I`m interested to know if anyone has any opinions on the amount of movement a player should do when they play. A recent discussion with Rachel on an Australian clarinetist Paul Dean has prompted this. I find that when a player moves around too much, it is actually distracting and sometimes destroys the ambience of the music for me.
An Australian clarinetist/saxophonist/educator in Sydney, Mark Walton, once joked in a masterclass that clarinetists are just button pressers (unlike violinists, trombonists etc who use a lot of body movement just to produce the notes) so the mark of a good clarinetist is one who can produce all the emotion of a piece without this movement.

What are anyone else`s thoughts on the subject?

I have stated my opinion on this, but I`ll state it again to start this discussion off.
It is
Annoying
Distracting
An affectation
Totally unnecessary
If people want a visual spectacle, they should go to the circus.

yes, i HATE it when people are moving as they are performing. minus of course tromonists and string players. i myself am i clarinet player, and even though we do push buttons, soemtimes it is necessary to move a little bit to improve intonation. but a person two chairs down from me keeps the tempo with her clarinet, bobbing her head and clarinet up and down. personally i think this is VERY distracting and un needed. also i was watching our womens chorus at district contest once, and don`t get me wrong they sounded gorgeous and got a one, one of them kept moving around and was very animated while she sang. it makes you focus on her instead of the choir.

anyway just thought id share my thoughts

I think it makes it worse when they`re sitting down. At least there`s some semblance of a point to movement when they[re standing up but moving whilst sitting down is just plain unnecessary. And bobbing up and down to the beat is very distracting. There`s this woman in a band I play in that virtually conducts us with her flute but the worst bit about it is that she`s never QUITE with the beat. It drives me nuts.

I had a teacher when I first started playing the clarinet about 4 years ago who moved a lot and didn`t think there was a problem with it. So I just thought it was ok and I started doing it too after a while. Now I hate it and its been really hard getting out of the habit of looking like I`m dancing when I play. It`s all the teacher`s fault!

i suppose its hard to stop yerself moving when you play because your feeling the song you are playing and unless maybe your strapped in a straightjacket someone holds the instrument and fingers the keys and you just blow then it would be better but sometimes carnt be helped

Just to clarify: By movement, I mean, moving the whole body including sometimes bending the knees, leaning backwards like you`re gonna fall over and virtually dancing. A small amount of movement is natural and sometimes important for onstage performance and for intonation. But the kind of movement we`re talking about is the kind of movement that makes it distracting for the listener (to the point where you have to close your eyes to enjoy the performance).

i know what you were talking about i do this and it is hard to stop