The Musician's Body

Book excerpt: Musicians suffer greatly from industry-related injury and illness, and many of these problems are established during student days or even before. This affects all forms of music-making from classical through jazz and rock to traditional folk. Hearing damage is of serious concern in most forms of music-making, but the most stressful situations and the most physical damage is recorded in the practice of classical music. The long hours of practice at the beginning of a musician's career are the main source of problems that sometimes only reveal themselves in later life. This book is aimed equally at student musicians, practising musicians, and instrumental and vocal teachers, and it aims to help them to begin to understand how and why their bodies function as they do when they perform and also how they may avoid professionally related illness or injury and achieve the highest standards of performance. The principal author, Dr Jaume Rosset i Llobet, is a medical expert and an internationally acclaimed researcher on the subject. He is the Director of a Centre for the Physiology of The Arts in Terrassa, Catalonia, one of the few clinics in the world to which musicians, dancers and performing artists can go for assessment and treatment. The book provides examples and references to the health of musicians covering a wide range of musical genres based on current research, practice and treatment. As well as physiological exposition, copiously illustrated with medical and humorous diagrams, the book covers ergonomics, risk factors, posture, breathing, matters of diet and accommodation of professional needs in daily life.