Being a healthy musician feat. Dr. Bill Kleinman

Oh, that's right this is a later time. I will be working so I will watch afterwards. Here are a few questions for Dr. Kleinman, many of which will likely be addressed in the course of the Livestream:

1) What is the most significant piece of advice you have about injury prevention of the hands for pianists?

2) Are there myths/fallacies that you think need to be debunked?

3) Can you please speak to wellness/wholeness/balance?

4) In your many years of practice, what has impacted your particular field of medicine the most - as it relates to patients?

5) Whenever someone is an expert in a field, they sometimes assume others know "a,b and c" because it is second-nature to them. Are there interesting tidbits of information that you want us to know that may not often be directly addressed because of the aforementioned assumption? Or because it is so basic?

6) Anatomy of the human body is extremely fascinating! What influenced you to practice this particular branch of medicine?

7) Most difficult aspect of your profession? Most enjoyable?

Thank you!

Thank you to Dr. Kleinman! Thank you, Dominic! What a wonderful LiveStream! Dr. Kleinman brought up so many valuable points, and he shared such fascinating information! I love what he said about the importance of - when necessary - finding a specialist who has the right "sensibility" for treating musicians. The specialist must understand the artist, music, and what it entails - to a degree. Also, it was quite helpful to hear the correct application of ice (for the first 24 hours after injury), and heat (after 24 hours).

Also crucial: correct diagnosis when something goes awry. That is essential for the right treatment.

Superb programming! Thank you!

Dominic Cheli

This was very interesting Dominic - many thanks to you and Bill who was a very clear and on topic interviewee! 

Although it wasn’t specifically addressed in this presentation ( being a neurological condition rather than a physical injury as such  ) Focal Dystonia has effectively ended the performing careers of many international pianists. Rae de Lisle -  herself a concert pianist now piano professor in New Zealand who has a special interest in healthy and injury-free piano technique - has successfully rehabilitated a number of affected pianists including working with Michael Houston - arguably NZ’s premier concert pianist who lost the use of his right hand for several years. With her help he returned to the stage and has since presented the entire cycle of Beethoven sonatas and all of the Well Tempered Clavier. Rae has published an eBook on her methods available here:

https://www.paladinostore.com/books/focal-dystonia-pianists-way-recovery-through-retraining

She has also recently published a healthy technique guide for use by teachers and students of all ages and levels - Fit 4 Piano - available from her website:

https://www.raedelisle.com/fit-4-piano.html

I have both both resources and have been to several presentations by Rae.  They’ve all been excellent and tremendously useful. 

I believe she also does some consulting over Skype. 

I offer these here links in case any Tone Base member is seeking help and resources for this potentially devastating condition. 

Greetings from Bangkok, Thailand.

Thank you for sharing this topic from the doctor that knew the way musicians use their body.

I'm the one that had many injuries from practicing piano since I was young. Since then, I learned to treat my body better from many physical therapists and finally found the right therapist within the last 3 years. He studied my injuries, watched how I played (he and his team went to my performance to see it) and adjusted treatment to fit the way I use my hands. Also, my therapist teach me how to train my muscle to have more entire body healthy muscle to support my hands using.

I do still hope that more musicians will take this topic more serious for themselves and especially for their students to take care of their body in an early age not after the injuries happened.