Posted by Rick Denney on December 11, 2001 at 12:00:37:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Related tensions in windplayers' bodies posted by Klaus on December 10, 2001 at 22:56:17:
Actually, I tilt my head to the left (or to the right of a person facing me from the front). This is because of a vision problem that cannot be corrected. I see much better with my head tilted and turned slightly to the left and down. I've done this all my life, and holding my head up straight now feels utterly unnatural.
The resulting imbalance has contributed to an assortment of back troubles, exacerbated by being much heavier a few years ago (before triathlon) than I am now.
That picture to which you refer is interesting. You can see that my pinkie is at full reach, and just resting on the edge of the button, even though my thumb is jammed all the way into the ring and my forefinger overlaps the first valve. If my elbow was lower and the thumb ring also lower, it would work much better. But the picture isn't precise; I normally use a DEG Tuba Rest (except at home, where I have a K&M stand, but both are set to the same height). I may not have been exactly in my normal position in this picture.
Do you have a picture of yourself playing your York Master that you could show?
Rick "who can't play low notes well on any tuba, heh, heh" Denney