Well I have to say I certainly admire all you guys who stand and play. My knees are shot so that's not an option anymore. However I do sit on a stool so that puts me higher and I'm tall, 6'3" so I don't have any problem interacting with the people. I too get a lot of compliments about my interaction with the audience.

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Well I have to say I certainly admire all you guys who stand and play. My knees are shot so that's not an option anymore. However I do sit on a stool so that puts me higher and I'm tall, 6'3" so I don't have any problem interacting with the people. I too get a lot of compliments about my interaction with the audience.

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

I used to resemble that guy, but I lost 100 lbs thanx to Gary Diamond You really have to be aware of your stage presence also. A good way is to have someone take some pics of you playing and see what you think?.... & where changes if any need to be addressed, or maybe teh camouflage of sitting would be a better solution.

Exactly sitting or standing dont mean a thing its a personal comfort zone for YOU.
If You Dress appropriately for the gig.. then the only thing people care about is the MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC, when they listen to you play, not some person grooving weirdly in a wacky outfit.



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 05-07-2008).]

I'm a confirmed sitter. I use the sustain pedal a lot, and the FC7 sometimes for pitch bend, so standing would be uncomfortable.

Ian

Sitting with arranger, because of the 13 note Ketron pedal I use.

Sitting with the B-3, obviously.

Standing sometimes with guitar and/or the Electro with my "family" trio.


Russ

Russ....
using most pedals or multi pedals would surly make sense to sit down to properly control them comfortably. I prefer sitting myself especially when doing two 4 gigs back to back Whew!

Apparently when standing, the load on vertebral disks is approx 125% - when lying down it is approx 85% - but when sitting it is 240%...As I have back issues, I have been seeing Doctors for a long time, and one of these guys imparted this information recently to me quoting some journal or report which I forget the name of now.

Thought it might be of some interest for those reading this thread.

As a former accordion player, and a piano player I am comfortable with both positions.

I think it is as DNJ said, (and I paraphrase) that doing the thing that makes you feel most comfortable when performing is the way to go.

Makes sense really, that if your body is comfortable, your performance will be too.

Cheers
Dennis

Hi Chony

Here's a post I did on this exact thing a while back.

The main thing here is to experiment moving your bench closer and farther away, at the same time see if sitting further towards the front, in the middle or further back makes a difference. Then you need to find your center of balance by leaning forward and backward til you find a spot where your body almost supports itself. This may require a number of moves until you find the position that works.

On the following post I tell of an elderly student that because of a deteriorating spine could only play 15 minutes and would have to stop due to pain.

I spent about 45 minutes with her going through the above procedure. A few days later she said she was enjoying sitting comfortably and playing her organ for a few hours a day.

So, if this bit of experimenting in a logical way can help someone with that kind of condition, I think you can see what this will do for someone without this challenge.

And the idea of being able to set a glass of water on your wrist and not have it fall will give you the proper hand/wrist position. Doing this and also watching your position at the computer both typing and using the mouse can help to avoid or improve carpel tunnel.

Good luck. Let me know if you need any help with this.
http://www.synthzone.com/ubbs/Forum37/HTML/012055.html

Best
Scott
http://ScottLMusic.com