Body Mapping: The Missing Link
According to numerous surveys, over 75% of musicians around the world struggle with physical pain and playing-related injuries. Yet injury remains a taboo subject within the industry, as concerns continue to exist that admittance of such issues may damage reputations and result in lost work.
Asdis Valdimarsdottir, renowned violist, chamber artist, orchestral section leader and educator, was once herself an injured musician – until she discovered Body Mapping. She recalls the frustration she felt upon being introduced to Body Mapping; she wondered why her childhood teachers had not explained more about the anatomy and how it relates to the act of playing an instrument, for had they done so, she would have been saved from a lot of pain. The answer; because they did not know.
Asdis’ mission today is to bridge that gap in knowledge and promote Body Mapping as a key resource for all musicians, especially those who teach. By furthering our understanding of our anatomical design, we have the capacity to recover quicker from existing injuries, prevent them from happening again, and discover increased freedom in all manners of music making.
This course has been founded on one simple philosophy; that everything we do is easier when we know how to do it.
What is Body Mapping?
Everyone has some idea of how their bodies are put together. Over time, we develop a unique ‘map’ of how we perceive our bodies to be organised; our very own neuronal representation of the body. It is that map which determines how the brain sends messages, via nerves in the spinal cord, to every corner of our body. Thus, the map determines the quality of our movements; the more accurate it is, the more fluid and organic our movements will be.
A discrepancy in a body map is called a mis-mapping. Take, for example, an ungainly teenager who clumsily bumps into objects around them; this happens because their body map is unable to keep up with the speed at which their body is changing. Parallels exist within the world of music – a world that is full of movement – for rarely are we taught how to relate our physical motion to the act of playing our instruments. Like trying to figure out a complicated household appliance without instructions, most of us are using our bodies through guesswork and instinct, often with damaging results.
Body Mapping addresses this by serving as a movement manual. It teaches us to understand our true design from inside our bodies by palpating our bones and muscles in order to comprehend their structure and function. It helps us to fix any mis-mappings that might have developed, and enables us to recognise the true design of the skeleton, such that we can adjust our movement patterns to best support our music-making.
Body Mapping takes time, patience and perseverance, but the rewards can be life-changing. What we learn from Body Mapping ultimately helps our musicianship, complementing existing schools of playing technique and serving as an enhancement of other somatic disciplines, such as yoga, Feldenkreis and pilates.
The History of Body Mapping
In the 1970s, cellist and Alexander Technique teacher, Bill Conable, began to notice how much quicker his students progressed when they understood how the structure and function of their bodies related to what they were doing. He and his wife, and fellow Alexander Technique teacher, Barbara, worked together to develop a course for musicians called ‘What Every Musician Needs To Know About The Body’, and in 1998 they published the first book about Body Mapping under the same title.
In the same year, Barbara used her extensive experience of teaching musicians to establish ‘Andover Educators’, a network of musicians “saving, securing, and enhancing musical careers with accurate information about the body in movement.” At its heart was a simple ethos; that vital Body Mapping information is best revealed by the musicians themselves, rather than by external sources. Since then, a number of instrument-specific books have been published explaining how to apply Body Mapping to different musical activities, while Andover Educators has grown into a global organisation called the Association for Body Mapping Educators.
Body Mapping is closely related to Alexander Technique, and both practices share many of the same principles. Where they differ is in delivery and approach; whereas the coaching of Alexander Technique usually involves the teacher guiding their students through physical interaction, Body Mapping encourages the student to explore their own bodies from the inside, thus lending it effectively to remote study.
Course overview
The course is divided into six classes, loosely based on the book, ‘What Every Musician Needs To Know About The Body’. Each class lasts for two hours and they are interactive. Participants are encouraged to have their instruments ready in order to try things out, and to bring a pencil and paper for drawing. There will be time at the end of each class for questions.
Participants can sign up for each class independently, but for maximum benefit it is highly recommended to sign up for the full course.
