Music for a While: Injury Prevention for Organists of All Ages
Date/Time
Tuesday, July 02, 2024
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM
Presenters
Description
Any posture held for extended periods of time or a repetitively performed physical activity has potential to lead to discomfort or even injury. Musicians are especially prone to this: studies indicate that 60–90% of musicians experience musculoskeletal pain that affects their playing at some point in their career, with surveys of organists indicating that most of us have or will experience some kind of playing-related discomfort in our careers. Awkward postures and tension are frequent contributors to this, but we can train ourselves to ‘check in’ on the state of and ways in which we are using our bodies to make changes that lead to better techniques or tension release. Concert organist Katelyn Emerson leads a workshop discussing fundamentals of detecting and adjusting for discomfort and tension in playing and in daily life based on her pedagogical work on injury prevention and recovery, studies in occupational ergonomics, and her own experience with playing-related injury.