Posture is crucial to good musicianship. This helps your breathing, tone, technique, and the less obvious, appearance. Posture should be constantly observed whether in the classroom or your own individual practice. It plays a huge roll in the success of the musician; the building block of good playing.
When standing tall your shoulders are comfortably back, head perfectly balanced, your arms relaxed to your side. A good rule of thumb is to imagine holding a broom between your shoulder blades. When you play the clarinet nothing should change. You bring the instrument to you and not you going to the instrument.
When you sit to play, you need to remain standing from the waste up. Your arms should be comfortably away from your body. Your head should be erect and balanced, straight back away from the back of the chair, and feet flat on the floor. This allows for maximum air intake and tone production. Also good posture displays good appearance. During a performance situation, the audience will be more interested in a player with good because they have better expectations and it actually makes the performance better!
