> I found that wearing heavy, preferably leather gloves tend to help prevent > booth finger stiffness and skin roughness. It prevents getting dirt under > the nails as well. > > > It is interesting to look at rural cultures where the farmers also also > musicians - fiddle players, etc. Their playing definitely is affected by > the years of hard work; they can still play, but not always in tune or > very fast, but they still play with a great deal of soul. Big difference > between being able to scratch out fiddle tunes and performing Dowland or > Weiis though.
manual labor of any kind, not just agricultural will do a number on dexterity. I took up guitar at age 8, was working on Sor, Villa-lobos, Milan et al some 16 years later while also working as a programmer. But, accessible work opportunities failed as Massachusetts succumbed to the wrath of a spurned Nixon, and lacking a car (even a license) I was obliged to turn to unskilled day-labor, stacking boxes of food at a piece-work rate - a typical day was 30 tons stacked at a little over a dollar a ton. My guitar practice was now much more about therapy than repertoire building. Luckily I had a lady friend who enjoyed pounding the kinks out of my back muscles. -- Dana Emery To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
