Process: Secrets of The
One-Handed Clap Revealed
I asked a programmer/developer friend for feedback on recent .think posts. He suggested that readers who don’t know us quite as well might benefit from a peek into our culture, personality and processes here at Brainstorm.
An email exchange I had with a copywriter promptly leapt to mind. During an interview she singled out a bio item I’d submitted.
Copywriter
Please explain:
“Can clap with one hand, either hand.”
Me
H’m, explaining it is infinitely more difficult than doing it, but here goes:
First I align and abut all my fingers (index, middle, ring and pinky), creating a rigid grouping. My thumb is curled away from—with its base pressed deeply into and at a parallel angle to—the body of my hand.
Next, I slightly cock the grouping, not unlike an asp ready to strike.
Then at once, in one fluid yet rapid stroke, I drive the middle and distal phalanges downward into the meaty base of my palm.
In so doing, my fingers break in unison across the intersection of the proximal and middle phalanges. As the stroke continues downward, unimpeded by the out-swung thumb, my fingers articulate into a small inverted hyper extension of the distal and middle phalanges as the tips of the distal phalanges strike the base of my hand. The resulting tone is that of a typical, single, “clap.”
I am capable of clapping at nearly the same pace as anyone with two hands and I can perform this feat with either hand, independently or in unison.
December 12th, 2006 at 11:36 am
So, I am now trying the one hand clap. So far I do better with two hands!
February 15th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Being the visually brained species that I am, I hereby request a video.
Please?
July 27th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
A great tutorial on how to perform the one handed clap:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5224166_clap-one-hand.html