.. I'm still learning
to put rosin and cotton on.. When the professionals ie. (Alden, Roy) put rosin
on my wheel it sounds very nice and has this nice even coat of rosin that you
can almost see yourself in the reflection :)...When I have to add rosin I never
get it as good as they did but I'm getting better with practice also getting
better with the cotton. Takes practice....
As far as carpel tunnel, I had CT surgery on my right hand at 23 years old,
I'm 28 now and when I started I cranked with a wrist brace on to keep my hand
straight.. I no longer use the brace since I've pretty much trained my hand to
stay straight.
After years of playing bagpipes and having my piping career put to a halt
after the surgery ( since my fingers on my right hand don't like all the fast
movements over longer than 5-10 minute periods) so the HG is the perfect
instrument since I don't have to use my fingers on my right hand for anything
other than holding the wheel...
Cheer's, Seth
Roy Trotter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Strenght comes with practice. So can carpel tunnel. Keep them wrists straight!
Judgement comes with experience. Too much rosin is a very temporary problem:
it's easy to remove it by holding a rag to the wheel and cranking a few times.
or if you can stand it, just play and it will come off by
itself...eventually.....You will learn how much it takes. Alden frequently sez
YMMV: but with rosin it probably will vary. People are always asking "How
much?" and the answer is "As little as possible." You have to learn what works
for you and and your instrument and the tune, etc,etc, etc. I'll give you a
hint: "Too much" sounds harsh and jarring. As your tone improves you lose
crispness in the dog. I tend to rosin up if I'm playing a snappy dance with a
lot of dog work and save the pretty, slow tunes for later because I like the
tone and legato feel.
Eric Beharrell. It is beautifully made for a not all that expensive
instrument (relatively speaking <g> ). Of course I don't know how the sound
quality is for a hurdy gurdy having never really met one before but I am
hopeful that I can make beautiful music with it-eventually ;-]. Might need
to get a strap as it didn't come with one.
My main concern is to do the cotton and rosin right. I understand you can
overdo the rosin. It certainly is an instrument you want to get down and
dirty with right away. Thinking I might have to go to the gym to build up
my arm muscle strength, though that may come with practice <g>.
Fi
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, 14 February 2008 5:37 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HG] So now what?
> My beautiful new hurdy gurdy arrived today from England. It has 2
> chanterelles in D, one drone in D and a Trompette in G. It is a lute back
> with two rows of keys the bottom with 12 and the top with 9.
Who's the maker?
> Now I just have to learn to set it up and play it. The maker sent cotton
> and spare strings and I have some violin rosin. I will probably use the
> pirastro as the others are cheap cakes that came with chinese made violins
> unless there is a better option.
Step 1: Sit down
Step 2: Strap in
Step 3: Crank!
Alden
