How to Play The Violin Sitting Down and With Good Posture - [3 QUICK TIPS]
Are you having trouble with violin posture? Today, I'm going to discuss on how to have good posture while playing the violin.
In today's example, I'm sitting down. But, this applies to every scenario if you're standing or if you're sitting. In this case, I'm sitting down and I'm going to share with you my thoughts on how to have good posture in a few easy steps.
Make Sure That Your Neck and Spine Are Aligned
So the first step is just to make sure that you are, um, that your neck and your spine is aligned in a straight line. This means that your neck is not doing anything funny and you're not slouching. That's the number one culprit of having bad posture is just having to slouch the entire time.
There are a few reasons as to why you shouldn't slouch...
You get a lot of aches in your body and you get a lot of back pain, especially if you're playing an instrument if you slouch your back. So I don't recommend that.
Soft Shoulders
I would also recommend that you have soft shoulders. What I like to do is just make sure that I roll my shoulders back by shrugging them up, and rolling them back.
I learned this from an Alexander Technique person that if you roll your shoulders back, you get into your natural posture. By rolling your shoulders back before playing the violin will help bring our chest. Then, we can finally place the violin on our shoulder.
Strong Back & Strong Stomach
Lastly, if you have a strong stomach and a strong back, you'll be all set. (Use those 6 pack abs, violinists!)
Playing the violin is a full body experience. It's not just about keeping our upper torso in tact. Good posture, in my view, brings a positive energy and positive experience to playing the violin. We went to make violin playing as approachable as possible so focusing on these tiny details can help with your posture. (I've even corrected my posture many times while I was writing this blog post!)
Granted, there are many ways to play the violin and many violin traditions around the world. This post is for anyone who is learning music and playing the violin in western-classical tradition.
BONUS TIP
What I would add as an additional tip is to avoid having your body surround the violin too much. You want the violin to come to the body. This is something that I've learned from my Alexander technique friends as well as just my own personal experience.
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