Dear Tom, Posture is an ongoing problem with lute-playing. There is mention in the 17th century - I forget off hand whether it was Mace, Burwell, or both - of lute-playing resulting in back problems. Plus �a change, plus c'est le m�me mal au dos.
Speaking from very bitter experience, I would advise against too a hard chair. As you play, you move slightly, like weavers sitting on hard benches working away at their looms , and the little bones in your bottom - the ones you sit on - will grind away on the hard surface. You risk getting the terrible affliction known as weaver's bottom, where the bits of gristle (or whatever it is) wear away off the bone. I am deadly serious, because it is an extremely painful condition. If you're quite plump, and your bottom has lots of padding (as it were), you'll probably be OK. If your bottom is not well-endowed, put a cushion on the hard surface of the chair. This condition was known at Shakespeare's time. In _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, Nick Bottom is a weaver, who is a bit of a fool, and who is transformed into a donkey. Most people spot all the puns with the word ass, which can mean donkey, fool, and a person's bottom; but the other play on words, the connection between Weaver and Bottom, is usually overlooked. Best wishes, Stewart. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 12:27 PM Subject: Virtue/lute > Recently there was a discussion, which I glanced at, about lute music/virtue. > I have in the last days discovered yet another virtue of the lute. This > winter in the UK has been horribly damp and I've gone and got a touch of lumbago > (shot in the back by a witch, as the Germans say). And the only position I feel > comfortable in is sitting upright on a hard chair playing my lute, with a > hot-water bottle behind me. Somehow the combination of the hard chair and the > position required to play the instrument relieve the pain, and course the music > does the rest. So crappy days have been turned into happy days, thanks to the > virtues of - the lute. Happy New Year to one and all > > Tom Beck
