The musician, this emotional athlete
Interview conducted and compiled by Geneviève Chanut
Article written and illustrated by Coralie Cousin
Translation into English by Yvon Fazendeiro
Coralie Cousin graduated as a physical therapist. For over ten years she has been
dedicated to the re-
Coralie, you show a real commitment to a very special kind of customers, the instrumentalists. How did you get the calling? Are you a musician?
My father was a sculptor, I paint and draw, so I naturally feel attracted by the Arts. My work allows me to enjoy my two passions, health and painting. I take care of artistes and I can draw their positions. I love music but I have never practiced it, which ensures my patients a real impartiality.
Each instrument is a different universe that draws to it particular personalities and involves its own specific risks. In this overwhelming context, where does the guitarist fit?
“On the ladder of risk the guitarist is at the summit”
When a guitar player calls me, I give him or her an appointment as soon as possible! On the ladder of risk the guitarist is at the summit, his right hand being the main source of technical difficulties. Dexterity, power and a tremendous precision, that’s what the guitar demands from that hand!
A well-
Hard worker, always seeking more volume and sometimes convinced that “it is good
to push”, this musician will get involved sometimes to the sacrifice to gain perfection
beyond human capacity. The disproportion between the results and the efforts puts
him at risk of contracting a tendonitis of his hand, elbow or shoulder. Nevertheless
his tenacity (and his soul of a self-
That is the positive aspect of his obsessive tendencies due to the extreme requirements of the instrument.
What about the left hand?
The balance of the left hand is essential. However, its re-
All instrumentalists feel pain or fatigue at some point. When should they seek advice?
One could define the pathology as sand infiltrated in a sophisticated senses-
In response to an increase of its discomfort, the isolated musician can engage in one of these two ways: either he tries to relax his hand then its spine, which might lead to a subsidence and to over sill the forearm on the body of the guitar, which could trigger the compression of a nerve. Or he starts practicing longer: with this new requirement of performance the body starts sending signals. I will take the opportunity to mention that the notion of “relaxing” depends on everyone’s particularities: we have to quiet down the hyper tonic and stimulate the hypo tonic, the ideal being a perfect balance between tonicity and relaxation. (Sketches A, B & C).
When an artist comes to consult with me, his despair is enormous. My first role is
providing him with psychological support. Then, during the re-
To which point could we involve the brain in the pathologies?
It is hard here to mention neuro sciences… Learning is based on repetition. At the beginning the brain is empty; the child records automatisms that feed his “musical brain”, in which each finger figures. But he should not neglect his “body brain”, concerned by sensations, the right gesture, the position and the use of the appropriate muscles. The later brain must become the perfect tool at the disposal of the “musical brain”.
Some guitarists warm up for a very long time others not at all. What do you recommend?
The musician is a high-
An athlete never calls on is muscles without warming up. It is necessary to constantly
reshape the position. First it is important to have a good-
How to organise ones practice time for contests or performances?
It is absolutely necessary to cut the working time with frequent breaks. After 45
minutes playing the body stars to get tired. Do not practice for more than one and
half-
Efficient.
Regarding the position, some students ask if it is good to play with the left leg on a footrest.
Indeed, this traditional position can make the back tired. Today there is other solutions like the “Dynarette” or the “ Ergoplay». If your body talks to you, listen.
The guitarist, unlike a flutist can play without breathing. Should he then minimise the importance of his breathing? How to adjust it to the musical movements?
We cant’ talk about breathing without mentioning the diaphragm, the muscle that allows the lungs to get filled with the necessary volume of air.
I could observe at auscultation that, under stress, eight out of ten instrumentalists have a problem, be careful. When you feel that you are not breathing anymore, force yourself to exhale while puling your belly in and pushing form bottom to top.
Wood wind instruments produce their sounds with their breath, why don’t you? Blow your sounds!
You often compare musicians with the sportsmen. Are they that close in the way they operate?
While the athlete contracts his muscle to perform the musician seeks more to relax in order to produce sound. Only Golfer can be compared to an instrumentalist, since he is seeking power into relaxation. Besides, their problems are similar.
Don’t you think that the pathology of guitarists has a psychological origin?
When you car has broken down, you have it fixed. After that, if you are afraid of getting into it, then, it is psychological.
Coralie, thanks to therapists like you, suffering instrumentalists are not isolated anymore they can easily consult and reconcile with their instruments. Are professionals musicians welcoming this idea of “prevention”?
The young worry about their future and get informed. The level of the contests leads them to an awareness of the physical requirements and of the importance of prevention. Besides, they are concerned about lasting. At the beginning, some teachers where afraid that the interference of physical therapists would call into question their technique or their pedagogy. They are now more and more of them ready to collaborate and that is for the good of their students.
