i got such good help on my question about relaxation i am back for one more.
everyone says to use a straight back chair. are people actually sitting back so that their back contacts the back of the chair? or are people sitting forward, such that the back might as well not be there? is an adjustable stool such as harp players use maybe as good or better?
thanks in advance. i know it will be helpful. when i implemented all the good advice about relaxing, i noticed that i was missing info on sitting. you told me to sit up straight and not to slump, but that can be accomplished on a stool.
I play best when seated on the edge of an armless chair - it wouldn’t take much of an effort for someone to pull it out from under me and fortunately, I’ve yet to fall off. This pretty much ensures that my back remains straight although I think I lean forward slightly. For me, failure to pay attention to correct seating usually results in a vague sense of uneasiness while playing which is sort of distracting. Correct posture is rarely a problem at home - it’s when I’m out playing with others and in a hurry to play the tunes that I fail to take time to get properly situated. That’s my 2 cents!
Meir, the best posture is to be sitting upright unaided.
In a perfect world you’d want to learn to play in a stool or chair matched to your height, with your right leg bent back a bit so that your right thigh is a couple of inches lower than your left thigh. This is a necessity with a full set so that when you drape regs and drones across your right thigh your right wrist will be able to get to the regs easily. Therefore one’s height and the length of one’s thigh will require a different size stool/chair for each person.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, you will find that perfectly sized stools and chairs aren’t always readily available. You will have to learn to make do with what is to hand. Actually, after sitting for an hour or two at a session, you will be very glad to have a chair with a back on it to rest against.
Learning to sit on the edge of whatever hardbacked, armless chair is available as Bill suggests is the best advice you will get. Also, I find that once you get used to playing in a certain posture it can be disconerting to sit in something different and trying to play as you normally would. Getting used to playing on the edge of a commonly sized chair is probably the best habit to get into.
I like to sit on my upholstered piano bench. This is very comfortable, because I can adjust the height.
An alternative, which I use at performances, is the kind of chair which is used at laboratory benches - half standing, half sitting, with a T-bar to put your right foot on to bend the knee.