Baroque Flute Posture: Standing and Sitting Positions

STANDING
If you'd like to try something different than what you might be doing, read on. Contrary to what seems natural to do, try the following instead of standing parallel to the music stand:

Have your left foot in front of the music stand and have the right foot further back, in the angle you see in the photo here. Now feel how you can shift your weight either forward onto the left foot, or back on the right foot. So now we're able to move by shifting our weight like this and maintain a feeling of groundedness and stability at the same time, without feeling stuck. Try to let much of your weight fall onto your feet and lower legs, thus the knees slightly bent. Let everything drop downwards, avoid locking your knees straight since that'll pull tension upwards.

Feel the contact of your feet and toes with the ground, imagine they go even underground like a tree with deep roots spread underneath, so that your weight/tension is evenly spread. This is why I could never understand how people perform in high heels!   To each their own.

So this is how we can accommodate the necessary playing angle of the transverse flute as well as incorporating freedom of movement, and shifting our weight and tension downwards.

SITTING
So you see here that I have my chair angled towards the music stand so that I can have my feet and legs in the similar position I'd have for standing (not parallel to the music stand). You can still move by shifting your weight forward/backward, you should feel your pelvic bone and shifting between the "halves of your bum" is basically it. Again here as well, keep the weight downwards, feel grounded to your seat and extending through the legs and feet onto the ground.

A thing about CHAIRS and MUSIC STANDS - make sure your chair isn't too low like you're sinking into it. If the seat makes you slouch you'll want to avoid that. I'd sit also within the front half of the seat and not leaning on my back. You want to be UP and READY at all times. 

MUSIC STAND – You'll want to have it high enough so that you're not aiming downwards. This photo is a little distorted, but the music stand was a little higher than it appears here.

PLAY TO THE HORIZON. Besides the height of the stand itself, experiment also with the ANGLE OF THE DESK.Please use only music stands where you can adjust the desk angle freely!! If you lay it a little flatter (point more upwards instead of a steep angle), that'll also encourage your head to stay up and not be buried in the music stand. In a performance situation, this will also encourage better stage presence and communication with your fellow players.

​Let me know how this all goes!