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.

Preface

The performance of music at the highest level requires a degree of skill that certainly matches and arguably exceeds that of most other physical activities, yet while the training of musicians deals extensively with the structure of music, its history, and its interpretation, it has until recently almost entirely neglected the physical demands that it makes on the body. The teaching of instrumental and singing technique has traditionally and indeed necessarily been based on the subjective experience of individual teachers, sometimes resting on erroneous notions of the way in which the body works. One of the reasons for this is that our conscious sensations do not always provide a reliable guide to what our body is doing. As a result, it is often necessary to fall back on metaphor or vague subjective descriptions to try to convey what is being demanded of the pupil. This is a major barrier to passing on the knowledge gained through a lifetime of performance, as the pupil is often left confused about how an important aspect of technique is achieved. While it must be acknowledged that objective information of the many physical processes crucial to performance remains far from complete, there nevertheless exists a considerable body of knowledge that would be very useful to practicing musicians if only they could access it. Unfortunately, this is scattered through the science literature, frequently in publications that are hard to obtain for those outside a large academic institution. Furthermore, it is generally couched in the arcane language of science, which will be opaque to most musicians unless they are provided with an introduction to the world and vocabulary of biology. The object of this book is to help performers overcome this barrier by presenting them with accurate information on the biological principles that underlie their craft. From this beginning they can move forward to develop a rational approach to the development of technique. It should also allow those who would like to delve deeper into the science to access and interpret original sources and perhaps ultimately to become involved in studies that will extend our understanding of performance biology.

Although the physical challenges faced by musicians might be similar to those of athletes, they differ in one crucial respect: while the combination of declining physical powers and accumulated injury leads most athletes to retire in their thirties, musicians are expected to maintain elite levels of performance throughout a career that typically spans many decades. It is therefore not enough for musicians to reach a high level of proficiency by the time they leave a music college or conservatoire. They must be equipped with a technique that is sustainable in the long term and capable of supporting the intense levels of playing demanded of the contemporary performer. If you speak to any professional musician, he or she will tell you either from personal experience or from that of close colleagues that the profession carries a considerable risk of a career-threatening injury. Until recently, however, health problems were rarely discussed openly among players and managers. One reason for this was the not unjustified feeling that any admission of weakness might cost the sufferer his or her hardwon position in the highly competitive world of professional music. This is slowly beginning to change, in no small measure through the efforts of a group of musicians who, having suffered playing-related problems, have been moved to write about their experiences, the lessons they have learned from them, and the strategies they have developed both to overcome them and to avoid further difficulties. Large employers of musicians such as orchestras and opera companies are increasingly expected to look after the health of their players. Within the UK, this has been formalized by new endeavors such as the Healthy Orchestra Charter and the Sound Ear Initiative. Of course as with all forms of occupational health, prevention is the most effective form of treatment, but this requires that good practice be instilled in players from the very earliest stages of their training. Even a cursory examination of the postures adopted by many professional musicians on stage amply demonstrates that such an approach is long overdue. For schemes aimed at reducing the risk of injury to performers to be viable, however, information on which these can be based must be widely available, and this is one of the objectives of this book.

Over the last two decades, arts medicine has emerged as a distinct discipline and a considerable number of treatment centers for it have sprung up, particularly in the United States and in some European countries such as Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and more recently Spain and the UK. This has arisen from the realization that not only do the intense physical demands made on professional musicians make them at least as vulnerable to injury as professional athletes, but that their satisfactory treatment also requires a similarly specialized approach. The growth of this discipline has undoubtedly been aided by the fact that many clinicians have an interest in music. Finding practitioners with the necessary skills and insights to provide rapid and accu- rate diagnosis and treatment, however, still remains something of a lottery. It is difficult for health professionals such as doctors or physiotherapists to develop expertise in the treatment of a particular type of patient if they see only one or two a year. Many of the problems suffered by musicians are well known to medicine, but for effective treatment it is vital that these are viewed in their vocational context. From this perspective many aspects that might initially appear perplexing quickly become clear and we can progress from treating the symptoms to tackling the root cause. It is also important to realize that the level of function that must be restored in an injured musician to allow a return to even a basic level of professional performance is much greater than that which would be acceptable for most other patients presenting with similar problems. Furthermore, the treatment may have to be modified in light of the particular instrument played, similar to how athletes are rehabilitated differently based on their sports.