Links & On-Line Articles

Here is a excellent and award winning listing of recommended links and on-line articles from the folks above. The links are broken down into: General, Guitar Specific, Piano Specific, Wind Instrument Specific, and Stuff.

General:

• Jonas Sen's superb Playing the Piano,Playing...With Fire?A Study of the Occupational Hazards of Piano Playing - important reading for non-pianist musicians, too. A downloadable text-only version is now available by FTP from eeshop.unl.edu/text/musicmed.txt .
• A similar excellennt document is Valerie Kampmeier's dissertation, The Impact of RSI on Creativity in Musicians .
• Dr. Richard Norris NONSURGICAL TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR UPPER EXTREMITY OVERUSE INJURIES
• Website for the International Foundation for Performing Arts Medicine . (E-mail address: IFPAM@bigfoot.com). Includes message boards to leave questions.
• New . . . Web page of the The Performing Arts Medicine Association .
• OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES OF PERFORMING ARTISTS BIBLIOGRAPHY
• More resources listed at the Center for Safety in the Arts , in particular be sure to read:
  • MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS IN MUSICIANS
• Performing Arts Medicine at Ithaca College - this school is taking a lead in this field and their Web site has good resources.
• An important group concentrating on performing arts injuries is the Performing Arts Special Interest Group of the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association. This site includes affiliated clinics that deal with performing arts injuries.
• New . . . . Arts Medicine, a new European site.
• French site, La Musique Et La Medecine (Bio-Amadeus), includes UNE NOUVELLE APPROCHE DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT DU VIOLON ( A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING THE VIOLIN), a thesis very relevant to string instrument injuries.
• About Seats and Sitting for Cellists and Other Musicians by Victor Sazer is an excellent explanation of how sitting can give you back pain.
• HANDS ON! ONLINE, the performance health newsletter for flutists. Great stuff!
• Additional flute notes in the article Relieve Those Aches and Pains! in the web-zine Suite 101.
• CANADIAN NETWORK for HEALTH in the ARTS -The CNHA allows performing artists and health professionals to keep informed of research and health services for artists.
• SHAPE (Safety & Health in Arts Production and Entertainment) is the not-for-profit association dedicated to the promotion of workplace health and safety in the motion picture and performing arts industries in British Columbia, Canada. They provide health & safety information, education, and training for the performing arts and film industries. They have publications, posters, videos and access to professionals at the Workers' Compensation Board (WCB). In particular, download their publication PREVENTING MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURY (MSI) FOR MUSICIANS AND DANCERS
• Dr. Joaquin Farias has posted the this site that discusses his treatment of musicians' injuries.
• Hearing Problems are common among musicians, classical and rock alike. A good resource list is the Tinnitus Frequently Answered Questions Web site. Detailed information on protection, earplugs can be found from Aearo Company's technical support page, and definitely see HEARNET , the Web site for H.E.A.R. (TM) ( Hearing Education and Awareness for Rockers.)

  Also, read this thread on How Loud is Too Loud? , and Doug Yeo's article on Noise levels on stage/hearing .

• More insights on musicians' hearing loss is found on Ken Laberteaux's "When It Hurts To Play: A Look Into Injuries Common Among Musicians"
• Phil & Vivian Williams write on TENDINITIS PROBLEMS OF MUSICIANS - IDENTIFICATION, PREVENTION, TREATMENT
• Andover Educators , "a network of teachers saving, securing and enhancing musical careers with accurate information about the body in movement", training aimed at preventing musicians' injuries. Includes an interesting and growing on-line book, At Last! Music Education on a Secure Somatic Foundation . Check it out, some interesting stuff here.
• Six Golden Rules for Conquering Performance Anxiety by David Leisner.
• Vox Cura , a Canadian voice care clinic, has useful information about taking care of your voice.
• The Texas Center for Music & Medicine includes an interdisciplinary team of musicians, music educators, clinicians, and research scientists. The Center represents educational, medical and musical resources, brought together to study, treat, and prevent various medical problems associated with learning and performing music. Clinical resources are available for both students and non-students. Clinical care is provided through the Center for Performing Arts Medicine at the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth, the UNT Counseling and Testing Center, and the UNT Speech and Hearing Center. CALLING ALL ORGANISTS! All ages - all levels - whether you play concerts on trackers or polkas on fun machines. Please participate in the anonymous, international SURVEY OF MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN OF ORGANISTS, a dissertation project. Your input is important!
• The Classical music department of the WWW Virtual Library has excellent sections on Medical Issues for Performers , Coping With Performance Anxiety , and Medical Clinics for Performers (in the US and Canada) .
• JAMES R. OESTREICH wrote this article discussing the impact of musicians' woes for the New York Times.
• Musicians are also afflicted with Focal Dystonia, a baffling and controversial loss and distortion of muscular control. Read this first-hand account of this condition. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has a the NIH Dystonias Information Page and a Dystonias Fact Sheet. Also see the Dystonia Dialogue page from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation, which includes a bulletin board for discussions of the disorder. I am told this board has more traffic than the alt.support.dystonia USENET newsgroup. Also: Read Constraint-induced movement therapy for focal hand dystonia in musicians in The Lancet . An excellent new dystonia resource and advocacy groupis Care4Dystonia, Inc.

  Some case studies and other information is on Andreas Kurth's Focal Dystonia in Musicians web page.

  Some possible insights on musician's dystonias are discussed in How To Resolve Dystonias: A Movement Perspective by Barbara Conable.

• Dr. Tim Jameson, D.C. contributes articles on:
  • advice on alternative medical care;
    
  • trigger finger;
    
  • Carpal Tunnel.

  Also see his new Musician's Health Web site for many more articles, suggestions, and stretches.

• Another health clinic has some interesting articles, see the Performing Artists Health Center.
• A forum for on-line discussions of musicians' injuries has been set up by PrivateLessons.com. Join in!
• Andover Educators site promotes their What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body course, also includes some on-line articles well worth reading.
• Related information on computer injuries is on the RSI Page . . .
• A list of performing arts clinics is included on the FindADoc list.
• Many musicians report that The Feldenkrais Method and The Alexander Technique are helpful in learning non-injurious use of the body. A Feldenkrais practitioner has some good info on his Somatic Options page. Also there are many good reports on the effectiveness of Hellerwork , Trager Approach, Rolfing , and The Pilates Method in treatment of RSI. You may want to read Three Musicians Talk about the Alexander Technique. Music-oriented Alexander info is found at Alexander Technique for Musicians .
• If Feldenkrais interests you, there is also a SANTA FE 2000 FELDENKRAIS TRAINING PROGRAM coming up soon.
• John Link writes on The Feldenkrais Method for Singers (and Instrumentalists) Parts I and II . More resources and info from John are here.

GUITAR-SPECIFIC LINKS:

• Sitting & Proper Positioning with the Guitar By Nitin Arora - read this on his Humane Guitarist website.
• Mark Long maintains and contributes to the excellent Classical Guitar FAQ including an article on Avoiding RSI.
• The Paul Anders Sogaard Website has good information from a professional guitarist who is also a qualified Music Medicine Therapist and a Practitioner for The British Association for Performing Arts Medicine.
• Sue Shockey documents an amateur's attempt to develop a ergonomic guitar. (Click on Sue's picture and then the "Guitar Design" button.)
• William R. Cumpiano has developed his own wedge shaped ergonomic guitar.
• A most excellent site, Dan Smith's The Guitarist's Guide to Hand Care with info on exercises, callouses, nails, warm-ups, etc. Go there, read that!
• Paul Adams relates his experience with traumatic injury to his hand.
• Health and Safety for Guitarists and Other Musicians, a good resource site with an emphasis on guitar.
• Charlotte Adams has excellent articles and resources on her website. Well worth spending time with, whether or not you get the videotape.

PIANO-SPECIFIC LINKS

• Jonas Sen's superb Playing the Piano,Playing...With Fire?A Study of the Occupational Hazards of Piano Playing - important reading for non-pianist musicians, too. A downloadable text-only version is now available by FTP from eeshop.unl.edu/text/musicmed.txt .
• Thomas Mark's PIANIST'S INJURIES: Movement Retraining Is The Key To Recovery. In addition, he now has set up a web site at http://www.pianomap.com/ .
• Portland State University has created the Coordinate Movement Program for Pianists , a program of study to "allow a limited number of applicants to pursue a degree option while recovering from pain, injury and physical limitations."
• Niks Piano Technique and Hand Guide page provide information on another low-tension piano technique, as well as a special practice tool used to help learn the technique.
• Stephen Marquiss shares his experiences and thoughts on healthy, effective, pain-free piano playing on his Web site.
• Dr. Teresa Dybvig's The Balanced Pianist presents a variety of short, intensive programs for small groups of pianists, high school age and above, amateur and professional. In The Balanced Pianist programs, pianists improve their practice, performance, and teaching skills while growing to enjoy all these activities more. The goal of programs is removing tension in practice and performance through good musicianship, healthy movement and positive mental attitude, removing tension in teaching through use of learning styles, and general wellbeing. The web site has information about Taubman technique, Dunn & Dunn Learning Styles, about what constitutes a healthy approach to practice, performance, and teaching, and the curriculum of programs.
• David C. Stanwood has developed technology to modify piano keyboard touch, thereby reducing the chances of injury. (See article on Key Weights listed below.)
• Yuri Ziskin conducts an interesting discussion of what brings about injury on piano at pianoinjurycure.net . Unique content and conversational presentation.
• Sheila Paige facilitates regular Piano Wellness workshops and seminars.
• Irini Emanoilidis has many good resources and reviews relative to healthy piano playing, including the article "Preventive Techniques and Exercises for Pianists with Performance-Related Hand Injuries".
• Robert Burnson discusses his experience with piano-related injury and his success in using both John Sarno's approach to pain relief, and Dorothy Taubman's philosophy (explained in good detail) of effective and safe piano technique.