Any Clarinet players out there?

Has your daughter seen a neurologist yet? Is she on any medication for the tremor?

For me, I am able to use medication (Propanolol) as needed. I have taught myself to hold things in positions where my hands aren't so noticable or the weight of the object helps hold the tremor down.

I am just curious how other musicians deal with this. I have heard ET can also affect your embouchure, though luckily she doesn't seem to have that problem.

Glad to hear yours is manageable! Thanks for the info.

Metalynn made me aware of your situation. I am 32 years old and have ET. I am a music teacher and I have been playing clarinet since I was 10. Your story rings true to mine. For a very long time, I thought it was my nerves in regards to being anxious to play that caused my shaking. Today I know otherwise. Sure the nerves still pop up at times when a solo is at hand, but otherwise I know otherwise. My tremor is also hereditary. My paternal grandmother had it, so did her daughter (she has actually been diagnosed) my dad, and also my mother. I find I've been playing more just to so I don't get into that mode of having an excuse. I know what holds me back at times, and I try to work with it to create the best solution.

For me, it is mostly in my hands, well from my elbows down. My hands will shake and when I've been playing a lot I will have a tingling sensation in my forearms. I just sort of shake my arms out, rub my wrists and forearms and continue. It may also affect a player's embouchure. I haven't experienced this too much, but if one's hands are shaking it can cause your form on the mouthpiece to shake too. I just recently told my conductor that I want to continue trying this solo I was given. I want to see if I can make it work... and told him that if he finds there is to much vibrato or shakiness to the sound, that I wouldn't be offended if he had someone double me. But again, I'm not the type that like the attention anyways. It's just a matter of facing my challenges for me.

When its warm or hot out... this makes the shaking worse. Sometimes to the point that it is in fact hard to calm down. It happens. At the moment, I am on neurontin (generic is gabapentin). I take 200 mg twice a day.

I will be happy to share experiences with your daughter or offer any advice I can. So please don't hesitate to ask. I do however need to run at the moment... look forward to learning more about you both.

Take Care,

Gail

We are certainly just in the beginning stages with my daughter. She noticed a year or so ago that her right hand had a very minute tremble to it. Of course, she's aware of her grandfather and father having ET, and knows that she could have it as well. However, the other day she came to me and showed me that when she rests the hand on something and raises the right index finger, that index finger shakes quite a bit. This has just started. She's on Bactrim for a urinary tract infection, and I wonder if because she's not well this makes ET worse. And it's marching band season, so of course she's out in the heat practicing, so perhaps this too has added to the problem. I had thought we would wait until after she is off the antibiotics and then see how the tremor in her finger is, unless of course it gets much worse. Bactrim doesn't cause these kinds of side effects - I already checked!

She's hoping to minor in music so that she can continue to play, so we hate to see her derailed by this. So far, she has no problem with her embouchure (hopefully that won't happen). She loves playing (and I'm surprised she doesn't want to be a music major, since she loves it so much!). But no matter what happens, she'll just have to deal with it - hard for a 16-year-old to understand right now!

Thanks for all your information and input! What symphony are you with?

Karen

ET happens most often when in the motion of grasping something. So holding on to the clarinet itself can cause the shaking. I would say take time with it and let her see how it indeed affects her playing with time. I know for me, I definitely know its there, but it isn't present constantly. The one accomodation my section has made for me has been our position of rest while sitting. Rather than rest the bell on one leg and hold the instrument straight up, we lay it across our laps to give my wrist some rest and so the shaking isn't apparent.

I would say wait out the antibiotics and then see what the neurologist suggests. Sometimes they will try different things in different dosages for each person. Try things out and see what works best for her. She may not even need to be on something daily, just when she's having a tough day with it.

Yeah.. the heat with marching corp can be troublesome. I would say stay hydrated, maybe even keeping a bottle of water on her. And make sure she doesnt overexert in the heat. Explain the situation to her director, and he should cooperate without making her stand out.

I don't think she should be derailed from being a music minor. I got through it and I'm still playing. Of course everyone is different. ET worsens with time, but sometimes it can worsen extremely slowly. So don't count her out of anything just yet.

As I was told, for most people it is an inconvenience unless you are in the field that I am in where I use my hands on a constant basis to teach, conduct, play, etc. Unless you have a severe case of it, one should be able to live a pretty normal lifestyle. Even doing what we do.

I currently play with a concert band out of southern NH.

I'm here... feel free to talk.

Gail

I am very curious to find out what your cousin has to say. There are days that I wonder if the pain, weakness, and more noticable tremor can be because of the possible signs of carpal tunnel (I work in an office so I do ALOT of typing) or if I'm just having a bad ET day. And then of course, add in the factors of heat, amt of caffeine for the day, what I've been eating, etc. However, I've noticed that I don't usually have any numbness in my hands.

I also like the advice you gave to Karen about waiting out the antibiotics before getting checked by a neurologist. I've noticed that with certain anti-biotics, until my system gets used to them (usually stomach upset, drowsiness, etc), that it can make my ET worse.

Karen, please let us know how the doctor appointment went.

Shannon