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 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:52 pm
I just got around to reading my January issue of Flute Talk magazine, and found an interesting article regarding flute players and their backs during marching season.
Essentially, the marching position, when facing flat to the sideline with a parallel flute angle, is very awkward for the body, and makes the flautist more prone to shoulder, back, and elbow injury.
The article states that remedies include eliminating flutes from marching band (yeah, never gonna happen). But it also suggests a piccolo section instead (-shudder-), or that flutes pick up percussion, guard, or another instrument. It also suggests curved head joints, like those young children use if they pick up the flute.
I found this incredibly interesting, actually, since I'm a flute player. My right shoulder hurts (mostly when rubbed out), especially during marching season. >.< Glad I'm picking up mello for corps this summer, so I can play mello throughout college instead.
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 6:27 pm
I can agree with the shoulder and back pain since I marched flute 3 and a half of my 4 years in marching band through high school. And just a piccolo section is scary.... I'd hate to see that, especially since some of the people in my section can't tune themselves.
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Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 9:14 pm
I'm a flute player also, but unlike yall, I've marched guard all four years so I never experienced marching with a flute. But I can just guess that it would probably hurt your shoulders having to hold it up the whole time. Kinda like with guard, sometimes you gotta hold really awkward positions that don't always feel great. But yes I agree also with the piccolo section, that would be very bad at my school.
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:34 pm
anime girl michie I can agree with the shoulder and back pain since I marched flute 3 and a half of my 4 years in marching band through high school. And just a piccolo section is scary.... I'd hate to see that, especially since some of the people in my section can't tune themselves. My director has been tryign to make an all pic section for about two years now. We only have one flute out of four. As for the pain thing, our flute section(I not one of them) has the least back/shoulder/elbow pain problems then the rest of the band.The tubas have the highest amount of people with back problems(half. 2 out of 4) But thats because one has skulliosis(not sure abotu spelling)
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 4:42 pm
ClarinetGoddess As for the pain thing, our flute section(I not one of them) has the least back/shoulder/elbow pain problems then the rest of the band.The tubas have the highest amount of people with back problems(half. 2 out of 4) But thats because one has skulliosis(not sure abotu spelling) Yeah, the tuba pain is understandable because, whether Sousa or contra, there's pressure on the shoulders. Same with heavier brass like marching euphonium and baritone. The flute pain is different because the instrument, though light, has the most awkward positions (especially when doing left slides, where your body's going one way and your flute's going the other!) =P
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Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 5:11 pm
ClarinetGoddess anime girl michie I can agree with the shoulder and back pain since I marched flute 3 and a half of my 4 years in marching band through high school. And just a piccolo section is scary.... I'd hate to see that, especially since some of the people in my section can't tune themselves. My director has been tryign to make an all pic section for about two years now. We only have one flute out of four. As for the pain thing, our flute section(I not one of them) has the least back/shoulder/elbow pain problems then the rest of the band.The tubas have the highest amount of people with back problems(half. 2 out of 4) But thats because one has skulliosis(not sure abotu spelling) sorry i saw my chance to sound smart its Scoliosis so you were close and we dont have any flutes because we are so tiny we use piccolo's because they are ear shattering high and can be heard over an entire band
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 8:05 am
NeoRaptor99 ClarinetGoddess anime girl michie I can agree with the shoulder and back pain since I marched flute 3 and a half of my 4 years in marching band through high school. And just a piccolo section is scary.... I'd hate to see that, especially since some of the people in my section can't tune themselves. My director has been tryign to make an all pic section for about two years now. We only have one flute out of four. As for the pain thing, our flute section(I not one of them) has the least back/shoulder/elbow pain problems then the rest of the band.The tubas have the highest amount of people with back problems(half. 2 out of 4) But thats because one has skulliosis(not sure abotu spelling) sorry i saw my chance to sound smart its Scoliosis so you were close and we dont have any flutes because we are so tiny we use piccolo's because they are ear shattering high and can be heard over an entire band Thats why we use pics. We have a section of 4 flutes/pics
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Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:11 pm
I've never had this sort of pain. No flute in the band has experienced that pain as far as I know. We're a flute section with 3 pics at a time at most.
Actually, sliding feels like a nice twist to me. Then again, I'm a freshman, so I've probably been doing it wrong all year. ._.
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Posted: Wed Mar 09, 2011 6:31 pm
I've never really heard of this before, but it does sound interesting!
Our instructors always nag the flutes when we practice lateral slides, because in our band, they don't turn their upper bodies fully, just the shoulders, which probably causes a lot of pain (I have no idea).
Of course that issue is mainly for the piccs because they have microscopic instruments. Not calling them out or anything!
(My BD always says that if he could have one huge section in the band, it would be upper woodwinds, like 20 more clarinets and a whole bunch more flutes, I don't know exactly how many, but the section was 19 strong this year.)
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Posted: Thu May 19, 2011 7:14 pm
i can agree with the pain.
i've marched flute for five (this season will be six) years.
however, sometimes beauty is worth the pain, haha.
i don't like when people play in any kind of slouched
position, or with any sort of curvature in their posture.
it might be more comfortable, but it makes for ugly
drills.
however, if you roll your back before and after practice,
it definitely relieves a lot of the tension that builds up.
the more you stretch, the less pain(:
and as far as a piccolo section, the thought kind of
horrifies me, haha.
we only have one piccolo, as we are a rather small band.
however, they're so shrill that i don't think i'd be
particularly fond of a whole section of them...
more so, if a piccolo is out of tune, my god is it
out of tune, hahaha.
no offense to any pics...
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