Playing-related pain, discomfort, and injuries are significant health concerns for musicians. Most of these are classified as playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs), which are any physical symptoms that interfere with a musician’s ability to play their instrument at the level to which they are accustomed (Zaza et al., 1998). The prevalence of PRMDs for professional musicians can range from 62% to 93% (Kok et al., 2016). Researchers have found similar PRMD prevalence rates among tertiary music students at universities, colleges, and conservatories (Larsson et al., 1993; Stanek et al., 2017). Additionally, young musicians in primary and secondary school also experience PRMDs (Burkholder & Brandfonbrener, 2004; Lockwood, 1988; Ranelli et al., 2011). It seems that PRMDs may be a consequence of not only the way people make music, but also of how they learned and were taught to make music.
Many performing arts medicine researchers recommend prevention education to combat PRMDs. Although studies examining stretching, warm-ups, yoga, and somatic education techniques have shown promising results, the majority of these prevention education research studies have focused on tertiary music students (Barton & Feinberg, 2008; López & Martínez, 2013; Salonen, 2018). As many tertiary music students report experiencing PRMDs even before arriving at school, waiting to teach prevention may be too late (Brandfonbrener, 2009; Foxman & Burgel, 2006). Additionally, the rate of PRMDs among young musicians demonstrates a need to determine how and when prevention education is implemented. As musicians of all ages continue to experience PRMDs, current teaching practices may not be adequate to help prevent PRMDs—in fact, the way music is taught may be contributing to their development. Efforts to understand how to incorporate prevention education into pedagogical practices from the very beginning of musical study are necessary.
Body Mapping is a somatic education technique that was designed specifically for music teachers to educate musicians about their bodies. Utilizing the senses, movement, and attention, Body Mapping guides musicians to understand the size, structure, and function of the body in movement to help them achieve their musical intentions (Conable, 2000; Johnson, 2009). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of Body Mapping-informed pedagogy as primary prevention on beginning string students’ body awareness and levels of pain and discomfort as measured by standard self-perception tools. In a quasi-experimental design, data collection occurred before and after a 12-week intervention period using the Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaire (CMDQ), the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness 2 (MAIA-2), and the Body Mapping Knowledge Inventory (BMKI). Participants (N = 68) were 6th grade beginning string students in the Western United States separated into an experimental group (n = 41) receiving Body Mapping instruction while learning their instrument, and a control group (n = 27) that learned their instrument only with traditional pedagogy.
T-tests revealed a limited number of statistically significant results, but a closer examination of data also uncovered some interesting non-significant trends. Although there were no significant differences in pain and discomfort between groups on the CMDQ, the control group did have a more obvious upward trend of pain and discomfort between testing points. On the MAIA-2, the experimental group maintained their body awareness over the intervention period, whereas the control group had a significant loss of body awareness (p = .042). Additionally, the experimental group significantly increased their Body Mapping knowledge on the BMKI (p = .020). Finally, Spearman’s correlations revealed a significant direct relationship (𝜌 = .28, p = .019) between increased Body Mapping knowledge and higher body awareness on the BMKI and MAIA-2, respectively. The results of this study indicate that Body Mapping concepts can be learned from the beginning of study, although it is not clear what the implications are for long-term injury prevention. Further, the data suggest the continued examination of pedagogical practices. More research efforts are needed to understand the long-term effects of somatic education such as Body Mapping, and to determine quantitative data collection instruments appropriate to reveal subtle changes in pain, discomfort, and body awareness for this population.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46548 |
| Date | 11 August 2023 |
| Creators | Rader, Noelle Cherie |
| Contributors | Palac, Judith A. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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