Anthony, Interesting point. As guitarist playing in a working band ( as well as enjoying playing the Lute ) gigging on average 3 times a week with no roadcrew as such, shifting half a tonne of equipment twice nightly does have a tendancy to stiffen the fingers - as well as stiffening the back. I usually find that a couple of minutes with my hands in luke warm water, followed by a minute or so of clenching my hands and waggling my fingers helps a lot. I also occasionally suffer from what I call 'Hot Hand ' this is where the muscle between the thumb and first finger on my right hand swells and gets very painful due to lactic acid build up. For this I put my hand in very cold water to bring the swelling down. The same happens with my left hand occasionally, again I do the same thing. Hope this helps.
Neil -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Anthony Hind Sent: 29 June 2010 10:10 To: [email protected] Subject: [LUTE] incompatibility gardening/lute playing? Dear lutenists Recently, I have found myself having to do some rather heavy gardening, which appears to be almost incompatible with lute playing. the simple fact of being physically tired is part of it, but also the fingers seem less supple after clenching a spade or a pick-axe. One lute player told me that even carrying suit-cases to a performance, can make their fingers stiff; and certain lute makers told me that using a lute maker's tools can make lute playing more difficult; although there are some excellent lute maker-players, even among us. % Do others have similar impressions, and if so, are there any ideas on how to get round this, (apart, of course simply from getting someone else to carry your lutes, and do the gardening, or play your lutes): some exercise between activities to help prepare for playing, perhaps? % At present, I am back in my flat in Paris, and so playing as much as I can, in spite of the hot weather, which also makes things more difficult, and I have regained the suppleness, but I will soon have to go back to gardening. Thanks for any advice, Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
