student. Are their feet grounded when they sit? Do their backs arch when they raise their instruments? Are they so tense that they move stiffly and awkwardly?
2. Change language to reflect anatomical truth. Examples: • Instead of telling students to “sit up straight,” en- courage them to “balance their heads and torsos over their sits bones.” The spine is segmented and curved, not straight and solid. • “Breathe all the way from your abdomen.” Air cannot go to the abdomen; it can only go to the bottom of the lungs as the diaphragm is pulled down. The lungs end at the level of the bottom of the breastbone. “Breathe so that you expand your ribs to the front, back, and sides, and so the ab- dominal wall moves out from the movement down of your diaphragm.” • “Don’t raise your shoulders,” which too easily translates to “don’t move your shoulders.” The “shoulder” is actually the upper arm structure--the collarbone, shoulder blades, and upper arm bone, or humerus. The only place that this structure is joined to the trunk is the SC joint at the breast- bone; otherwise, it is suspended from the skull and spine by muscle and connective tissue. It must be free to move in order for the arm to extend fully (as for trombone slide and string bowing), and for expansion of the entire rib structure in breathing. “Allow your arm structure to be supported by the torso” would be more appropriate. • Instead of, “Don’t lock your knees,” say “Soften your knees to feel the delivery of your weight into your entire foot.”
3. Help students to access their own body maps. Visual props in the classroom, such as a skeleton or an ana- tomical chart, can help students to keep their bodies in mind and be handy references for the teacher. A large anatomical puzzle is useful for general music students. Having students rock forward and back and from side to side on chairs (or even gym balls) can help them locate their sits bones. When students are awkwardly aligned, I have found it helpful to “freeze” them and carefully take their instruments away. They instantly realize how much their instruments have been unconsciously throw- ing their balance off, and how distorted their maps have become.
In conclusion, since we don’t have trainers, we music edu- cators have a professional and ethical responsibility to keep our students safe and healthy in classrooms and rehearsals--in both body and mind. We ARE the “trainers” who must em- body music teaching and learning. Body Mapping is a method to help us do that--one that is fairly easy to learn and enjoy- able to use.
References Bowman, W. (2004). Cognition and the body: Perspectives from music education. In L. Bresler (Ed.), Knowing bodies, moving minds: Toward embodied teaching and learning (pp. 29–50). Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Press.
Bowman, M., & Powell, K. (2007). The body in a state of music. In L. Bresler, (Ed.), International handbook of research in arts education (1087-1106). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
Bresler, L. (Ed.). Knowing bodies, moving minds: Toward embodied teaching and learning. Academic Press.
Netherlands: Kluwer
Buchanan, H. (2011). Body Mapping: Self-reflective views of student musicians (Unpublished doctoral disserta- tion). University of New England, Australia.
Conable, B. (2000). What every musician needs to know about the body. Chicago: GIA Publications.
Klein, S., Bayard, C., & Wolf, U. (2014) The Alexander Technique and musicians: A systematic review of con- trolled trials. BMC complementary and alternative med- icine. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-14-414.
Johnson, J. (2009). What every violinist needs to know about the body. Chicago: GIA Publications.
Palac, J. & Grimshaw, D. (2006). Music education and per- forming arts medicine: The state of the alliance. Physi- cal medicine and rehabilitation clinics of North Ameri- ca, 17(4), 877-891.
Paparo, S. (2011). Embodying singing in the choral class- room: A somatic approach to teaching and learning (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
Schabrun, S., Stinear, C., Byblow, W., & Ridding, M. (2009). Normalizing motor cortex representations in focal hand dystonia. Cerebral Cortex 19 (9): 1968-1977. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhn224.
Shusterman, R. (2008). Body consciousness: A philosophy of mindfulness and somaesthetics. New York: Cam- bridge University Press.
Zaza, C. (1998). Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders in musicians: a systematic review of incidence and preva- lence. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 158(8), 1019-1025.
Judy Palac, DMA, is Associate Professor of Music Education at Michigan State University, where she chairs the Musicians’ Well- ness Team. She is a licensed Andover Educator. She received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Texas. Palac is a specialist in string education and performing arts medicine. She has taught at the University of Michigan, the University of Texas and the University of Wiscon- sin-Oshkosh. Palac is a former member of the Collegium String Quartet. She is published in the fields of performing arts medicine, string teacher education, and the Suzuki method in such journals as “American String Teacher” and “Medical Problems of Per- forming Artists”. Dr. Palac can be reached at
palac@msu.edu.
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