Playing Less Hurt An Injury Prevention Guide For Musicians

(Book). Making music at any level is a powerful gift. While musicians have endless resources for learning the basics of their instruments and the theory of music, few books have explored the other subtleties and complexities that musicians face in their quest to play with ease and skill. The demands of solitary practice, hectic rehearsal schedules, challenging repertoire, performance pressures, awkward postures, and other physical strains have left a trail of injured, hearing-impaired, and frustrated musicians who have had few resources to guide them. Playing Less Hurt addresses this need with specific tools to avoid and alleviate injury. Impressively researched, the book is invaluable not only to musicians, but also to the coaches and medical professionals who work with them. Everyone from dentists to orthopedists, audiologists to neurologists, massage therapists and trainers will benefit from Janet Horvath's coherent account of the physiology and psyche of a practicing musician. Writing with knowledge, sympathetic insight, humor, and aplomb, Horvath has created an essential resource for all musicians who want to play better and feel better..

The Biology of Musical Performance and Performance-Related Injury presents accurate information on the biological principles and physical processes that underlie the craft of musical performance. It explains concepts and techniques without assuming prior scientific knowledge, providing relevance to both musicians and health professionals who treat performance-related medical conditions. It offers performers and teachers the tools they need to create a rational approach to the development and communication of technique, and provides an 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..

Successful interaction with products, tools and technologies depends on usable designs and accommodating the needs of potential users without requiring costly training. In this context, this book is concerned with emerging ergonomics in design concepts, theories and applications of human factors knowledge focusing on the discovery, design and understanding of human interaction and usability issues with products and systems for their improvement. This book will be of special value to a large variety of professionals, researchers and students in the broad field of human modeling and performance who are interested in feedback of devices’ interfaces (visual and haptic), user-centered design, and design for special populations, particularly the elderly. We hope this book is informative, but even more - that it is thought provoking. We hope it inspires, leading the reader to contemplate other questions, applications, and potential solutions in creating good designs for all..

The Teaching of Instrumental Music, Fifth Edition introduces music education majors to basic instrumental pedagogy for the instruments and ensembles commonly found in the elementary and secondary curricula. It focuses on the core competencies required for teacher certification in instrumental music, with the pervasive philosophy to assist teachers as they develop an instrumental music program based on understanding and respecting all types of music. Parts I and II focus on essential issues for a successful instrumental program, presenting first the history and foundations, followed by effective strategies in administrative tasks and classroom teaching. Parts III, IV, and V are devoted to the skills and techniques of woodwind, brass and percussion, and string instruments. In all, The Teaching of Instrumental Music is the complete reference for the beginning instrumental teacher, commonly retained in a student’s professional library for its unique and comprehensive coverage. NEW TO THIS EDITION: Revision and updating of curriculum developments, such as coordinating State Department of Education student learning objectives with the recent Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) New discussion of the NAfME National Standards as they relate to the teaching of instrumental music Revamping of rehearsing instrumental ensembles chapters, including new or expanded sections on programming, choosing quality music, and applying successful rehearsal techniques Updates on references, plus new discussion questions, and websites and internet links A chapter devoted to classroom guitar Updates on the use of technology for teaching and learning music More on healthy performance practice, marching band, and jazz band Online materials located in the eResources section on the Routledge website..

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..

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..

To reach the highest standards of instrumental performance, several years of sustained and focused learning are required. This requires perseverance, commitment and opportunities to learn and practise, often in a collective musical environment. This book brings together a wide range of enlightening current psychological and educational research to offer deeper insights into the mosaic of factors and related experiences that combine to nurture (and sometimes hinder) advanced musical performance. Each of the book's four sections focus on one aspect of music performance and learning: musics in higher education and beyond; musical journeys and educational reflections; performance learning; and developing expertise and professionalism. Although each chapter within its home section offers a particular focus, there is an underlying conception across all the book’s contents of the achievability of advanced musical performance and of the important nurturing role that higher education can play, particularly if policy and practice are evidence-based and draw on the latest international research findings. The narrative offers an insight into the world of advanced musicians, detailing their learning journeys and the processes involved in their quest for the development of expertise and professionalism. It is the first book of its kind to consider performance learning in higher education across a variety of musical genres, including classical, jazz, popular and folk musics. The editors have invited an international community of leading scholars and performance practitioners to contribute to this publication, which draws on meticulous research and critical practice. This collection is an essential resource for all musicians, educators, researchers and policy makers who share our interest in promoting the development of advanced performance skills and professionalism..

In the last forty years, many elite performers in the arts have gleaned valuable lessons and techniques from research and advances in sport science, psychomotor research, learning theory, and psychology. Numerous "peak performance" books have made these tools and insights available to athletes. Now, professor and performer Frank Gabriel Campos has translated this concept for trumpet players and other brass and wind instrumentalists, creating an accessible and comprehensive guide to performance skill. Trumpet Technique combines the newest research on skill acquisition and peak performance with the time-honored and proven techniques of master teachers and performers. All aspects of brass technique are discussed in detail, including the breath, embouchure, oral cavity, tongue, jaw, and proper body use, as well as information on performance psychology, practice techniques, musicians' occupational injuries, and much more. Comprehensive and detailed, Trumpet Technique is an invaluable resource for performers, teachers, and students at all levels seeking to move to the highest level of skill with their instrument..

This second edition of Clarinet Secrets is a compilation of Distinguished Professor Michele Gingras’s acclaimed books that spearheaded Rowman & Littlefield’s Music Secrets series: Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets. It is the result of Gingras’s thirty years of hands-on experience spent in the clarinet studio working with students. Learn practical and technical secrets about rapid tonguing and double-tonguing; circular breathing; sight-reading and transposition; reed fixing and repair equipment; improving tone, intonation, technique, and musicianship; contemporary techniques; classical and non-classical performance; performance anxiety; auditioning; career planning and marketability; and more. The concepts are discussed in a straightforward way, explained clearly, and illustrated with photos, diagrams, and musical examples. Easy to use and intended for the intermediate and advanced musician, this second edition of Clarinet Secrets is perfect for students in a class or private situation, professionals, or instructors engaged in pedagogical research..

"The fact is, you will teach." from the Foreword by Stephen Clapp, Dean Emeritus, The Julliard School. Whether serving on the faculty at a university, maintaining a class of private students, or fulfilling an invitation as guest artist in a master class series, virtually all musicians will teach during their careers. From the Stage to the Studio speaks directly to the performing musician, highlighting the significant advantages of becoming distinguished both as a performer and a pedagogue. Drawing on over sixty years of combined experience, authors Cornelia Watkins and Laurie Scott provide the guidance and information necessary for any musician to translate his or her individual approach into productive and rewarding teacher-student interactions. Premised on the synergistic relationship between teaching and performing, this book provides a structure for clarifying the essential elements of musical artistry, and connects them to such tangible situations as setting up a studio, teaching a master class, interviewing for a job, judging competitions, and recruiting students. From the Stage to the Studio serves as an essential resource for university studio faculty, music pedagogy teachers, college music majors, and professionals looking to add effective teaching to their artistic repertoire..

The second edition of Susan J. Maclagan’s A Dictionary for the Modern Flutist presents clear and concise definitions of more than 1,600 common flute-related terms that a player of the Boehm-system or Baroque flute may encounter. It includes over 100 images as well as appendices on tuning, composition, baroque music, and recordings..

Music in the Human Experience: An Introduction to Music Psychology, Second Edition, is geared toward music students yet incorporates other disciplines to provide an explanation for why and how we make sense of music and respond to it—cognitively, physically, and emotionally. All human societies in every corner of the globe engage in music. Taken collectively, these musical experiences are widely varied and hugely complex affairs. How did human beings come to be musical creatures? How and why do our bodies respond to music? Why do people have emotional responses to music? Music in the Human Experience seeks to understand and explain these phenomena at the core of what it means to be a human being. New to this edition: Expanded references and examples of non-Western musical styles Updated literature on philosophical and spiritual issues Brief sections on tuning systems and the acoustics of musical instruments A section on creativity and improvisation in the discussion of musical performance New studies in musical genetics Greatly increased usage of explanatory figures.

Modeled on the brilliant approach first formulated by distinguished professor of music and master clarinetist Michele Gingras in Clarinet Secrets and More Clarinet Secrets (both available from Scarecrow Press), Music Secrets for the Advanced Musician: A Scarecrow Press Music Series is designed for instrumentalists, singers, conductors, composers, and other instructors and professionals seeking a quick set of pointers to improve their work as performers and producers of music. Easy to use and intended for the advanced musician, contributions to the Music Secrets series fill a niche for those who have moved beyond what beginners and intermediate practitioners need. In Oboe Secrets: 75 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Oboist and English Horn Player, Jacqueline Leclair tackles the oboe’s reputation as an especially difficult instrument and illustrates how oboists and English horn players can overcome common challenges. Leclair draws on her experience as a performer and instructor, offering practical tips and sometimes revolutionary ideas for rethinking oboe pedagogy. Leclair also looks at performance strategies in the areas of equipment maintenance and management, physical health, and performance technique. Her secrets focus on such matters as how to optimize practice sessions, build endurance, improve use of the body when playing, work with reeds, and apply extended techniques. Oboe Secrets provides oboists and English horn players a quick and efficient path to significant improvement—both technically and musically—in their playing. It is the perfect resource for advanced high school oboists, professional performers, music instructors, and avid amateur musicians..

​For many general practitioners, physiotherapists, osteopaths and chiropracters, patients with a background in performing arts account for only a small proportion of their practice. This simple primer assists the reader in the management of these highly complex (and sometimes highly strung) elite athletes. This book is pitched at the Masters level. A first degree in a medical speciality is assumed so space has not been allocated to the standard management of common conditions such as epicondylitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, ankle sprains of fractures. With some thirty years practical experience around the theme of "Controversies in Performing Arts Medicine", the editor has provided occupational rheumatological care for performing artists, especially instrumentalists and dancers with complex ailments. The introductory section provides a basic insight into the musculoskeletal problems specific to each of the many varied instruments and styles of dance. Consideration is also given to musculoskeletal aspects that affect the voice..

More than Music Lessons invites contemporary music studio teachers to link their teaching with notions of humanity and presents a timely vision of bringing student-centered teaching to life in the applied studio. It provides a myriad of practical tips and strategies, exploring the themes of parents, practicing, projects, and character..

Caring for the Whole Musician brings together insights from two expert musicians and educators to consider the relationship between mental and physical health and artistic practice for musicians. Offering a holistic perspective that encompasses the whole being – body, mind, and heart – this book provides emerging musicians with tools, practices, and mindsets to address key challenges throughout their journey. The first part, Awareness, addresses wellness and embodiment in music, exploring how our bodies are constructed and how the use of our bodies as instruments affects function. Using approaches including Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique, this part helps readers discover adverse habits that interfere with natural movement, and nurture awareness of the body. The second part, Mindfulness, explores how meditative practice can be incorporated into every stage of concert preparation and embedded within the daily life of the musician. Offering mindfulness exercises related to each stage of the music-making process, these chapters provide strategies for readers to enhance their well-being and focus. Centered in the understanding of the musician as a whole being, this book provides an essential guide to how practices of awareness and mindfulness can allow musicians to better care for themselves and flourish in their artistic careers..

The discipline of human factors and ergonomics (HF/E) is concerned with the design of products, process, services, and work systems to assure their productive, safe and satisfying use by people. Physical ergonomics involves the design of working environments to fit human physical abilities. By understanding the constraints and capabilities of the human body and mind, we can design products, services and environments that are effective, reliable, safe and comfortable for everyday use. This book focuses on the advances in the physical HF/E, which are a critical aspect in the design of any human-centered technological system. The ideas and practical solutions described in the book are the outcome of dedicated research by academics and practitioners aiming to advance theory and practice in this dynamic and all-encompassing discipline. A thorough understanding of the physical characteristics of a wide range of people is essential in the development of consumer products and systems. Human performance data serve as valuable information to designers and help ensure that the final products will fit the targeted population of end users. Mastering physical ergonomics and safety engineering concepts is fundamental to the creation of products and systems that people are able to use, avoidance of stresses, and minimization of the risk for accidents..