Musicians' health and wellness

This page provides examples of resources related to certain aspects of injury prevention and treatment.

Find additional resources by searching with relevant keywords in the Libraries' Sofia Discovery tool.

Another way to find information on these topics is to link to the following subject headings. Each link retrieves all items in the Library collection that have been assigned the given description, based on the item's subject matter:

• Music - Performance - Physiological Aspects
• Musicians - Health and Hygiene
• Musicians - Wounds and injuries

• Medical Problems of Performing Artists by the Performing Arts Medicine Association
  The first and foremost scientific medical journal devoted to health problems of performing artists. Features original peer-reviewed research papers covering a wide array of disorders, such as neurological disorders, musculoskeletal conditions, hearing disorders, and anxiety.
• Yoga with Adriene: A YouTube channel for practicing yoga in your own home, with videos of varied lengths and goals
• Perspectives in Performing Arts Medicine Practice: A Multidisciplinary Approach (2020), edited by Sang-Hie Lee, Merry Lynn Morris, and Santo V. Nicosia
• Yoga in the Music Studio (2020) by Lesley Sisterhen McAllister 
• Performing Arts Medicine (2019) by Lauren E. Elson
• Teaching Healthy Musicianship: The Music Educator's Guide to Injury Prevention and Wellness by Nancy Taylor
  ​ML3820 T39 2016, Marvin Duchow Music Library
• Protect Your Neuromusculoskeletal and Vocal Health Every Day (2014) by the National Association of Schools of Music and the Performing Arts Medicine Association
  A handout specifically written for music students, with information on protecting yourself from the various neuromusculoskeletal issues that can affect musicians.
• Bassist's Guide to Injury Management, Prevention and Better Health by Randall Kertz
  RC965 P46 K47 2011, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  Written specifically for electric bass players, and including information for double bass players as well, this book explains injuries and conditions prevalent in bass players and how to treat or avoid them. Features advice from top bassists such as Victor Wooten and Esperanza Spalding, as well as an easy-to-use symptom reference guide to help pinpoint sources of injury.
• Playing (Less) Hurt: An Injury Guide for Musicians by Janet Horvath
  ML3820 H6 2010, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  Horvath demonstrates deep knowledge of musicians' physiology and psyche, and provides specific tools to avoid and alleviate injuries.
• The Biology of Musical Performance and Performance-Related Injury (2009) by Alan Watson
  An insightful book on the anatomical aspects of music-making processes. Detailed, yet assuming no prior scientific knowledge, it explains posture, limb movements, breathing, embouchure muscles, the respiratory tract, the larynx and vocal tract, the brain, and stress. One chapter deals with the causes of performance-related injuries and how to avoid or mitigate them. 
• Musician's Yoga: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Inspiration by Mia Olson
  RA781.7 O47 2009, Marvin Duchow Music Library
• Fit as a Fiddle: The Musician's Guide to Playing Healthy by William Dawson
  ML3820 D38 2008, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  Written for instrumentalists of all levels, this accessible book provides essential musicians' health information as well as a glossary of simple and advanced medical terms. 
• Medical Problems of the Instrumentalist Musician by Raoul Tuniana and Peter C. Amadio
  ​ML3820 M43 2000, Marvin Duchow Music Library
• The Athletic Musician: A Guide to Playing Without Pain by Barbara Paull and Christine Harrison
  RC965 P46 P38 1997, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  A methodical guide on how to prevent and manage injuries, tailored to a musician's point of view.

• The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique: An online resource that provides information on the Alexander Technique. It includes information about Alexander Technique resources (including a listing of guides specifically written for musicians), free articles, and listings of certified teachers by city.
• The Alexander Technique: A Personal and Critical Guide for Practitioners, Students and Performance Artists (2024) by Peter Ribeaux
• The Alexander Technique for Musicians (2018) by Judith Kleinman and Peter Buckoke
  An accessible guide on the Alexander Technique as it applies to musicians
• How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live: Learning the Alexander Technique to Explore Your Mind-Body Connection and Achieve Self-Mastery by Missy Vineyard
  RA781.5 V56 2007, Marvin Duchow Music Library
• The Use of the Self: Its Conscious Direction in Relation to Diagnosis, Functioning and the Control of Reaction by F Matthias Alexander
  RA781.5 A5 2001, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  The classic text, first published in 1932, by the originator of the Alexander Technique
• Indirect Procedures: A Musician's Guide to the Alexander Technique by Pedro de Alcantara
  RC965 P46 A43 1997, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  A comprehensive musician-oriented books on the Alexander Technique, touching on many facets of a musician's life such as technique, sound production, practicing, rehearsal routines, performance anxiety, health problems, and philosophy. 
• How to Learn the Alexander Technique: A Manual for Students by Barbara Conable and William Conable
  BF172 C66 1995, Marvin Duchow Music Library
• The Resurrection of the Body: The Writings of F. Matthias Alexander edited by Edward Maisel
  BF 145 A375r 1974, Osler Library of the History of Medicine
  Compiled from some of Alexander's written works, this book introduces Alexander's teachings in his own words.

• What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body (2020) by Melissa Malde, MaryJean Allen, and Kurt Alexander Zeller
• Teaching Body Mapping to Children: Overcoming and Preventing Injury in the Music Studio and Classroom (2017) by Jennifer Johnson
• Oboemotions: What Every Oboe Player Needs to Know About the Body by Stephen Caplan
  MT360 C37 O2 2009, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  A guide on placing the musical and technical dimensions of oboe performance within the context of a precise understanding of the human body. Additional resources can be found on the book's companion website.
• What Every Violinist Needs to Know About the Body by Jennifer Johnson and Barbara Conable.
  ML3820 J65 2009, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  A Body Mapping guide for violinists, designed to develop the violinist's knowledge of their body movements in relation to playing the instrument.
• What Every Pianist Needs to Know About the Body: A Manual for Players of Keyboard Instruments by Thomas Mark
  ML3820 M37 2003, Marvin Duchow Music Library  
  This guide seeks to educate keyboard players how to gain greater fluidity of movement while playing to improve the quality of the experience through body mapping.
• What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body: The Practical Application of Body Mapping to Making Music by Barbara Conable and Benjamin Conable
  ML3820 C75 2000, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  An essential book on Body Mapping, which is a method of applying Alexander Technique to one's "body map." It dismisses popular assumptions and misrepresentations about the use of the human body, and seeks to correct them with graphic images showing how the body really affects one's experience and movement.

• The Feldenkrais Guild of North America: An online resource with articles and information on the Feldenkrais method, as well as listings of Feldenkrais practitioners by country and city.
• The Feldenkrais Method for Instrumentalists: A Guide to Awareness Through Movement (2024) by Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth L. Blades
• Singing with Your Whole Self: A Singer’s Guide to Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement (2018) by Samuel H. Nelson and Elizabeth L. Blades
• Relaxercise: The Easy New Way to Health & Fitness by David Zemach-Bersin, Kaethe Zemach, and Mark Reese
  RA781 Z46 1990, Marvin Duchow Music Library
  An exercise program based on the Feldenkrais method, designed to improve posture, flexibility, and physical comfort
• Awareness Through Movement: Health Exercises for Personal Growth by Moshé Feldenkrais
  RA781 F44 1977, McLennan Humanities and Social Sciences Library
  Written by the pioneer of the Feldenkrais method, this book provides a practical program for a healthy mind and body. It focuses on building better body habits and increasing awareness through physical and mental exercises.

• Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
  Organization committed to the scientific study of dystonia, with general information on symptoms, treatment, and available resources. Provides a handout specifically for musician's dystonia
• “Focal Dystonia in Musicians, a Literature Review” (2024) by Silvia Comoletti and Chiara Mercogliano: Article from the Journal of Hand Therapy: Official Journal of the American Society of Hand Therapists (vol. 37, no. 4)
• Basic and Translational Applications of the Network Theory for Dystonia (2023) by Aasef G. Shaikh and Anna Sadnicka
• The Musician’s Hand: A Clinical Guide (2018) edited by Ian Winspur