Posted by Ryan McGeorge on August 12, 2003 at 14:37:11:
In Reply to: Shoulder Tension posted by Wil on August 12, 2003 at 11:03:47:
I have run into a lot of people with this problem or similar problems. I am a firm believer in the fact that posture effects everything. If your shoulders are tense, chances are the rest of your upper body is going to be tense making your breathing and playing tense. A lot of euphonium players I have seen try to hold the horn too much with their right hand. When this happens it is quite often the case that the right hand and arm become cramped and often raise the right shoulder with a great deal of tension. I think it most effective to hold the horn primaraly with the left hand, while using the right hand only to balance the horn.
Something else that might help you relax the shoulders is doing shoulder cirles before you play and maybe during practice breaks. Roll your shoulders backwards in a circular motion and really get them nice and loose. After they start to feel relaxed, hold them the most downward backward position for a second and then relax them. (Doing this in front of a mirror can be good help!) Your shoulders should be nice and lowered and relaxed. Then bring up the horn to playing position while maintaining this relaxed shoulder state. If you do this often enough you will eventually get to the point where you don't have to think about it anymore and your upper body should feel natural and relaxed all the time. I hope this helps! Good luck!
Ryan