Page 87 - How to Shine on Stage

Technique is the expertise of Nina Rotner and Danica Bigec, while the
Feldenkreis method is the domain of Aleksandra Kragelnik and Nuša
Romih Masnoglav.
According to Ilonka Pucihar (2022), several studies have found that
as many as 90% of musicians report tension, pain, and injury associat-
ed with playing an instrument. She stresses as particularly problematic
that musicians begin to experience such problems as early as in second-
ary school and university. The interrelated and intertwined internal, ex-
ternal, and psychosocial risk factors that accompany intense practice 85
and performance produce overexertion-based physical stress, build-up
of tension, poor coordination and, consequently, possible pain and in-
jury. If a musician wants to change the automated dysfunctional bodi-
ly patterns, they need to concentrate on the direct experiencing of their
body through perceptions, sensations, and proprioception of motor ac-
tions. Through body awareness, the musician learns to recognize harm-
ful habits and identify the source of inefficient and harmful patterns
of movement. Ilonka Pucihar (2022) lists warm-up, breaks, stretching,
strengthening, physical activity, good nutrition, hydration, and somat-
ic education as strategies to reduce the risk of physical injuries in mu- Direct Factors of Musical Performance Success
sicians. The latter enables them to learn more efficient movement and
integrated body coordination grounded in functional anatomy and the
laws of movement.
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a relaxation technique developed
by Dr Edmund Jacobson (1938). The effect of this technique stems from
an active approach to recognizing the difference between tense and re-
laxed muscles, which facilitates the preservation of physical relaxation.
The aim of PMR is to train the body to be able to detect tensions and to
be able to release them. PMR not only aids in the relaxation of the skel-
etal muscles, but also contributes to a calmer mind (Romas & Sharma,
2017). It can be “general”, meaning that one can relax while lying down
with the eyes closed, or “relative”, meaning that one is active but com-
pletely relaxed during the activity (sitting on a chair and being able to
relax in the seated position). The latter is especially useful for musicians.
There are several stages to learning PMR. The first stage is a progres-
sive relaxation of the whole body, all individual muscle groups. It lasts
15 to 20 minutes. We tense and then relax each muscle group twice. Si-
multaneously, we bring sensations of warmth into our body by means
of suggestion, and deepen our breathing. Once we have mastered the
first stage, we move on to the relaxation stage, where we learn to reduce
the amount of time needed to enter a relaxed state. This stage lasts five
to seven minutes. We focus on breathing and the simultaneous relaxa-