The Body Matters

Musicians suffer from injury and illness. Many of these problems are established during student days and this affects all forms of music-making but the most stressful situations and the most physical damage is documented in classical music. More than half of musicians don't realise or don't think they can be in risk of having an injury with the consequence of using their bodies in the wrong way that may cause the end of their musical careers. To avoid poor health we all need to be aware of the risks we are exposed to as musicians. For that, we need information and help from the beginning of our studies which unfortunately is not often available in music schools so we need to find it by ourselves. Music-making must be considered a highly demanding physical activity so being a musician requires you to be fit in order to keep healthy and consequently extend your career.

There are several elements peculiar to playing an instrument which makes musicians particularly disposed to physical problems:

-          Stationary positions, often holding the weight of a heavy instrument for long periods of time.

-          Movements of the forearm and fingers.

-          Overuse of the same muscle groups, with under-use of the opposing muscle groups.

-          Consequently, muscle imbalances develop over time, which can lead to pain and discomfort.

Imbalances in the musician's body can develop over time and are usually a result of overuse of the arm muscles and under-use of postural muscles. By correcting these muscle imbalances you can have a significant effect on pain reduction and get a good posture through your body control.

Pain is usually caused by the physical discomfort of playing an instrument. There are many types of pain and we can feel it in many ways.

Pain produces: feeling of tension, stress, apprehension, depression, disappointment, low self-esteem, anxiety about the future.

Pain affects: practise, rehearsal, performances, relaxation, sleep and daily activities.

Dangers of ignored pain are: damage due to micro tearing of muscle fibres, damage to joints caused by poor technique, damage to ligaments, body strain to incorrect positioning.

To avoid any injury we need to understand the pain from the beginning and try to stop it before it gets serious. When you understand that pain, you also learn how to avoid it again.

Here is a list of things musicians should do to avoid pain:

- Never try to play through pain — stop beforehand

- Do not play for several hours without a break

- After a few days without playing pick up your activity gradually

- Perform warm up/stretching exercises before and after playing

- Do not continue to play even though you are tired or feel some physical discomfort.

- Do not play habitually in the forte range

- Have a day away from your instrument every week

- Do regularly review your posture in front of a mirror or pay careful attention to tensions building up in your body

- Save the more difficult pieces for the middle of the rehearsal time

- General lifestyle can affect the playing; make sure that you are eating and sleeping well.

- Incorporate mental practice into your day

- Do physical exercise more than once a week

- Allow a few minutes to physically adjust after playing like cool-down exercises.

Present music students should be learning about how to take care of their bodies; in the future they can avoid any difficulties caused by injury and also they can teach without putting the pupil in danger. Learning the correct posture while playing, how to practice and how to take care of oneself is the base of the future career and it should be taught to children who learn music. It is also easier for children to learn this, as they can relate it to the instrument and it would be learnt forwards. I propose some ideas as to how musicians all over the world could be helped to have a safe career from the beginning through childhood, student life and professional life.

All information about healthy body (and healthy mind) must start from the very beginning, from when children decide to play an instrument. This shouldn’t be treated as a separate subject as it is completely related to music-making.

Parents play a very important role. They should be aware of the importance of good health so they can keep an eye on their children (potential future musicians) while practicing at home. If they have the basics as children they will be less in danger of having problems in the future.

My own experience makes me feel strongly that practice becomes more efficient when you learn to take care of your own body, start to understand it and try to increase communication between body, mind and spirit. If you learn how to practice properly you will not need so many hours to achieve the same level. If you have back pain after 6 hours of orchestra and you go to practice for 3 hours after it, next day you probably won't be able to practice more than 1 hour. It is better to rest properly and occupy your mind with something else so the next day you will be full of energy again. To reach the high goals that we expect at any cost is not the sort of performer I would like to be, so I strongly feel that musicians should have a life outside of music to aim to live and experience things that will also make your life and your performance more interesting, mature and different.

I also think that the most important thing to focus are the children as they will be the future generations and it is our task to teach them correctly and show them the right path to follow in terms of a healthy body and maintenance. Health is, after all, more important than our instrument. If we have health, we have it all.