lately, i've been practicing quite a bit (5-6 hours a day, divided mainly between snare and marimba - 2 and 4 mallets) though in the past couple days, to accompany my progress, my hands have started to ache after i play as though i'm over-working them. is this a common side-effect of my muscles being built up and exercised, or am i simply playing too much? it's not a pain in my hands that might be associated with arthritis, but an ache...sort of how my arms have ached before after i lift weights. AND i always make sure to warm up properly before i play, so if anyone could share some knowledge with me i'd be quite thankful.

thank you,
billy

Billy,

(The usual disclaimers apply: I'm neither a physician nor a physical therapist, but I'll offer the following from my own experience as well as that of some of my students over the years.)

Did you gradually build up your practice sessions to the current 5-6 hour level, or did you just ratchet things up from, say, an hour a day, all at once? Playing marimba is a physical activity as well as a musical activity - and you wouldn't see an athlete switch overnight from half-mile walks to running a marathon.

Are you "warming down" as well as "warming up"? It's important to let your hands' muscles and tendons make a gradual transition from "intense activity" to relative inactivity - the reverse of "warming up." Brass players are taught to do this, but it seems to get overlooked by many drum/percussion instructors. You can't just stop cold, and not expect some discomfort to develop. (This has been my experience - YMMV).

Are you giving your hands time to rest each hour? Give yourself at least five or ten minutes off each hour - your hands need that kind of break.

There's a difference between muscles feeling tired, and a feeling of pain. If your hands and fingers are just tired, that's one thing - you'll build up endurance as you go along (assuming, of course, that you're building up to these marathon practice sessions, and not just jumping headfirst into the deep end). Pain is the body's signal that something is wrong - whatever you do, don't "play through it," or expect it to go away on its own. You'll just be setting the stage for more problems down the road if you form bad habits now.

if you are creative enough to find ways to enjoy practicing for extended hours, than it is impossible to practice too much. you can enjoy many a twelve hour session (or longer) if you are focused and creatively disciplined. however, the problem with your hands most likely would be resolved by stretching more (with heating pad or in a hot shower) and relaxing more than what you are doing before and after you practice and play. make sure to do 3 or 4 reps of twenty wrist and finger stretches in each in every possible direction for best results. (twice a day for life) this goes for everybody in every type of instrument or sport. if you do not constantly remind yourself to relax more than you will never flow at that next level. we are not getting any younger and neither are our bodies. if you do not stretch, often the resulting and soon to be permanent ache in your wrist leads to the possibility of tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome. do not push it with pain. no matter what, if there is pain, something is wrong. stretch and relax four times what you are currently accustomed to doing and you will reap the benefit. that is not to mention that too much repeated motion may also cause the ailments, so switch your practice routine from all those one handed rolls back to the scales and so forth:)

I had been preparing for a competition and was practicing about the same amount of time as you, but exclusively marimba. I did some form of yoga/stretching, almost every day and played and felt normally tired, but fine.
After the competition, I had to catch up on everything else, including snare practice and classes for my computer science major (of all things). That's when arms unignorably began to hurt.
Both student health and my teacher have told me to take it easy on each activity by doing each activity for no longer than 20 solid minutes at a time. Stretch or walk around in between; for strength, try lifting weights every other day. All the grad percussionists attend yoga classes daily. I've been doing all these things for a month now and the pain has receded incredibly. And if I do feel pain, I just stop. A heating pad might help in the beginning ... but to preserve those arms, you'll need to make a few small changes and be aware of damage you can cause without them. ]- Lisa