I have intended to add this page for a long time, but maybe it’s just as well I didn’t. I wanted to warn developing, intermediate students to be cautious about their posture, particularly in seated ensemble situations, like concert band. You know how, when you’re crammed into the flute section of an ensemble with all the other flutists and you have to share a stand with someone and you don’t have room to spread out properly? What do you do? You have two options, don’t you? Well, three if you consider impaling your neighbor with the foot joint of your flute.
- You can put your flute in front of the person to your right. That gets tricky, though, because if the person to your right is your stand partner, you can obstruct their view of the printed music on the stand.
- You can put your flute behind the person to your right, which means you turn your body more to the right, perhaps turning your back to the audience. There’s another problem with this position, too: your right arm doesn’t have the room it needs to allow your elbow to be far enough out that it puts your wrist in good alignment with your hand, preventing your wrist from being bent at an uncomfortable and unfavorable angle to facilitate the finger movement in your right hand.
So what happens? You end up having to sling your elbow over the back of your chair, pulling your torso even further to the right, or suffer with your right arm crunched down between the chair and your neighbor. Consequently, you often tilt your head to accommodate the weird angle at which you’re having to hold your flute so much that it looks like you’re either about to drop off to sleep or you’ve had an unsuccessful encounter with a guillotine. (Sorry, that was a little graphic, however accurate.) In any case, it’s NOT GOOD and develops a bad habit.
For years, I’ve been calling this “band syndrome” when I teach, because that’s where it first happened to me, in concert band. Maybe, though, I need to call it something else. I was just watching this great video on the Gemeinhardt website by Nina Perlove called “Tilting: What’s the Deal with Flute Posture Anyway?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNy-Ibz2j8s&t=5s) In it, she says that a lot of band directors, most likely in a marching band rather than a concert band situation, tell their students that their flutes should all be parallel to the ground. Kind of the opposite situation I’ve been describing! So maybe “band” is not the word I should be using, but it’s interesting that band directors can give potentially harmful advice in a lot of different ways to their flute students. Hmmm….
So what’s the solution? Watch Ms. Perlove’s video, first of all. As you would expect, she does a great job of explaining the relationship of the flute to your head, specifically your mouth or embouchure. Second, you should always be mindful of what your right wrist is doing. If it’s bending, something is not right. Your right elbow should be high enough that it creates a fairly level plane between the back of your hand and your arm. Any other position puts a strain on your hand and wrist, which keeps your fingers from being able to function at their best. In other words, it affects your technique, and you don’t want to do anything to slow those fingers down or make them work unevenly.
Finally, if you’re in an ensemble and sharing music, have a quick, friendly conversation with your stand partner. Ask what is a comfortable position for your partner, and negotiate a comfortable position for you, as well. A compromise I’ve often reached is to allow the person on the left to have their flute in front of their neighbor to the right, which also means the person on the right has to be willing to let the music stand to stay more to the left than in the middle between you.
Now that I’ve caused your head to be swimming left and right, it all boils down to just being mature and working it out together to find a position that’s best for both of you. The last thing either of you needs is a case of band syndrome…or is it lazy elbow…or is it arm claustrophobia…or maybe just poor posture…. Whatever you decide to call it, don’t do it!