| It can be important in the feeling of balance and control. Also, improper hand position can promote pressure.
An unbalanced position creates (although unconsiously) a sense of instability, promoting tension in other areas of the body. Not good. Further, if your horn is heavier, a balanced grip would seem to aid in muscle endurance.
A position I've seen Hickman reccomend is just the tips of the thumb and ring finger in the rings or saddle/ring (depending on your horn's configuration), pinky on the pinky rest (as I call it to my beginners), and right hand curved as if holding a tennis ball in a relaxed manner.
Grasping the horn with a "death grip" (left hand shoved all the way in, squeezing the valve casings) can only promote tension; also, players I've seen with that extreme grip use excess pressure. Also, they rarely play with finesse and delicacy when needed. (A reflection of mental attitude).
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-Glenn
"Roses have thorns; shining waters mud. Clouds and eclipses stain the moon and the sun; and history reeks of the wrongs we have done. After today, after today, consider me gone."- Sting |