Posted on May 17, 2008 by Abigail McHugh in Extensions - Left Hand/Arm

I saw Richard do this with a kid in Cleveland and have been copying him almost word for word ever since.

He asked the student (while demonstrating the two techniques), how she would pick her nose, if she were to pick her nose (which Richard assured the student he was positive she never did). Would she use hand position number one, with the fingers all splayed out as far as they could reach and looking very tense, or hand position number two, with the fingers relaxed into a very loose fist (completely natural and soft) with just the pointer finger aimed in the direction of the nostril? The student of course picked hand position two, as anyone would, because hand position one looks terribly uncomfortable and is much more of a strain than nose picking requires. Richard then told the student that the hand does the exact same thing for extensions. The whole hand does not stretch as far as it can, parallel to the fingerboard, in order to reach the note, but rather the extension is just between first and second fingers, with the knuckles aiming slightly up toward the ceiling to allow this. (He didn’t actually mention the knuckles to the student because the hand automatically adopts this angle when trying to pick the nose.) Richard then put his hand on the cello, with his face quite close to the fingerboard, and demonstrated several times how it would look to pick his nose from there, by simply reaching first finger back toward his nose. He also showed how in forward extensions the thumb must move too, because it would be silly to pick your nose with your thumb pulled back away from your hand.

This may sound a little disgusting, but no student, young or old, will ever forget the proper hand position for extensions if taught this way. And of course, you don’t actually have to put your finger inside your nose to demonstrate, just close.