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FHRED and SAMI's story
The birth of FHRED (Finger and Hand Retraining Ergonomic Device)
When our daughter Katie was in her junior year as an oboe major at the University of Denver Lamont School of Music, she began having severe, painful problems in her hands and forearms. This problem occurred due to prolonged practice and rehearsal sessions which caused fatigue. When fatigue occurred, her hand position changed to compensate which created a syndrome of increasing stress leading to tendonitis.
Her teacher suggested a device to support the instrument. Taking the weight off of the thumb and putting it on the chair seat allowed restoration and maintenance of proper hand position. She and her dad, an engineer by profession, developed an easy-to-use device that allowed her to play comfortably through rehearsals and performances and FHRED was born.
But why FHRED? In the engineering world most prototype products or products under development have "nicknames". For years, we had products with Nielsen Woodwind Products "Esmeralda the oboe playing duck" around. So Fred became Esmeralda's "companion". Fred was never intended to be more than a support for Katie. But, as so often happens, other players saw Fred or heard about it and we began getting requests to "just make one for me". So Fred became FRED-the Finger Retraining Ergonomic Device. But, when we went to trademark FHRED, we discovered that the acronym already belonged to a fire escape device company. So FRED became FHRED-the Finger and Hand Retraining Ergonomic Device.
FHRED became two at a young age, becoming FHRED-1 Concert (Pro Short) Model for English Horn and FHRED-2 Concert (Pro Long) Model for Oboe. Later they were found useful with the Clarinet and Soprano Saxophone. More recently, we discovered that many European players needed a longer model to accomodate their playing style and a FHRED Extra Long was added.
The members of the FHRED family have undergone many refinements to make them quality products, inconspicuous when in use and easy to store when not. The prototypes have been evaluated by professionals who have said that they allow them to practice without fear of developing fatigue and stress which affects performance. The evaluators who helped us were so impressed and didn't want to give back their prototype models. In fact they offered to pay us for them.
When FHRED-1 and FHRED-2 were about a year old, and after working with physicians in the Performing Arts Medical Association, FHRED-Long Studio (Standard) was born. The FHRED-Long Standard Model was to fill a need for a lower cost unit which still provided the same basic features of the FHRED-Pro Long model. Replacing the adjustment memory feature of the Pro model with a manual locking adjustment allowed this to be done. About 5 months later, In response to our student customers, this unit was replaced with the FHRED-Studio Kit which allows the manual locking adjustment unit to be used with the English Horn, Oboe, Clarinet and Soprano Saxophone.
In recent months we have had requests from "doublers" who would like to use two Standard FHRED supports but prefer not having to deal with the assembly of two Studio Kits. In response to their needs, we have discontinued the FHRED Studio Kit and replaced it with two new Studio models: the Standard Short 6.5"-12" and the Standard Long 10"-17". Both of these models use the same manual locking adjustment found on the Studio Kit and allow these players to enjoy the benefits of using a FHRED on two instruments. And, as with the Pro FHREDs, we recently added an extra long model for players who need "just a little more length."
The Birth of SAMI (Stand up Accessory for Musical Instruments)
While the FHRED-Studio Kit was being developed, SAMI was born. SAMI was developed in response to our customers who want to play standing or in small ensembles. SAMI provides complete freedom of motion for giving cues or "wailing".
The Family Growth Continues
FHRED and SAMI made their "debut" to the Clarinet community at the ClarinetFest in 1997. One of the other exhibitors was so excited about FHRED that he suggested we develop a model suitable for beginners. He explained that the dropout rate among beginning clarinet students is approximately 60% during the first year. We decided to do a study to determine whether using a student model FHRED could reduce this dropout rate. Thanks to the cooperation of four clarinet and oboe teachers, we were able to evaluate our Student model FHRED with 42 students ranging in age from nine years through adult. Much to our delight, the use of FHRED reduced the dropout rate from 60% to 2.4%. Even more impressive was the fact that 48% of the students were making better than expected progress at the end of the nine month study. Since we believe that the music students of today are the music lovers of tomorrow, we are very enthusiastic about the future audience potential when students experience the joy of playing a musical instrument during their formative years.
If you are a teacher who works with beginning clarinet or oboe students, we encourage you to use FHRED with them. FHRED will help your beginners to progress faster, develop better breathing technique and hand/finger positions while you spend more time teaching music and less correcting bad habits. Teaching will be more fun and satisfying for you.
Raising the family
FHRED and SAMI are now appearing in concert halls and opera houses, universities and conservatories the world over. They are even marching with the U.S. military ceremonial bands.
We are very thankful for the professionals who evaluated and critiqued our designs and for the constructive feedback from you, our customers. This helps keep the products dynamic and evolving to meet your needs. It is a pleasure to be able to offer such quality products to the musical community.
We currently have over 1600 very happy customers. In fact, most of our sales come from customers who recommend FHRED to their friends, colleagues and students. The next time you are "in the pit" look around you and see how many of your colleagues are already using FHRED. But you'll have to look closely; FHREDs are easy to use but tough to see.