I joined this orchestra as a kind of “flute fitness” program, sort of like playing football with the locals after you have played professionally.  This has had other challenges however, since most of the musicians in it have never played regularly in a professional orchestra, including the conductor.  Although he is a wonderful musician and pianist, and has built this orchestra into a “tour de force” by organizing concerts, getting great soloists, finding venues and financial support, he quite happily puts the flutes to his right since we basically have to fit on whatever stage he happened to find.

For the last ten years, I have quietly tried to explain why it is ergonomically important for the flute player to sit to the conductor’s left since we have to turn our heads to the left to play. If we sit to the right, in order to see him, the flute doesn’t face forward anymore, and I would have my back to oboist.

I’ve tried sending out orchestra seating plans, and even got a little model of a cut out orchestra! I explained that every famous flutist that I had ever studied with talks about turning your head slightly to the left in order to play comfortably, which requires turning your body a bit to the right in order to be facing forward.  All to no avail.

So, when I arrived on the concert evening and found that not only a grand piano but also an e piano (as celeste) were positioned beside each other and had pushed us way over to the “wrong side”, I went directly over to see if we could find another arrangement.  I suggested putting the pianos one in front of the other.  The conductor objected strongly to this, so I suggested that I sit in the 3rd flute and piccolo position (it being an amateur orchestra, I was playing first flute and piccolo), but he didn’t go for that either.  I tried to explain that

• I can get more air if I am sitting correctly.
• If I keep sitting more and more over to his right, my flute will be facing into the violins, not out front.  
• I would I have my back to the oboe player completely, therefore having absolutely no visual contact with the other principal winds.

Moreover, in this particular hall, the acoustics suck, especially for the woodwinds since we are behind the strings and too far backstage to project well.

Finally,  I lost it and asked myself “What am I doing in this &%!?§ orchestra?”.
All of the other woodwinds were sitting there comfortably holding their forward facing instruments, not having a problem at all about where they sat.  I realized that I am the only one with an ergonomic seating problem and that in the last ten years, I had failed to make anyone understand my predicament.

(How I miss the days of having a stage manager and a proper hall to play in where you come in and all the chairs and stands are in their proper places.  No fighting for your place.  Sigh.)

At this point, the conductor realized that this really was the last straw for me.  We have had this seating position discussion multiple times, and I had just decided that was the end for me. Suddenly he offered to move the podium over!  (I had actually done this myself on another occasion, asking the entire cello section to move back so that I could move the podium over to accommodate the request of a bass clarinetist, who was peering through some flowers in another wonderful set up in a cathedral we played at!)  Oh what fun!  

Anyway, we did get it all worked out, and the conductor even presented me with the flowers that were given to him at the end of the concert.

So, dear readers, has anyone else ever had this seating problem?  And more importantly, have you found a solution?
Please, let me know if you have!

(I did consider asking the other wind players to hold their instruments out to the side to notice how they might have to adjust their sitting position and what effect it had on their breath capacity.  I’m not sure that I could get them to actually try it out though….)