Health initiatives in German orchestras
Musicians' medicine has been making great strides in Germany for twenty years. Key factors are interdisciplinarity and the dialog between medicine and music practice.
Karoline Renner, Sieglinde Fritzsche, Susanne Schlegel* - - Music physiology training at German conservatoires has improved significantly - both in terms of quality and quantity. As a result, orchestras have also become more aware of the need to take responsibility for their own health care. At the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, for example, a cycle of health-promoting activities has been developed over two seasons since 2016. These "health days" are divided into lectures, workshops and consultation hours. The conceptual arc of the event cycle ranges from the "tangible" physical stresses to the "subtle" psychological content. Health days do not offer blanket solutions, they can only provide impulses and make possible paths tangible, which the individual musician can use individually and on their own responsibility.
Orchestra musicians are subject to strict hierarchies during their work. A clear regulation of communication forms proves to be very useful during artistic work. However, it is superfluous or even harmful to carry hierarchical thinking and learned speechlessness into the rest of everyday working life. Frustration and feelings of powerlessness build up, real opportunities to exert influence are overlooked and misunderstandings remain unresolved.
In Constance, attempts are being made to change such communication patterns. For example, there is a model of active feedback from the musicians at the regular conducting courses for young conductors. The aim is to make these projects known in other orchestras and to hold health days once a year if possible.
Other orchestras have entered into partnerships with medical facilities or music-medical institutes and are supported by them as part of a complex health management program. Not all orchestras attach the same importance to this. Different financial and time resources play a role here.
Eleven years ago, the German Orchestra Association (DOV), the professional association of professional orchestras and radio choirs, formed the Health and Prophylaxis Working Group (WG). Its members are active members from various professional orchestras and radio choirs. With staff and logistical support from the DOV office, they are involved in the comprehensive and complex field of musicians' health. They promote developments and make musicians' medical knowledge and new prevention options accessible.
The direct work of the working group in the orchestras can currently be seen in the "Willibert Steffens soundproofing project". The DOV provides sound insulation walls specially developed for orchestral use for loan to the orchestras. The project is combined with personal advice from one or two members of the working group in order to pass on the necessary knowledge and existing experience and to get to know the working environment of the respective orchestras. A long-term vision is a network of health officers in the individual orchestras who work closely with the working group to promote the health of their colleagues.
*Karoline Renner and Susanne Schlegel are members of the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Sieglinde Fritzsche is a member of the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin.
