“Nearly all musicians’ injuries are preventable.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 230 Whenever school years or music festivals begin, music students dive into intense practice schedules. But those fresh starts come with high risks of injury. The Dangers of Overuse...
“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” -Victor Hugo The Musician’s Way, p. 5 All of us musicians feel something within us that cannot remain silent. But to forge lasting, full-time music careers, we have...
“I continued to play with a sore arm with the rationalization that I could play through the pain and that the discomfort would just miraculously go away as I got into better shape as a cellist. But the pain didn’t go away. It got worse.” –Janet Horvath, cellist The...
“Your central tasks are finding inner peace and strength, on the one hand, and being very well-prepared for your performances, on the other.” -Eric Maisel, author & psychologist The Musician’s Way, p. 146 In my previous post, “The 3 Roots of Performance...
“Begin slowly and increase gradually any unaccustomed use of the hands.” –Michael Charness, MD The Musician’s Way, p. 237 Guitarists Billy McLaughlin and Liona Boyd, pianists Leon Fleischer and Gary Graffman – all are musicians whose careers were upended by the...
“Breaks are as vital to musicians as they are to athletes.” –The Musician’s Way, p. 75 If you’re like me, you typically become absorbed during practice sessions, so much so that it often doesn’t seem that breaks would be necessary. But even when we feel mentally...
