Music Teaching Tips

* Hearing health. Exposure to loud music for long durations can lead to noise-induced hearing loss, a problem that is increasingly prevalent among children due, in part, to changing listening habits associated with personal listening devices.

* Physical health. Overuse or misuse of the body when playing a musical instrument or singing can lead to health problems. Musculoskeletal and vocal performance injuries are preventable. Healthy playing and singing involves the correct physical manipulation of the voice and of instruments.

* Psychological health. The performance of music, especially the public performance of music, involves a host of social and emotional factors that are key to the importance we place on music—and a potential source of stress in the student.

* Recognize that noise-induced hearing loss is a widespread and serious public health issue and that music is implicated as a causal factor. Music teachers can contribute significantly to resolving this growing problem by addressing it in lessons.

* Arrange lessons and teach children how to practice in ways that avoid injuries. These strategies can include using appropriate warm-ups; breaking up intensive, repetitive practice sessions with short rest periods; and insisting on proper posture while playing or singing.

* Provide good musical preparation for students and encourage appropriate attitudes toward music so that students’ stress is kept to manageable levels.

* Actively monitor their students for incipient physical problems and insist that students adopt good practices to stop the development of severe problems.

* Seek more pre-service and in-service education in the health aspects of music, which is consistent with the Health Promotion in Schools of Music (HPSM) project and the National Association of Schools of Music.
* Be a source of information to colleagues in other fields. Music teachers need to know when and where to go for help. While the music teacher will likely be the first “go-to” person for problems, other professionals should be aware of performance injuries and available to assist students in dealing with them. Local physicians, speech and hearing centers, mental health counseling centers, school nurses, and others need to know that music students may have unique and challenging health situations and that there are resources and performing arts medicine experts willing to help if needed.

* Demand high quality teaching materials. As practices designed to address health issues among music students are developed and refined (recognizing that each music teaching scenario is unique), high quality teaching materials will need to be designed and developed.