Playing Injury Free: A New Pedagogical Resource for Oboists

Abstract

Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD) are experienced by a majority of musicians, and oboists are at a higher risk than many. Injuries often start at a young age, and young students dealing with PRMD most often first turn to their music teachers for help. Despite this, private music instructors’ training is haphazard and does not typically cover how to best support students’ health and wellbeing. Therefore, this thesis aims to provide oboe teachers with pedagogical recommendations that can help them support students’ health more fully and prevent injury in young musicians, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for musicians overall. To identify these recommendations for teachers, this dissertation uses a systematic literature review (Chapter 2) and a survey of 223 oboists (Chapter 3) to explore which particular problems are most often experienced by oboists, how severe these problems are, what risk factors are relevant in predicting likelihood of injury, and what treatment methods are perceived to be effective. The dissertation next explores how oboe pedagogues currently perceive and apply concepts of wellness in their own pedagogical practice (Chapter 4). The resulting recommendations for applied oboe teachers (Chapter 5) include both recommendations surrounding building a healthy teacher-student relationship and studio environment, and teaching techniques that specifically relate to oboe and wind instrument playing. It is hoped that these recommendations will empower oboe teachers to support their students’ health and wellbeing more fully.