Musician, Heal Thyself!: Free Your Shoulder Region through Body Mapping

By Jennifer Johnson

Pain in the shoulder region is one of the most common problems afflicting instrumentalists, vocalists, and conductors alike. Musician, Heal Thyself! uses the principles of Body Mapping to free musicians of their shoulder pain, injury, and limitations, leading to more expressive and healthy music making.While keenly aware of the importance of whole-body balance and context, author Jennifer Johnson presents the four most common patterns that cause shoulder pain and fatigue, along with guidance on how to “ remap” the body for healthier whole arm movements in playing, singing, and conducting.Also included in the book are anatomical images for remapping and many photographs of world-class musicians who exhibit exemplary arm movement and a free shoulder region in their performances. Especially helpful are the book' s movement exploration activities, online video links, and the appendix, which outlines the functions of the shoulder region muscles in layman' s vocabulary.A healthier approach to music making begins today with the ideas and insights presented in Musician, Heal Thyself!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Oct 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781622777211

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson is a sixth grade writing teacher and Christian fiction writer. She is married with three daughters.

Book preview

PART ONE:

THE SHOULDER REGION IN CONTEXT OF THE WHOLE BODY

CHAPTER ONE

What Is a Shoulder?

Mapping Arm Joints #1 and #2

In the subtitle of this book, the word shoulder is used as an adjective to modify the word region. Although a bit more cumbersome, this choice of words is important because the word shoulder as a noun is misleading and is at the root of much of the confusion and discomfort that musicians experience in their shoulder and neck muscles when learning their instruments. When young musicians are told by their teachers to change some manner of movement in their shoulders, some players will imagine their shoulders to be where they get a massage, others will imagine it is the shoulder blade their teacher is referring to. Yet others will imagine that their teacher means the rounded area near the top of the arm. While the word shoulder as a noun is misleading to musicians, used as an adjective, the word shoulder is very useful. Music educators can accurately discuss a shoulder region, the shoulder muscles, a shoulder joint or the shoulder blade and nearly all students will understand what is