The suffering of orchestral musicians
According to a survey of Australian music psychologists, 84 percent of Australian orchestral musicians have struggled with music-related pain. For around half of musicians, the pain is acute.
The study by Dianna Kenny from the Australian Centre for Applied Research in Music Performance diagnoses depression, social phobias and stage fright as common ailments of orchestral musicians in addition to pain.
With the help of a specific methodological procedure, the Kenny Music Performance Anxiety Inventory (K-MPAI), the statements of 377 professional orchestra members were analyzed.
Female interviewees show significant linear relationships between so-called trigger point-related pain and stage fright, while for male interviewees the relationships between pain and stage fright are more complex: for those with the most noticeable stage fright, the associated trigger point-related pain is less intense.
Link to the study:
pom.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/09/02/0305735613493953.abstract
