Excellent post from Dick. Ever since the stiffening of aging fingers was mentioned, I think by Anthony, it has been on my mind, especially now that I'm 65 and am probably losing some agility in my fingers but not acutely, yet. I have suffered for years from a bit of arthritis, affecting one hip and a tendency to experience lower back trouble but these ailments are responsive to well-known common sense behavural therapies. Eg for my stiff hip at least, riding a bike just to get around, (ie not particularly for leisure or sport), is marvellous therapy as well as great for general health and fitness. And for the lower back- taking care never to spend long periods sitting or standing and handling for all the bending I'm going to have to deal with when I really get started on the garden this spring ! As for fingers I suppose through laziness I've never really performed exercises consistently such as those Dick advocates but try to play for even a short time every day and certainly notice the loss of fingering agility if not doing so but I guess this is the case at any age. But the issue is when can expect this process to really accelerate and be prepared to accept it.
The ''old guys'' have been mentioned and I'm wondering exactly how old were Joe Hutton, Willie Taylor and Will Atkinson when they seem to have experienced some prominence, recording as The Shepherds etc. Were they much 'better' when they were younger? Also I'm trying to remember the details of story I read recently about the very well-known musician who at an advanced age has apparently renewed some of his failed abilities (pianist, violinist?) and has this been due to some new therapy, or surgery...I forget-my brain is failing earlier than the fingers (so far) in my encroaching dotage! Hope others can cast more light on this issue. Bill -----Original Message----- From: Richard Hensold [mailto:hens...@world.oberlin.edu] Sent: 27 March 2009 05:11 To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Subject: [NSP] stiff fingers and aging I was apparently doing something else for the last couple hundred messages, so am only now getting into the discussion... What interested me were the comments about fingers stiffening with age. I'm only 50, but my fingering has improved steadily (that is, way too slowly) as long as I've been playing. At what age have people noticed it starting to go the other way? Is it possible to rule out inefficient practicing/warm-ups? I also wonder if the British climate is a factor, because my fingers have felt unusually stiff when practicing in Northumberland. Are there any (especially older) players who have lived in both Northumberland and North America that can comment on this? Or for that matter, is there anyone familiar with medical statistics who knows if arthritis or other joint problems are more prevalent in Britain than N America? Dick Hensold St. Paul, MN 651/646-6581 Traditional Folk Music, Early Music, and Cambodian Music Northumbrian smallpipes, recorder, Medieval greatpipes,Swedish sackpipa, & beyaw. [1]www.dickhensold.com -- References 1. http://www.dickhensold.com/ To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
