Category Archives: Injuries

Musicians of all instruments, levels, and genres are welcome!

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Prevent injuries, tension, and discomfort caused by playing music! Learn about the relationship between your body and your instrument!

  • Understand and experience how the body moves by following its natural design.
  • Identify your own patterns of movement and learn how to transform them for playing free of tension.
  • Discover the benefits of being aware of your body!

We will explore:

Morning session: Continue reading Musicians of all instruments, levels, and genres are welcome!

I Have Wide Experience in Performing, Performing Fragmented

The body is the medium to create sound and for some of us it’s the vessel and the beginning of everything.
Gabriela playing a snare drum solo.

 PART 1

A Fragmented Body

At the beginning I didn’t have awareness in my body.

I learned to play from watching movements and copying them. I practiced for hours, days, months, and years. Most of the time it worked, but not always.

My illusion was that if I matched all those movements and performed them, I was going to play correctly. Faithful to my ideas, I didn’t question and I followed the instructions.

Early in my studies I started having some pain and later I was labeled as a musician with tendonitis. Continue reading I Have Wide Experience in Performing, Performing Fragmented

Examining Video: Injuries in Musicians

Pop-up Pianos, N.Y.

A couple of weeks ago, friends started sharing a video on Facebook about injuries in musicians. In thirteen sentences the minute-long video mentions some of the issues that musicians suffer within the body and the beliefs around this.
It’s very important to address musicians’ injuries and talk about them. Then we can understand, avoid, and treat these problems efficiently, and better understand our profession.

My intention in the next five points is to think in a more detailed way about the content of this video. Since this video is in Spanish, I have translated it to English:

1) Video: “To be a musician demands great discipline that may cause injuries.”

Certainly, studying and playing music requires discipline. We need to set and follow our personal schedules to practice, have rehearsal(s), attend different classes or teaching, and do all the things we have to do in our personal lives outside the musical context. We need to become organized with our time and in the ways that we practice.

However, discipline is not the cause of developing an injury. Continue reading Examining Video: Injuries in Musicians