…Musicians are vulnerable to injury because they often fall into patterns of abnormal posture and experience high stress levels. Education in body awareness and movement can help them anticipate and overcome such problems.
A group of musicians will visit the Ithaca College campus July17ñ21, not to give a series of concerts, but to learn how to prevent the music-related injuries that are a common occupational hazard.
Designed for professional instrumentalists and singers, music teachers, and others with an interest in performing arts medicine, the fourth annual Health and Performance Institute for Musicians will feature a multidisciplinary faculty exploring physical and mental factors that affect a musician's performance. Although treatment of injuries will be discussed, the emphasis will be on injury prevention within an individualized approach to health and music performance.
Directed by Nicholas Quarrier, clinical assistant professor in the physical therapy department, the institute is cosponsored by the School of Music, School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, and Division of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions.
Quarrier, who has directed the physical therapy clinic at Ithaca College for seven years, first realized the prevalence of music-related injuries when he observed that the majority of students treated at the clinic were injured musicians. To begin to address the problem, Quarrier collaborated four years ago with former School of Music faculty member Susan Bruckner to co-teach a course on the cause and prevention of music-related injuries. The idea of the summer health and performance institute became reality in 1993 through the efforts of a cross-disciplinary team of College faculty: Bruckner; Quarrier; Linda Case, a former professor of violin; and Carol McAmis, professor of voice. In addition to the founders of the institute, this yearís faculty also includes Mary DePalma, assistant professor of psychology; A. Craig Fisher, professor of exercise and sport sciences; and Eugenia Wacker-Hoeflin, ballet performer in residence with the theater arts department.
Music-related injuries include carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, muscle strains, ligament sprains, overuse injuries, cumulative trauma, nerve irritation, and arthritis. Quarrier says musicians are vulnerable to injury because they often fall into patterns of abnormal posture and experience high stress levels. Education in body awareness and movement can help them anticipate and overcome such problems.
The institute offers a comprehensive, whole-body approach to musiciansí health through a program of lectures, workshops, consultations, and individual performances. Faculty will help participants to evaluate muscle tensions and abnormal posture through the use of videotaping and electromyographic biofeedback and to address the effects of stress through the use of neuromuscular training, relaxation, neurolinguistic learning, and mental training techniques.
For questions concerning the content of the institute, contact Nicholas Quarrier, (607) 274-3716. Information on fees, registration, and housing is available from the continuing education and summer sessions office, (607) 274-3143. Graduate credit is available, and a late fee is charged for registration after July 1.