Musical Injuries

Playing a musical instrument can be hazardous to your health! Usually, the musician doesn't notice what is happening and continues to play on and on. Later on he or she realizes they went too far! By then, it's too late!!

• Many violinists have shoulder pains, usually the right shoulder. My friend, a conductor and violinist, simply wore out his right shoulder from years and years of playing the violin. One violinist friend explained that she hurts her right wrist sometimes by bowing too frantically and holding her wrist stiffly.
• I know a pianist who recently hurt his thumb from over-playing. And there was a famous pianist, Leon Fleisher, who misused his right hand and could play only with his left hand for years.
  
• It's quite common for beginning guitar players to complain of sore finger tips from pressing down on the strings. More experienced players have developed pads or calluses on their finger tips.
• Brass players can over stress their lips by playing too long and they become unable to produce notes because their lips are simply tired out. ("Save your lip")
  
• And, as an Orff teacher I have injured my hands a number of times: playing conga drums furiously for long periods, clapping and patsching my thighs all day at school. Ouch! I also hurt my back by playing the piano standing up with my foot on the pedal, causing my back to be in a really strange position and causing great pain afterward. Later on in my teaching, I found another way to look at my students while playing, by placing the piano at an angle and looking out over the keyboard. In my last years of teaching I used an electronic keyboard, which was the most comfortable of all. (And it transposed to different keys, too!!)