Posted by jeff miller on February 21, 2004 at 17:36:01:
In Reply to: Any suggestions? posted by Slippy Slipperton on February 21, 2004 at 16:26:57:
I had this problem for ages, and found it was seriously affecting my posture, concentration, and thus playing.
I have two similar solutions.
For most of my tubas, I take a towel or chamois and place it flat. I then fold it until it's about 8 inches wide. I place a belt across one end of this and then roll the towel around the belt, leaving a belt with a towely lump in the middle. I then wrap the belt around my tuba (just inside the bottom bow) as many times as necessary until it is tight. I leave this on my tubas all the time.
My Yorkbrunner won't fit in the gig bag with one of these, so I use a Chamois cloth "Rat-tailed" and then tie this around the tuba in the same place.
For me, this location is a balancing point for my tubas, and not only do they not slide off my legs, I really have to exert very little effort to keep them in proper playing position.
I do think it's funny how much we all talk about breathing, etc, but then have horrible posture and tension emposed by our ungainly instruments.
Jeff Miller