The Musician's Body: A Maintenance Manual for Peak Performance

by Jaume Rosset I Llobet

Musicians suffer greatly from industry-related injury and illness, and many of these problems are established during student days or even before. This affects all forms of music-making from classical through jazz and rock to traditional folk. Hearing damage is of serious concern in most forms of music-making, but the most stressful situations and the most physical damage is recorded in the practice of classical music. The long hours of practice at the beginning of a musician's career are the main source of problems that sometimes only reveal themselves in later life. This book is aimed equally at student musicians, practising musicians, and instrumental and vocal teachers, and it aims to help them to begin to understand how and why their bodies function as they do when they perform and also how they may avoid professionally related illness or injury and achieve the highest standards of performance. The principal author, Dr Jaume Rosset i Llobet, is a medical expert and an internationally acclaimed researcher on the subject. He is the Director of a Centre for the Physiology of The Arts in Terrassa, Catalonia, one of the few clinics in the world to which musicians, dancers and performing artists can go for assessment and treatment. The book provides examples and references to the health of musicians covering a wide range of musical genres based on current research, practice and treatment. As well as physiological exposition, copiously illustrated with medical and humorous diagrams, the book covers ergonomics, risk factors, posture, breathing, matters of diet and accommodation of professional needs in daily life.

Genres: Music

128 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2007

Reviews

[Bgnl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! Thank you thank you thank you!! If you are a musician of any kind, whether you are super professional or amateur, it doesn't matter, please find it and read it! This book will both remind you the things you already know, also teach you new things you didn't even know, I'm sure of it. I didn't even know this book existed before I saw it in a second hand bookstore (here in İstanbul, Turkey) and I though, since I'm dealing with things like mainly tinnitus, pressure in my ears and extreme sensitivity to sounds for the last 7 months as a composer who works alone and tries to improve herself every day, I thought maybe this book can be helpful for me. And it was incredibly helpful. It made me question my "no pain no gain" mindset, it made me question my posture, my learning styles, my lack of taking breaks, my everything. I basically understood how stupid of me to continue to push myself as hard as I can even when I was in extreme pain. And basically I have a road map in my hands right know. I'm sure that you'll find out more about yourself through this book and finally take action, too!

[Katherine Wang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A holistic, well-informed musicians' guidance book that is easy to read, genuinely interesting and provides applicable advice for everyday routine implementation. It looks at common issues that musicians encounter with objectivity, optimism and humour in a way that was quite comforting.

I used it to reaffirm points I already knew, strengthen my conviction of certain preexisting habits as well as acquire a few new bits of helpful knowledge. The book makes use of little doodles that made reading a joy!