Performing Arts Medicine: Beginning Guide to Research

In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.

We who play instruments know that there are few experiences in life that can be as fulfilling as making music. When giving to an audience, we are able to have positive influence not only on others, but also ourselves. When there is a synthesis of physical action, emotion, technique, and thought, music-making can reach incredible heights. But often our goals are thwarted by physical limitations and pain. For decades, musicians have recognized the many factors--some unpleasant--that are essential to mastering an instrument: diligent practice, organization, discipline, travel to good schools, purchase of fine equipment, overcoming technical obstacles, isolation and/or loneliness, performance anxiety, etc. We seem to be able to deal with these. But it is only very recently that we are beginning to acknowledge another essential component: treating our bodies as part of our instruments, with the goal of preventing physical injury. Thanks to doctors like Richard Norris who are working in the new field of performing arts medicine, we can now improve our physical approaches to our instruments with knowledge of how our bodies do the demanding tasks we ask of them...

Music performance requires a high degree of physical skill, yet until recently, musical training has paid little attention to the considerable demands made on the mind and body. The Biology of Musical Performance and Performance-Related Injury presents singers and instrumentalists with accurate information on the physical processes that underlie their craft. The book provides a concise overview of the biological principles associated with performance technique while assuming no prior scientific knowledge, making it accessible to both musicians and to health professionals who treat performance-related medical conditions. Author Alan H. D. Watson explains the concepts and techniques of music performance, discussing themes such as posture and the back; movements of the arm and hand and associated problems; breathing in singers and wind players; the embouchure and respiratory tract in wind playing; the larynx and vocal tract in singers; the brain and its role in skill acquisition and aural processing; and stress and its management. Watson offers performers and teachers the tools they need to create a rational approach to the development and communication of technique. He also provides insight into the origins of performance-related injury, helping to reduce the risk of such problems by encouraging a technique that is sustainable in the long term.

A readable book and comprehensive guide examining the many health risks faced by all musicians. It is a valuable resource for diagnosing, treating, and avoiding those potentially devastating conditions. The book is essential for all musicians. String, keyboard, percussion, harp, brass and wind players will play better and feel better. It also contains a large resource list of health practitioners and products designed to reduce injuries.

Written by a professional musician who is also a certified occupational therapist, Teaching Healthy Musicianship first and foremost help music educators avoid common injuries that they themselves encounter, and in the process it also equips them with the tools they need to instill healthy musicianship practices in their students. Author Nancy Taylor combines her two unique skill sets to provide a model for injury prevention that is equally cognizant of the needs of music educators and their students. Through practical explanation of body mechanics, ergonomics, and the performance-related health problems and risk factors unique to musicianship, she gives music educators the tools they need to first practice healthy posture, body mechanics, environmental safety, and ergonomics, and then to introduce these same practices to their students. Thoroughly illustrated with 125 photographs, this book is a key resource for preservice and inservice teachers of middle school and high school band, orchestra, choir and general music.

This book discusses what is an 'overuse' injury is, as well as the potential causes of and ways of preventing overuse injury. It also goes over healthy practice habits, erarly management of pain, and general health and fitness. At the end, Culf writes about natural playing technique, which instrumentalists are affected by injury, and the step to healing a chronic overuse injury.