Practice and performance management strategies of emerging professional musicians in preparation for orchestra auditions

Orchestra auditions form a critical career challenge for many aspiring classical musicians. Hence, emerging professional musicians—defined as promising musicians entering the professional circuit without having yet established full-time employment—require effective practice and performance strategies to manage the demands of auditions. The purpose of this collective case study was to gain an in-depth and contextualized understanding of such practice and performance management strategies in relation to mock orchestra auditions. Data were collected using an intensive qualitative approach, combining semi-structured interviews with regular structured monitoring interviews, with eight musicians. Content analysis revealed that participants, on average, engaged in 33 hr of music-related activities per week, during which they adopted self-regulating strategies (i.e., strategic goal setting, structuring practice, monitoring practice, and reflecting on progress) to a varying degree. Furthermore, participants used different performance management strategies to cope with the pressure of auditions (i.e., practicing under pressure, imagery, relaxation, cognitive reframing, routines, attentional control, and substance use). Overall, the data suggest that the emerging musicians possessed several different practice and performance strategies but showed great variation in the use of such strategies and had a preference for long practice hours. Potential implications for music education organizations aiming to prepare students for auditions are discussed.

Is bone kinesthetic adaptation of bone innervation plastically developed in fingers and correlated joints of violist and pianist after long term practice?

Bone cells might be considered in response to the distribution of nerves in the periosteum, epiphysis and bone marrow.The sensory and sympathetic neurotransmitters have trophic effects critically on normal osteogenic differentiation and bone metabolism in bone development and regeneration. It could modulate bone regeneration, bone remodeling, and articular cartilage homeostasis to their classic neurological actions. With touching and hearing mediated osseoperception, sensation can be adapted from the mechanical stimulation of a bone-anchored prosthesis. Investigations of the influence of music on the human brain showed structural and functional cerebro-neuroplasticity emerge as a result of long-term musical practice, which may cause cognitive differences between non-musicians and musicians. Meanwhile, the physical mechanical hits and touch strings and keys of instruments hypothetically were considered to cause adaptability for professional musicians in their peripheral tissues, especially bone sensation of fingers and correlated joints. Music practice is bone-strengthening activity. We hypothesis that it produces sensation adaptation in the fingers and correlated joints of instrument players, especially musicians after tremendous training and practice. Both the bone, correlated joint and its innervation are adapted by neuroplasticity for something part of “hardware constructing” to accomplish music performance. We thought that neuroplasticity occurred both in central nervous system and peripheral nervous system. Besides of developed in soft tissues of subcutaneous, connective tissue, muscle, inter-tissue coordination through neuro-network may occur in bone innervation coupled with correlated joint for specialized music-practice-oriented neuroplasticity. Soft tissues, such as muscle and tendon cannot directly hit instrument with stiffness to generate sound and rhythmic. Functionally, innervated-bone as bio-mechanical device becomes sensory musical target bone.

The Musical Diplomacy of Metternich

That festivities are woven into the historical image of the Austrian diplomat, foreign minister, and state chancellor Clemens von Metternich (1773–1859) is in part the byproduct of his investment in music. As an amateur performer, passionate connoisseur, attentive patron, and frequent host, Metternich cultivated an international soundworld that presented opportunities for cooperative performances. Ensemble music and collective listening provided experiences of international concert that gained significance in the context of multilateral congresses and meetings. Musical exchanges, sustained through the activity of women and professional musicians, contributed to fostering diplomatic relations and international presence. In the context of the Restoration’s competing soundworlds, Metternich deployed a patronage of Rossini’s work and Italian opera music, with increasing intensity but mixed effect. This history speaks to the function of music in the presentation of self in international encounters and the resources to be found in the plurality of roles diplomats perform.

Maelzel, the Metronome, and the Modern Mechanics of Musical Time

Johann Nepomuk Maelzel, despite being most recognized today for inventing the clockwork metronome, was one of the most famous automata showmen of the nineteenth century. This chapter begins by offering a reception history of Maelzel, the metronome, and his automata, and exploring the cultural significances underlying his clockwork creations across the Industrial Age. As numerous accounts maintain, Maelzel’s automata projected decidedly inhuman performance practices. His automata emblematized a machine culture that ran in direct opposition to the subjective ‘artistry’ championed by many skilled performers and composers over the century. This study subsequently addresses the discord between Maelzel’s age and ours regarding the values of musical time and performance practices: those metronomic qualities largely rejected by Maelzel’s musical contemporaries are often vehemently endorsed today by many professional musicians and educators who apply mechanically precise tempos and rhythms to all musical repertoires. This history ultimately confronts the veiled ‘metronome mentality’ found throughout contemporary performance culture, which neglects many musical-temporal aesthetics and rhythmic qualities from a pre-industrial, pre-metronomic past.

Интерпретации «Хайтармы» А. Спендиаряна в творчестве современных исполнителей республики Татарстан

This article presents two musical arrangements of "Haytarma" from A. Spendiaryan's suite "Crimean Sketches" (part 1), performed by Kazan musicians and composers - R.E. Ilyasov for the "Kazan Nury" folk instrument orchestra and R.Yu. Abyazov for the "La Primavera" string chamber orchestra. A brief historical information about the work of A. Spendiaryan connected with the Crimean Tatar music is given. Also presented is material about the peculiarities of the Crimean Tatar folk dance "haitarma", about its different musical variants. This work will be useful to a wide range of professional musicians, as well as researchers of the Crimean Tatar folk music.

Your Race Sounds Familiar?

Your Face Sounds Familiar, a celebrity talent television format developed by the Dutch production company Endemol and first broadcast in Spain in 2011, has entertained audiences in more than forty countries with the sight of well-known professional musicians impersonating foreign and domestic stars through cross-gender drag and, on many national editions, cross-racial drag, with results that would widely be regarded as offensive blackface where this has already been extensively challenged as racist in public. In central/south-east Europe, however, blackface is sometimes justified by arguing that it cannot be a racist practice because these countries have not had the UK and USA’s history of colonialism and racial oppression. Through a study of the Croatian edition Tvoje lice zvuči poznato (2014–), where until 2020 blackface had rarely been publicly challenged, this paper explores how far a critical race studies lens towards blackface can also be applied there.

Prevalence of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Problems Among Professional Orchestra Musicians in South Africa: A Study Using the Musculoskeletal Pain Intensity and Interference Questionnaire for Musicians (MPIIQM)

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of playing-related musculoskeletal problems (PRMPs) in professional musicians is well documented in the literature, but few studies have been done on South African professional musicians. OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of PRMPs, pain intensity, and pain interference among full-time and part-time orchestral musicians, using a validated self-report instrument specifically designed for musicians. METHODS: Seventy-nine full-time and part-time professional orchestral musicians took part in the study and completed the Musculoskeletal Pain Intensity and Interference Questionnaire for Musicians (MPIIQM). RESULTS: A lifetime prevalence of PRMPs was 76% and point prevalence 30%. Of the PRMP group, 30% experienced current pain that interfered with their ability to play. Upper strings players reported the most PRMPs. The most commonly reported pain locations were right and left upper limb, neck, forearm, and elbow. The mean pain intensity score for the PRMP group was 16.3 (SD 6.62) (out of 40) and the mean pain interference score was 21.2 (9.98) (out of 50). Female musicians reported experiencing pain more frequently and intensely and also reported more pain sites than males. CONCLUSIONS: This study, the first to make use of a validated self-report instrument, shows that musculoskeletal problems are common among full-time and part-time professional orchestral musicians in South Africa.

Friendship of Well-known and Undeservedly Forgotten Masters in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Russian Piano Music. The Life and Work of Medtner, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin

"In this study, I explore the life and work of three outstanding pianists and composers in the late 19th and early 20th century: Medtner, Rachmaninoff, and Scriabin, who were not only contemporaries and colleagues but also supportive friends to each other. All three were largely influenced by their years at the Moscow Conservatory, where they became prominent pianists and first showed promise as composers. They received similar impulses and could learn from the same teachers. As a defining common element in their lives, they explored and strived to combine Russian musical traditions and Western classical music. At the same time, their different personalities are apparent from their music, so despite their common roots, their individual musical language is unmistakable. Even at the beginning of their careers, it was clear that despite the commonalities, their lives and careers took a different direction. All three tried their luck abroad, but only Scriabin returned home for the rest of his short life. In addition to their distinct life paths and musical language, their recognition is quite different. Scriabin’s name sounds familiar to many, but he does not belong to the most popular composers of our time. Rachmaninoff’s widespread popularity can be observed among professional musicians as well as the public. In contrast, it is not impossible to meet a professional for whom Medtner’s music is unknown. This is not necessarily explained by disparities in talent and abilities but rather by differences in circumstances, opportunities, and personalities. In this study, I attempt to shed light on the reasons for the three composers’ contrasting popularity from the perspective of their life and work. Keywords: Russian composers, Russian music, Late 19th, and early 20th century, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Medtner "

Different media, same relationships: What the Iris Piano Trio learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

The Iris Music Project is a non-profit dedicated to reimagining residential and healthcare communities as spaces of creative exchange. By February 2020, our chamber music group, the Iris Piano Trio, had developed a model for music programming at Charles E. Smith Life Communities (CESLC) in Rockville, Maryland (United States), that emphasized collaborative relationships between professional musicians and community members. The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the Trio’s work and tested its model. In this article, we describe how the Trio remained connected and relevant to CESLC residents by experimenting with virtual programmes that adapted our model to a digital setting. We argue that our prior relationships with residents and staff enabled us to impact their lives throughout the pandemic despite the isolation created by COVID-19 closures. The pandemic strained, but did not fundamentally change, the Trio’s ensemble-in-residence model, suggesting its potential as a generalized model in the field of music and health.

Physical health status of music students in a post-secondary institution: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Musicians’ health is an essential field of healthcare that is specifically tailored to the needs of musicians, which encompasses multiple facets of health. OBJECTIVE: The research seeks to determine the prevalence of physical injuries in music students and musicians, and to identify possible causes. METHODS: A previously unvalidated 42-item survey was distributed to music students, non-music students, and professional musicians. The questions addressed demographics, physical health, mental health, medication use, and interest in musicians’ health. The study was conducted from Fall semester 2017 to Winter semester 2019 at McGill University, with analysis completed in August 2019. RESULTS: A total of 585 complete responses were obtained. Music students (35%) had higher prevalence of physical injuries than non-music students (18%), and professional musicians had the highest prevalence (56%). Multiple factors dictate the prevalence of physical injuries among musicians, including gender, age, program of enrollment, and instrument of choice. Of note, daily duration of practice was not one of these factors. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors were identified through this cross-sectional analysis to be associated with musicians’ physical injuries. These findings can serve as a foundation through which physicians and post-secondary institutions may implement changes to better enhance the physical health of musicians. It also cast doubts on previous assumptions associated with physical injury of musicians.