Musician's Wellness

My Passion for Wellness

My passion for flute-playing started when I was 10 years old. After graduating from high school, I chose to pursue a career in flute performance with an emphasis on pedagogy. During my seven years of higher education, practicing became a critical part of my daily life, at times devoting upward of 8 hours a day to practicing my instrument.  As a by-product of my commitment to flute-playing over the past decade, I've experienced a number of issues with my neck and upper back as a direct result of flute-playing posture. After exploring costly options in physiotherapy and chiropractic treatments, I started my own pursuit in not only understanding how I can fix myself, but how I can teach other flutists to fix and maintain themselves, too.

 

In 2014, I became a certified personal trainer, and I created the concept of FitFlute to help bridge the gap between the two, unique worlds of flute-playing and personal fitness. My research as a personal trainer focuses on exercises and mobility routines that can help flutists practice longer and more comfortably and prevent accidental injury. I have presented several workshops about a variety of wellness topics at the NFA convention, Mid-Atlantic, Midsouth, and South Carolina Flute Society.​​​

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Benefits of Mobility and Resistance Training

Every muscle in your body is coated by a connective tissue called fascia. Imagine millions of little spider webs covering your muscles and trying to protect you. We've all seen a spider catch its prey and wrap it up tightly in one place - this is exactly what happens with your fascia. As a result of constantly straining your muscles, the surrounding fascia clusters-up, tightly winding into knots around your muscles.

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Stretching is not a new concept, yet many people do not stretch effectively. There are several types of stretching ranging from static, dynamic, isometric holds, and myofascial release. All of these concepts inspired me to become a certified fasical mobility practitioner.

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Resistance training is an excellent mechanism for comfortable flute-playing. No one is telling you that you need to lift *extremely* heavy weights, but it's important to work on building the muscles (especially in our upper/lower backs) and create a mind-body connection with your actions. Resistance training has a number of benefits ranging from lowering risk for diseases, reducing stress and anxiety, increases the immune system, and lowering blood pressure. The list goes on and on!

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