Specialized health and wellness services for musicians are available at the University of Ottawa
Musicians' Wellness Centre
Musicians' Wellness Centre
Beyond relaxation and pain relief: How the Feldenkrais Method TM can help musicians improve learning and performance
The most common reason musicians seek help from Feldenkrais Method Practitioners TM is playing-related pain. If you are a musician experiencing playing-related pain, you are not alone! It is estimated that up to 84% of professional musicians will encounter playing-related pain at some point in their career (Kenny & Ackermann, 2015). Experiencing playing-related pain does not mean a musician is less skilled or less talented. With support from knowledgeable professionals, including doctors, physiotherapists, music teachers, and body awareness specialists, most musicians experiencing pain can recover completely or learn to manage chronic pain successfully in their careers.
The Feldenkrais Method TM can become an integral part of pain treatment or chronic pain management plans that may also consist of medical treatments or physiotherapy. Physiotherapists help to optimize the function of your immune system to help musculoskeletal tissue heal properly. They can also suggest valuable strengthening exercises, life-style adjustments, and postural advice which, when adopted, can help make you more resilient against re-injury in the future. Unfortunately, some musicians may find that physiotherapy on its own is not adequate as a long-term solution to playing-related pain issues. Our habits of self-use are persistent, and longstanding patterns of movement and muscle tension that contribute to the re-emergence of pain and discomfort may remain despite treatment. The Feldenkrais Method TM can help break the cycle of repetitive strain injury by bringing awareness to your movement behaviour and helping you discover new, more comfortable ways of playing your instrument.
Although often used in therapeutic settings, the Feldenkrais Method TM is not a form of therapy, but rather a method of self-education. Feldenkrais lessons set up conditions for your body and mind to experience new forms of sensory input in the context of movement. These experiences improve the ability of your nervous system to spontaneously produce more varied and adaptive motor responses. Adaptive, in this sense, refers to the nervous system's ability to act in and react to the ever changing conditions in our environment and demands of our art instead of remaining bound to habituated approaches that limit our potential for growth. As you explore voluntary and passive movement through Awareness through Movement TM and Functional Integration TM lessons you will become more aware of your body and take ownership of the process of learning. In fact, this is the most exciting part of the method; the practitioner merely facilitates the conditions for you to safely and curiously learn about your patterns of self use, explore new possibilities for moving, and harvest the benefits of learning to learn. Gaining insight into the relationship of your movement to your musical expression through heightened awareness offers boundless opportunity for expanding your ability to perceive subtle differences in sensation, coordination, and movement quality that are the basis of detailed musical artistry. It is this ability to discriminate sensorially which permits masterful players to perform at the elusive but attainable intersection of technical mastery and musical expressivity. Therefore, the learning facilitated by the Feldenkrais Method TM may not only help you play without pain, but may also enhance the joy, ease, and mastery you bring to your artistic performance.
References
Kenny, D., & Ackermann, B. (2015). Performance-related musculoskeletal pain, depression and music performance anxiety in professional orchestral musicians: a population study. Psychology of Music, 43(1), 43-60.
The Feldenkrais Method TM can become an integral part of pain treatment or chronic pain management plans that may also consist of medical treatments or physiotherapy. Physiotherapists help to optimize the function of your immune system to help musculoskeletal tissue heal properly. They can also suggest valuable strengthening exercises, life-style adjustments, and postural advice which, when adopted, can help make you more resilient against re-injury in the future. Unfortunately, some musicians may find that physiotherapy on its own is not adequate as a long-term solution to playing-related pain issues. Our habits of self-use are persistent, and longstanding patterns of movement and muscle tension that contribute to the re-emergence of pain and discomfort may remain despite treatment. The Feldenkrais Method TM can help break the cycle of repetitive strain injury by bringing awareness to your movement behaviour and helping you discover new, more comfortable ways of playing your instrument.
Although often used in therapeutic settings, the Feldenkrais Method TM is not a form of therapy, but rather a method of self-education. Feldenkrais lessons set up conditions for your body and mind to experience new forms of sensory input in the context of movement. These experiences improve the ability of your nervous system to spontaneously produce more varied and adaptive motor responses. Adaptive, in this sense, refers to the nervous system's ability to act in and react to the ever changing conditions in our environment and demands of our art instead of remaining bound to habituated approaches that limit our potential for growth. As you explore voluntary and passive movement through Awareness through Movement TM and Functional Integration TM lessons you will become more aware of your body and take ownership of the process of learning. In fact, this is the most exciting part of the method; the practitioner merely facilitates the conditions for you to safely and curiously learn about your patterns of self use, explore new possibilities for moving, and harvest the benefits of learning to learn. Gaining insight into the relationship of your movement to your musical expression through heightened awareness offers boundless opportunity for expanding your ability to perceive subtle differences in sensation, coordination, and movement quality that are the basis of detailed musical artistry. It is this ability to discriminate sensorially which permits masterful players to perform at the elusive but attainable intersection of technical mastery and musical expressivity. Therefore, the learning facilitated by the Feldenkrais Method TM may not only help you play without pain, but may also enhance the joy, ease, and mastery you bring to your artistic performance.
References
Kenny, D., & Ackermann, B. (2015). Performance-related musculoskeletal pain, depression and music performance anxiety in professional orchestral musicians: a population study. Psychology of Music, 43(1), 43-60.