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Oren Marshall at Air Studio, London (during the recording of Hans Zimmer's score for the film, "King Arthur") This is the prototype of his new ergonomic tuba. It looks great and sounds absolutely fantastic. Most tubas destroy good posture but this tuba is actively good for posture - just look at Oren's straight, long back and relaxed shoulders.
About four 5 years ago Oren came to me for some help with his playing posture as he was having pains in his back and shoulders and some minor breathing difficulties. (I used to teach Alexander Technique). Looking at Oren playing his normal tuba it struck me that what was wrong was the design of the instrument, not the way he was playing it. Most successful tuba players are big men but Oren, although perfectly proportioned, is of slender build and light in weight.
My solution for Oren was to tell him he had already gone as far as he could in trying to make his body work better around the standard design of tuba. I made a quick sketch of an imaginary instrument - rather like the one in the photo. Oren took the idea seriously, took the picture away and had the instrument built |
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