German Lang. Media: Risky Violin Playing
Health risk violin
Charged with traditions Christmas eve is one of these opportunities where one dusts off violin or piano, cello or flute to play some tunes like “Silent Night” or “O Tannenbaum”. Some are eager (and able). Others feel kind of forced to revive a love-hate relationship with their instrument. Christmas ’09 is over now, and if some amateur musicians feel some back pain now, or developed sore spots, then you got an insight into the health problems of professional musicians. Music might be recreation and even a therapy for auditors, but making music on a professional basis causes various health problems, reported Julia Harlfinger in an article for the Austrian daily Der Standard. 75 percent of orchestra musicians develop a chronic disease during their career. To make a living with making music “is like doing competitive sports”, Harlfinger quotes a clarinetist and physician at a clinic in Vienna, specialized on health problems of musicians. The constant psychological pressure to be good enough to be selected for a well-known orchestra or to be competitive enough for a soloist career could cause depressions, alcoholism or misuse of psychotropic drugs e.g. Also, students learn early to ignore hints from the body – like neck pain caused from the not so ergonomic position playing a transverse flute. A survey with 350 students showed that 50% of them have to deal with various pain problems due to exercising their instrument. But it’s not only about some head or neck aches, musicians face serious health risks, e.g. glaucomas due to a higher intraocular pressure during trumpet sounding. Whereas pianists have little hope to prevent the relatively common finger spasms, other problems could – in theory – be easily avoided: earmuffs for tuba players to prevent tinnitus or hearing loss, stretching before exercising, and teachers, who take care of healthy posture as well as the music.
So, if you hear some bad sounds in a New Year concert, don’t just boo! Perhaps the soloist was depressed or the conductor suffered a severe back pain. Better tell them about the clinic in Vienna or the “Performing Arts Medicine Association” in the US.
- Sascha Karberg
(who didn’t risk his – and others -
health by playing the violin this year)
