Joan Lottermoser

[Joan Lottermoser]

I get a stiff neck from long hours of sitting in a chair and practicing.  If I stand up i don’t have a good grip on the concertina.   What would help?

[Jody Kruskal]

Sorry to hear about your stiff neck. I have a few suggestions:

 

I have found that I make better progress practicing for shorter periods of time on multiple occasions. That is to say, 20 minutes three times a day is better than an hour per day. Or... an hour three times per week is better than 3 hours once per week. Shorter practice sessions might help.

 

Best practice is to sit up with a neutral posture in a straight backed chair with no arms. Chair arms get in the way and sitting in an easy chair or couch invites bad posture.

 

Try practicing in front of a mirror. Look at your body to see if you might be using extra muscles that are not needed for play. Do you tend to hold your face, head or shoulders with tension as an unnecessary habit? Breaking that bad habit can be hard, but the first step is to notice it.

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

Relax, that's the main thing; sometimes problem is built up by tensioning up too much, so becoming looser in technique could help.

Or change positions regularly, ; certainly standing now and again, and I agree with hint already provided of chair with no arms on it, or maybe stool instead?

Placing concertina on knee when playing  ( padded with cloth) makes things less rigid, as does, the need to  take rests too... It should be rewarding to play music, but, to me at least, not become chore, or painful.

 

[wunks]

Clive Thorn mentions playing while lying down in a recent thread.  I like to use a folding guitar players chair, the kind with a padded back and seat.  You can play with both feet up or stretch one leg down to ground while resting 'tina on the other knee.  

[Alan Day]

Good advice regarding practice of  little and often.

You will make better progress with  15- 20 minute sessions on regular daily intervals than hours spent hunched over your concertina. Not only muscular but mentally .

Al

[Jody Kruskal]

Right, "Not only muscular but mentally"

[Don Taylor]

Joan

 

I wonder if you are looking down at the buttons as you are playing? 

 

If so, then that may cause you to extend your neck for a long time which might be the cause of your neck pain.  Most of the long-time players here rarely, if ever, look at the buttons so it should be possible to break the habit. 

 

In the meantime, you might find wearing an orthopedic neck roll helpful in taking the stress off you neck and to remind you not to look down at the buttons.

Edited June 1, 2022 by Don Taylor

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

Good old-fashioned advice is to sit with your back nice and straight, and arms relaxed, and also if you happen to be reading from a music, book ( ?)..then place the music book higher up so that you adopt a pose that makes you have to look up slightly more often.

 

[Gail_Smith]

I play EC standing for a Morris side, but sitting for more complicated tunes (where I sometimes use my little finger to play notes). 

I have put a sash through the thumb straps and round my neck for playing when i am standing. This takes a proportion of the weight off the little fingers. It also means that I can carry it around more easily, so it is less likely to get stolen or roll down a hill into a river (I had a near-miss on this before I adoped using the strap). If I want to wave the instrument around while playing, I just let the sash loose.  Maybe this idea would help you ?

[SIMON GABRIELOW]

I've stuck a topic on this in Ergonomics section of concertina.net also; inspired by thoughts on physical things! As to relaxing when playing.