Recent happenings
Well, my wrists haven’t been feeling any better, despite buying an ergonomic keyboard. I’m not sure why they’re giving me trouble, because I haven’t been typing any more than usual, and while I’ve been playing a good amount of music lately, it’s still less than I was doing in college. I’ve tried icing my wrists, since that was what I did when I had tendonitis in my shoulder from swim team in college. And I’ve been taking some ibuprofin, to keep any inflammation down, but I’m still getting some pain. I know I should probably go to the doctor, but I’m hoping that my upcoming time off will help.
A week before today, I got to play in the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade as part of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra. Now I can say I’ve played in Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, and the Hatch Shell, which is pretty exciting for an amateur, I think.
Last Saturday, before a repeat of the Longwood concert (this time in Natick), I went to Johnson String Instrument to try out some more violas. My favorite of the bunch (and I do think I tried practically every viola they had!) was a viola made in 1982 by Marten Cornelissen. It’s a little smaller than my viola (16 1/4″ vs. my 16 1/2″), with a slightly shorter string length, as well. It has a very nice tone, even on the A string. (The Marilyn Wallin viola I tried earlier had gorgeous C and G strings, but I wasn’t perfectly satisfied with the top two strings). I’m very picky, though, so I’m not sure if I’ll want to buy the Cornelissen. We’ll see. I’ll probably want to try some more instruments.
Yesterday was our company summer outing, which was a lot of fun. We went up to New Hampshire, to our boss’s summer house on a lake. The day featured lots of swimming, eating, kayaking, and visiting, not to mention stomp rockets, which were a hit with the kids.
Tomorrow I’m going to Montreal with a couple friends. Then back to work for a couple days, and off to Illinois so I can visit family, especially my new nephew.
August 25th, 2005 at 11:23 am
I’m tellin ya, Jennifer - it could be the mouse (in combination with the keyboard). Look at your wrist when you use the mouse - if your hand is bent upward at all - that could be causing stress. I’ve tried putting something soft underneath my wrist, as I use the mouse - and that’s helped a little… cuz it keeps it elevated - and in line with the hand.
Of course, it’s different for everybody - it could be your music playing too.
August 29th, 2005 at 2:48 pm
So how was Chi-Town?
August 30th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
You could be right, Matt, but both wrists bother me, not just my right hand. Yesterday I happened upon a site called “Ergoblog“, and from there found myself looking at a bunch of alternative pointing devices - vertical mice, joystick-looking things, etc. I wonder if there’s a brick-and-mortar store where I could try a bunch of stuff out…
Henry, just got back from Montreal, haven’t gone to Illinois yet. Oh, and I’m not going to Chicago - I’m from central Illinois. I’ll post some pictures from Montreal tonight, hopefully.
September 3rd, 2005 at 8:20 am
Oh Baxter! You are my little gentleman. I’ll take you to foggy Londontown because you are my little gentleman.
September 23rd, 2005 at 4:23 pm
Did you ever try any of the different mice? I bought a trackball one for work and find it somewhat better. If nothing else, at least it is different from what I use at home. I am going to buy a split keyboard this weekend, hopefully that helps mix things up a bit as well.
September 27th, 2005 at 9:43 pm
Right now I’m just using the mice that came with my computers (Dell and Compaq, work and home respectively). Maybe I should try a different type.
March 24th, 2006 at 12:01 am
so, what was the viola outcome. I own a Cornelissen viola, 1974. The maker is also quite a nice gentleman
January 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Thanks for your link to Johnson Strings! We appreciate the vote of confidence. We have recently changed our site, and consolidated our domains. Would you mind modifying your link so it goes to our “main” site? The URL is:
http://www.johnsonstring.com
To make this as easy as possible, we’ve created a page that has all our linking information:
http://www.johnsonstring.com/links/linking.htm
Thanks again for the link!
Sincerely,
Michael Caroff
Links Manager, Johnson String
January 30th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Hi Michael, just changed the link. I need to come by your store again soon to look at more violas and get my bow rehaired, etc.