Mridangam exercises

Miscellaneous topics on Carnatic music
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Nethursan
Posts: 4
Joined: 21 Jan 2008, 22:36

Post by Nethursan »

Hi, I am a mridangam artist and i practice daily however i do realize i tighten my muscles when it comes to mekala sollus. i believe that is due to my workout routine but i have to do it since i have a dislocated shoulder i want to know if there is a way to not tighten my hands when playing sollus or not let it come tight or any other alternatives. thank you.

ganesh_mourthy
Posts: 1371
Joined: 02 Sep 2007, 23:08

Post by ganesh_mourthy »

you could send this query to AMsharmaji who is also a mridhangist.

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Post by Nick H »

We have a number of professional mridangists among our members who may be able to offer help.

I would guess though, that it is necessary to see a player's posture and movements before being able to suggest changes.

Physiotherapy, yoga therapy, etc are all possibilities as well as help from musicians.

Nethursan
Posts: 4
Joined: 21 Jan 2008, 22:36

Post by Nethursan »

yes but instead of bugging a person about it i thought maybe others in the same situation could use some help so yes if you have any suggestions please leave it and if i believe that it should work i will try it thank you.

msakella
Posts: 2127
Joined: 30 Sep 2006, 21:16

Post by msakella »

Dear brother-member, Nethursan, As our brother-member, ganesh_mourthy, put it I am not a professional Mridangist at all. At my younger age only I was playing Mridangam and later switched over to Vocal and lastly Violin as a musician. That is why I cannot give you any remedy not to tighten your hands. However, if you need and if you go through some of my postings here you can find some remedies in respect of strengthening your abilities of Laya. With best wishes, amsharma.

sankirnam
Posts: 374
Joined: 07 Sep 2006, 14:18

Post by sankirnam »

It's just a matter of practice, at least in my experience. The more you practice, the more confident you will be with the sollus, and then your muscles will naturally loosen.

Nick H
Posts: 9379
Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Post by Nick H »

I know there are various physical problems associated with different instruments. The Western violin style seems to be a good (or bad) example of this.

It does amaze me that mridangam players do not suffer RSI.

mahavishnu
Posts: 3341
Joined: 02 Feb 2010, 21:56

Post by mahavishnu »

Nick, good point. I'm surprised too that more mridangists do not suffer from RSI and carpel-tunnel.

Incidence of posture related movement disorders is quite common among pianists as well. In fact, most major symphony orchestras have a full time occupational and physical therapists and that travel with the musicians.

thinesh10
Posts: 1
Joined: 09 Nov 2020, 03:00

Re: Mridangam exercises

Post by thinesh10 »

Hello, I'm a 23 year old who played the miruthangam between the ages of 9 and 15 (but still occasionally play). It's really important to relax the muscles around the shoulders and to sit with the back, shoulders and hips completely level.

When I started practicing for an arrangatram, I developed uneven hips and shoulders + markedly uneven shoulder blades which mean I had to give up football and sports when I was 13. I think this could be avoided through playing with more attention to posture. My teachers didn't really pay attention to posture. I curved my hips, shoulders and spine when playing to meet the unrealistic sound and volume demands from my pushy teachers. My fault but as a child, I wish they had paid more attention to my health. Please be careful with your health and make sure your teachers and professional and healthy.

My teachers had something similar and it was noticeable in them. Not every miruthangamist has this issue, but it does look noticeable in some miruthangam artists such as Yanchan.

Manian
Posts: 76
Joined: 09 Aug 2020, 13:48

Re: Mridangam exercises

Post by Manian »

Nethursan: There there are three methods in addition to physiotherapy:
1. If you have friends in the west, ask them to get you a Tube of aspercreme - pain relieving cream.- trolomine salicydate 10%. Apply this before and after playing; (2) If you also can get a over the counter tablet of Ibuprofine 200 milligram talets and take one tablet with a cup of water before the performance will relax all the muscles and (3) start doing shoulder yoga first for say five times, after a week make it 10 and then stop at 15. You have to move both sides of the muscle forward in a rotational fashion and backward the same way. Thus, the muscles slowly will become flexible. Be careful and find well trained yoga teacher. This also get rid of Osteoporosis. But take the advice of a doctor first.

Manian
Posts: 76
Joined: 09 Aug 2020, 13:48

Re: Mridangam exercises

Post by Manian »

tablets, not talets .. sorry for the error

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