Musician's Journal Club

This week's article for Musician's Journal Club was a 2018 article from Psychology of Music entitled " How guilt/shame proneness and coping style are related to music performance anxiety and stress symptoms by gender ".  Performance anxiety is a complex and prevalent issue in musicians, and this article dove in to some of the predictors for performance anxiety. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musician’s Journal Club (@musiciansjournalclub) Music performance anxiety symptoms include muscle tension, sweaty hands, hyperventilation, dry mouth, shakiness, increased heard rate, arm and neck stiffness, difficulty maintaining posture, and difficulty concentrating. There are many performance anxiety management strategies, and both long-term and short-term techniques were found to be useful in effective management. Some strategies include deep breathing, yoga, meditation, exercise, having strong social support, and in some cases, use of medica...

 This week's article for Musician's Journal Club was a 2020 article from the Journal of Hand Surgery (European volume) entitled " Overuse syndrome of the hand and wrist in musicians: a systematic review ".  I chose this article because hand and wrist pain is an issue that affects many different instrumentalists, and one I have personal experience with. I thought this review article gave a nice balanced view of defining overuse syndrome and symptoms and discussing treatment and prevention strategies. The lifetime prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in musicians has been reported as 77%, 67%, and 89% Musculoskeletal pain in musicians is clearly an issue. Even by the lowest number reported in this article, about two out of three musicians experience pain during their career. Overuse syndrome is one of the common diagnoses for musician pain, and some of the most common areas affected by overuse syndrome are the wrist, forearm, fingers, and right hand, especially in wind pl...

Musician's Journal Club @musiciansjournalclub Musician's Journal Club: Applying medical research to advance musical careers Welcome to Musician's Journal Club, an online, social-media based community for musicians to investigate how scientific research can improve musician health and wellness. Each week, we will look into a new peer-reviewed research article in one relating to one of three pillars of musician health: musculoskeletal health, mental health, and auditory, vocal, and pulmonary health. Throughout the week, you'll have opportunities to interact on Instagram (@musiciansjournalclub) to ask questions and engage with discussion questions to learn how this research can apply to a variety of musical professions. I'm excited to have you around to learn more about the science behind healthy musicians! Musician's Journal Club is a social media community for musicians interested in exploring how scientific research can affect musical performance and careers. Ea...