Uncomfortable chairs!

December 31, 2011 at 04:11 AM · There's once I play a Messiah concert in a church which the floor is not flat... You know in some church the floor has an angle so the front seat won't block the back, and unfortunately the whole floor is in an angle... To make it worse I'm seating at a 45 degree angle so I'll be sliding to the side and to the back, making turning music sheet very challenging. At the end I have to use both legs to "grab" the legs of the chair so I'll stay in a position where I'm balanced, able to play, and be able to turn pages. My legs are sore after the playing. It WAS a nightmare and I don't even want to start to talk about the organ wasn't heated up so we play as low as A-405...

December 31, 2011 at 05:15 AM · Karen, I bought a collapsible, adjustable piano bench and take it to every gig. It has no back (I don't sit against the back) but it provides me with seating that is consistent, and comfortable. It's black, so no ensemble has ever complained about me using it.

They make collapsible cello chairs with backs, if a back is necessary for your comfort while playing (the woman who gave me a coaching last week is urging me to use a backed chair, but it still feels really weird). Good luck--it does make an enormous difference.

December 31, 2011 at 12:38 PM · Marjory, that's interesting, at home I usually sit on a piano bench to practice orchestra music. In that case it started more because of necessity--there's no room for another chair in that room--than because of a conscious choice, but it seems to work better than most chairs. I don't sit against the back either. I was always told to sit on the edge of my seat. If I sit against the back my bow arm feels awkward and hits my knee.

December 31, 2011 at 01:00 PM · Folding chairs are the worst.

You can buy or make a seat-sized foam wedge, usually covered in a tasteful black fabric. I believe Shar sells them.

I hope your rehearsals have decent breaks scheduled...

December 31, 2011 at 01:38 PM · Yes, I've had trouble with some chairs - especially the kind that have the seat slope back, instead of being straight. However I find that simple folding card-table type chairs -especially if they have a bit of padding - are comfortable and supportive. I do believe in sitting much of the time staight up - not slouching - against the back of the chair. It supports the back. This is a tip I heard years ago from Joseph Siverstein, the great former concertmaster of the BSO.

A hard metal folding chair can be made more comfortable by a seat pad.

December 31, 2011 at 02:30 PM · I also have back issues. At rehearsal I look for one of the few old wooden stacking chairs...they're the most comfortable of what's available there.

At home I mostly stand.

I did buy an antique 'dresser' stool (like a small piano bench) for sitting too...no back and comfortable for shorter sessions.

December 31, 2011 at 03:14 PM · My Alexander Technique instructor has always told me that it's not the chair, it's how you use the chair.

The worst ones are the chairs that slope backwards. I find it works best when sitting in a poorly constructed chair to sit on the edge of the chair.

December 31, 2011 at 04:17 PM · Anne, I have to respectfully disagree that folding chairs are the worst. As long as they have a flat seat they can be tolerable. For me at least it's the bucket seats that seem to be the most deadly, the folding is secondary. But I have seen folding chairs with bucket seats, too.

Raphael, I have noticed that men seem to be more likely to sit back against the back of the chair--including in the BSO, who I saw earlier this month. But I'm hypothesizing that this works better for them than for me because I'm average height for a woman and have relatively short legs. If I sit all the way back I just barely can put my feet flat on the floor. And I was always told to sit on the edge of the chair. Which is theoretically ok as long as it's not a bucket where the edge is a ledge that sticks up.

NA, I did a search and found your thread on the topic from a few years ago. Did you try a tush cush or whatever it's called? For some reason I'm kind of leery of putting anything under the back legs and tilting the whole chair forward like some folks suggested there. That seems like it might look weird and be distracting to the audience.

December 31, 2011 at 04:52 PM · I didn't try the name brand stuff (too hard to get a hold of)...but I've tried cushions, different types of chairs, sitting forward, leaning back, crossing my legs, uncrossing my legs (and most of those just happen during the last half-hour, lol)...

Frankly, standing is the easiest for me...

I'm keeping my eyes open should an affordable solution come my way...but otherwise I'm sucking it up...

December 31, 2011 at 05:34 PM · as a person with Ankylosing Spondalosis, sciatic nerve pain in the left leg, and a very arthritic left foot/ankle, I highly reccommend an arched chair back (arched outwards, to force your spine's natural curvature, or what should be) and depending on if you feel any pain in your legs/ankles/feet: choose an elevated footrest, based on whichever side you might have more chronic pain in: ie: all mine is in the left, so the footrest is used for the left foot, which will alleviate the pain/pressure, and provide the correct support for the affected side. It works greatly, and will allow one to play for a much longer, extended period of time.

December 31, 2011 at 05:34 PM · Chairs make a huge difference! My worst experience ever was with a circa-1960 folding chair in a grade school gym where we had the misfortune to rehearse for awhile. It was bent enough so the seat sloped forward and I had to fight all night to keep the damn thing from throwing me off onto the floor. I ended up in a chiropractor's office a few days after that, for the first and only time in my life.

Currently, we're rehearsing in a large room at a church which has the best chairs ever. Metal frames, fabric upholstery, well-padded. The seats are fairly broad and totally flat. I'm an edge-sitter too, and these are great for that as well as being comfortable and supportive to sit back in during long rests.

This fall I played in a pit orchestra that had some marathon rehearsals- 7 1/2 hours was the worst of the batch. They had the enlightened alternative to the buckets you describe, Karen, which are the steel and black plastic ones, often branded "Wenger." I think they are specifically marketed to music programs. They have flat seats and upright backs and stack on rolling racks- good for schools. They were fine, although a bit hard after a few hours.

If you're stuck with the buckets, the seat cushions marketed to cellists might even things out, as they slant forward.

December 31, 2011 at 07:23 PM · You can try putting blocks under the back legs of almost any chair, raising enough to tilt the seat just slightly towards the front. Also look into a wedge lumbar cushion. Sue

December 31, 2011 at 08:44 PM · Karen, I completely sympathize with your plight. I always carry a wedge cushion in my car when we are going to play in an unknown (i.e., untested) venue, whether I'm a violinist/violist or a cellist that day. (I also carry my "cello stool" just in case the chair is too bad for the wedge to correct. It is the sort of thing that cellists know only too well can happen. For male cellists those old "up-sloping-front-end-(with a bump) chairs" are real "prostate bruisers." We had them in HS cafeteria and orchestra back in the late '40s - early '50s, before I knew I had such parts inside my body - but even then they felt impossible for playing on (especially when I did it as a cellist). Even these days our orchestra has one venue with up-sloped chairs. At least a violinist can wiggle around a bit.

I would avoid any Alexander "expert" who said I could find a way to sit usefully on a chair like that!

Many orchestras use chairs from the WENGER company, which even makes specially sloped matching chairs for cellists ("Wenger cello chairs") - and they are great - I've got one.

Another type of chair that works well is the ADJUSTRITE chair. The leg lengths can be adjusted independently allowing the cellists to raise the back of the chair, thus gaining the slope they like, while other musicians can keep the seat parallel to the floor. The ADJUSTRITE also folds up so it is "portable," but at about 16 pounds it is not easily carried.

Andy

December 31, 2011 at 11:07 PM · Sorry Karen, that should read "worst for me." (Smile)

The folding chair I had in mind is the metal type that slopes back. Any chair that puts knees higher than hips is bad, but the evil folding chair is what comes to mind.

I've never done a gig in a bucket chair. I'm not sure what I'd do if I arrived at a gig and had a bucket chair waiting for me.

If I really had to play a gig in a bucket chair, I think I'd end up with the same posture as the little violin-playing guy Laurie has on the top left of the banner. Not good.

Anyhoo, Happy New Year!

January 2, 2012 at 12:32 PM · Andrew, I suppose there are probably always going to be limitations on sitting in a chair depending on how far you go with it. :)

But my AT instructor once showed me how to sit on a kid's chair without harming herself. While possible, it takes quite a bit of work for an adult to sit in a kid's chair properly, and it limits one range of motion.