Playing Music Improperly: Hazardous to Your Health
All Work and No Relaxation = Physical Pain
How ironic: music, which brings such pleasure to billions of people around the globe, can actually create havoc with the body of the person creating it. The risk of injury from playing an instrument should not be ignored. The professional musician spends thousands of hours working on perfecting technique and delivery of music. In the process of this repetitive practice, the body very well may rebel. Relaxation holds the key to keeping musicians healthy.
It is not uncommon for a musician to suffer debilitating long term injury and possibly the end of a career due to playing an instrument. For safety’s sake, a musician must focus on the body while playing. The question arises: how can one complete the practice needed to create the desired musical performance while not jeopardizing the musician’s health? The answer comes from a book titled You Are Your Instrument by Julie Lyonn Lieberman.
Maybe trying too hard is counterproductive. As odd as it sounds, better results in playing music comes from relaxation. Ms. Lieberman explains that the power of the brain needs to be harnessed to relax the body. The result is a smoother, more imaginative music. Consider imagery. Consider thinking of music in colors, dancing around the room. Or that your body or limbs are water, moving wave-like. Another suggestion: concentrate on steady, relaxed breathing. Under pressure, people resort to shallow, irregular breathing. By training oneself to breathe smoothly, relaxed muscles and smoother music results.
You Just Thought You Had It Memorized
And, speaking of repetitive practice: how do you memorize music? Even after playing a song over and over, when it comes time to perform, are you unable to remember how a song goes? Helpful hint: put your instrument aside and mentally recall how to finger the song. Don’t move fingers – avoid muscle memory. Rely solely on your brain to recall how to play it. Once this is achieved, the piece of music is truly memorized. Then there should be little problem in recalling the song when under pressure of performance.
Such training is central to learning to play therapeutic music. If you would like to learn more, if you would like to join us by training as a therapeutic musician, please contact us.
