Klarinet Archive - Posting 000624.txt from 2000/12

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Stand or Sit? (what about...?)
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 19:32:39 -0500

--- rgarrett@-----.edu wrote:

> I would assert that sitting or standing while playing the clarinet makes
> very little difference except in those cases in those special cases where
> people have a physical issue that requires them to sit or stand.

Alright, it's time to annoy Tony Pay again and focus on technical things that
inhibit the ease of clarinet playing vs. those that make it easier (apparently
an irrelevant subject in his mind). Nobody has mentioned this yet, and I con-
sider it to be very relevant to this thread: in my experience, there is a great
deal more opportunity for tension in the body (half the Klarinet community re-
flexively rolls its eyes) to go consciously unnoticed, serving to confound mus-
cular freedom and inhibit one's ability to play at their best, when a player is
seated. Even the most experienced and refined players in the world are not im-
mune to stress and tension -- they're just better at compensating for it through
years of discipline and training. When the body is in the more compressed posi-
tion of sitting, it's very easy for the quad muscles in the legs, for example, to
be unconsciously flexed while playing, when this clearly has no benefit to one's
technical ability. And, just to make a general point from that, if a player is
struggling in a technical sense with their instrument, I would posit that this
makes it more difficult for them to express themselves musically.

Back to the sitting subject. The legs are closer together, the arms may gravitate
more inward toward the body, and there is the greater tendency to slouch and compress
one's body in general. I believe learning to play naturally while standing has po-
tential as a terrific remedial technique for learning how to play with less tension
when seated. When we play in a standing position, the legs are usually slightly fur-
ther apart, occupied with supporting the weight of the body, no longer free to allow
tension to accumulate and travel elsewhere. The arms are generally slightly more
flared from the body, again occupied with supporting weight (of the instrument in
this case), while it's very easy when seated to cleave the arms to the body, as if
to partially support the instrument by the force of friction between the upper arms
and the torso. In that case, the upper arms become viable receptacles for tension,
which inevitably travels to the shoulders and elsewhere.

More simply put (since I need to hop in the shower and start my day), while it is
possible to play freely and without the interference of tension while seated, I
find myself much more aware of my muscles and any possible tension when standing,
which is a very useful sensation to replicate when in the seated position.

-- Neil

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