Here it is, as promised...and it's perfect. No more backaches.




Plus now I have more room. As you can see, my brother wedged my grand into a corner and with the big bench, I had to actually squeeze into an opening of about 20 inches to get to the piano.

I'm a happy camper.

And I also have some room to put a small pillow for additional back support and comfort.

Kathleen

Kathleen,

What kind of chair is it? It looks like a conventional office chair but it's hard to tell from the picture.

I have to say, the back support would be nice sometimes. I've been trying to be more attentive to my posture at the piano but it's one of those things I constantly have to remind myself of. Maybe a big SIT UP STRAIGHT DUMMY sign on the fallboard would do it?

That sign would be cheaper ...but not nearly as comfortable or very comforting! :p

It is just a regular plain office chair. Nothing fancy (about $20) and it does everything, but play the piano for you.

The back rest is like heaven. I never realized how I was straining my back all these many months.

Kathleen

Hi Kathleen, no one has ever suggested a typist chair to play piano before, does it swivel when you play?
If it suits your needs and is comfortable, well go for it. Mostly just the piano stool is recommended, but times change and typist chairs were not available years ago so have you come up with a new idea? If you need to protect your back then you have to do everything possible.
I love your posts, you are such an individual.
Love Shey.

Hi Shey: Yes, it does swivel, and when I play a section paricularly well, I can celebrate by spinning myself around a few times.

Thank you for you kind words. I love being thought of as an individual. Years ago, it would have been a "character." Either way, as my husband is always telling me...they threw the mold away when they made me.


Kathleen

Hey, Kathleen, that's the same chair we bought for my son (nearly 4) to sit on at his computer. Yes, he has his own computer. It was gathering dust in a closet anyway, and I thought, what the heck, let's get it out and set it up for him. He loves it.

Enjoy! I used to play sitting on a dining chair for my back's benefit. It wasn't ideal, but it did help. Strangely, while my back pain has grown worse over the years, the piano bench doesn't cause me pain like it once did.

Is it possible to flip the piano around in the other direction to have more seating room?

(Althought it looks like that cuts off a lot of good daytime reading light if you do that.)

Kathleen, wonderful! Every time I read in your posts about backpain I thought why we have to play on this uncomfortable bench, and I read once that someone sits on a drummers stool. Then there was this recent thread, as well. I am very glad for you that you made yourself comfortable.

Patty

Patty, I think there called drummers THRONES...lol -not stools- and I don't even want to go anywhere with that one!!! But they do make some VERY COMFORTABLE seats for drummers.
Drummers Throne

CozyWriter: I love your use of the word "flip." Flipping a grand piano is really funny when I close my eyes and imagine it happening.

I did beg my husband to help me move in around in the other direction. But he said that because it's been that way for about 15 years, there will be holes in the carpeting from the heavy legs. (My reaction to this was ; Who Cares?!) But, that was the end of that!

When I think of it, I could probably write a very funny (IMO) short story about this piano and me. Once, because I had taken the front section apart to find the "buzz" (I had dropped a pencil in the action, I didn't have the strength to lift the heavy section to put it back together, so I couldn't get out. I had to crawl under the piano for a few days in order to play until my husband could help me put it back together again. Then there was the time (I wear trifocals..really fun when trying to read sheet music...is that an A or a C or a B or a D?), when I had several heavy art books balancing the ends, so I could pull the music stand out and as close to me as possible so I could read the notes. This worked for about a week. Then, as I sat playing, the books gave away and the whole front of the piano landed on my lap!! Ouch!!

I have a floor lamp right in back of me, pushed way in the corner to give me some room. But the dam shade keeps jabbing me in the head. So one day, after the 100th jab, I just gave it a whack and the whole lamp landed right on the keyboard, knocking off my music, chipping out a hunk of the piano and scaring the heck out of me.

And then there was the time I was giving a very small concert for some dear friends (I had to practice for a month just to make what I played sound reasonally good). Right in the middle of my piece (and my audience was so sweet in being very quiet and listening so intently), the bottom of my piano bench gave way. I knew this was going to happen one day as it was sagging "big time." Maybe because I packed it so full. I just kept playing, pretending this was just a minor annoyance.

No need to go on, I think you get the idea.

Dennis: I'm glad to learn that your back isn't bothering you as much. Maybe you've learned to develop the correct posture. I don't think I have. I do tend to slouch and, of course, this is what causes the back discomfort. But it's a "Catch 22" situation. My back hurts, so I slouch, and because I slouch, my back hurts.

Thanks Patty: I appeciate your kind words.

Go Bears!!
Kathleen

Those are very amusing stories, Kathleen. Thanks for sharing them. May your back pain be vanquished by your new chair.

Kathleen... I LOVE YOU!

Well, not literally I guess but my back sure feels the love towards you

I've read some of your postings on your back problems. After sitting for about 10-15 minutes at the piano my back starts aching badly. Most of the time I practice through it but it's so uncomfortable. I've been using both a piano bench and my drummer's throne but neither is great for my back.

Well, I looked around for an office chair but most were no where near $20. Yesterday, I was out shopping and stumbled upon your chair. I picked it up immediately. My wife asked why are we getting another office chair? I told her it was for the piano. She laughed and said, "I couldn't use that for the piano". I said if LOVESCHOPINTOOMUCH can use it and alleviate her back pain I'm going to do the same. She was OK with it then.

I used it last night and today and I feel much better. I practiced for 1.5 hours earlier and no more back problems for me.

Thanks Kathleen!!!

LOL, Kathleen. I have a very vivid image of you sitting at your piano while everything around you comes crashing down. I must say ... you seem to have a very good sense of humour about it. I'd be mortified if I took a chunk out of my piano in a fit of pique(note to self .... move lamp now!)

With the bottom of the bench crashing down, I hope you at least had the presense of mind to say "you know how much practice it takes to have that happen on JUST the right note!" and then kept playing. "Next week we'll do the piece with live sheep and airplane motors, now who wants a lemonade!"

(My friends FEAR a recital in my house!! "What if Mozart wrote "The Stripper" etc.)


I think the only time I've seriously thought about flipping a piano was the same day that I decided that I don't want to play Rachmaninoff any more


I'm more of a well-tempered Bach kind of guy.
As interpreted by Spike Jones.

To add on, I think one more use for such a chair is when you play both hands at very low octaves of the piano and have to move to higher octaves where extreme body movements are required. You can shift the chair from left to right to maintain good posture. Sometimes I do need to make such big movement and I have to shift my butt up physically if seated on normal piano stool. Maybe I should invest in one to overcome this. Kathleen, your idea is great!

Dennis: Thank you. Glad you enjoyed my silly antedotes.

Cyborg:

I appreciate all of your responses to my post.

Kathleen

Ah yes, mortification. That's chapter 3 of "Youth is wasted on the Young."

At least the one nice thing about taking a chunk out of your piano with a lamp is that you no longer have to worry about "OMG what if it gets a Scratch on it!" I think a "touched" piano sounds/plays better than "fresh out of the box."


But please don't ask me the came thing about my CAR!