BY BEN NIELSEN
“I felt something niggling and then my arm felt really strange and suddenly I couldn’t hold up my clarinet any more. It felt like my arm had gone really cold, and I lost all the feeling. I had to stop, I didn’t really know what else to do.”
Alexei Dupressoir’s intensive practice regime finally took its toll earlier this year, during a rehearsal for Opera Australia’s Madama Butterfly. His diligence and ambition were rewarded with the onset of thoracic outlet syndrome – a condition that triggers debilitating pain to the upper body as a result of compressed muscles or nerves.
“I’ve never had a performance injury before, I’ve just had a sore thumb from the clarinet and that normally fixes itself with a good sleep. When this happened, I freaked out because I guess I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.
“I ended up consulting some physiotherapists, and following that I got into a bit of a stalemate – it’s had its moments where it’s gotten better and gotten worse.”
The syndrome has rendered Alexei completely helpless, just as his professional career was gaining momentum. He only completed his studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2012, but has since toured Europe with the Australian Youth Orchestra, performed as a casual musician with the Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, and this year gained a position in the highly competitive Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellowship program.
“I’m thinking, ‘sh*t, I can’t do this thing which I’ve invested so much time into’. It’s a real conundrum because music is my passion and it drives me. I do have a battle with it; I go a few weeks where I’m okay, and then I have those moments where it looms on me,” he said.
Unfortunate though it is, Alexei’s experience is representative of a far broader attitude. That is, musicians commonly neglect their physical health until an issue arises. It’s a puzzling mentality considering the vocation’s athletic nature, but is often the result of general reticence (poor teaching methods that promote ‘playing through the pain barrier’), or stigma (musicians who conceal injuries due to reputation and professional opposition).
When prevention is said to be better than a cure, what happens when it’s too late? Alexei has visited a masseur and physiotherapist, and has also had a clavicle plate (which had been implanted after a basketball injury) surgically removed in a hurried attempt to relieve the injury. Nothing has yet succeeded. Instead, he has shifted his focus to other creative outlets: pedagogy, composition, and writing.
“I think it’s hard because when you do have a focus, you do have to be committed to it, but I think it’s so important to have other outlets that you get pleasure from, and I think it’s important to have a few skills up your sleeve,” he said.
“Remember that in music, it’s drummed into you that you’re going to be a performer, whereas there’s such scope with job opportunities that I haven’t explored and I probably don’t even know about.”
In what is a national first, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), based in Melbourne, is developing a groundbreaking musicians’ health program. It is an initiative that will eventually be rolled out internationally, and will include fundamental information on biomechanics, effective practice, sports psychology, allied health methods, audiology, and performance-based nutrition.
“There is little if any culture among musicians in terms of looking after the body, not recognising that at least half of the hardware we need is in fact ourselves,” said Howard Penny, cellist and Resident Faculty of ANAM.
“People are told to practice a lot, without really saying how to do this safely or effectively, and if things aren’t working, then you’re not talented or not working hard enough.”
While the program won’t be completed until the end of next year, Howard said that it is important for instrumentalists and teachers to initiate dialogue about physical and mental health. Just as in sport, there should be a fundamental understanding of the techniques that maximise potential; after all, an injury can have a devastating ripple of implications.
“Playing is often such a determinant of self and self-worth that it can be truly devastating to be unable to play, quite apart from the financial implications. In all of this though, we are not only talking about preventing or managing injury, but also about maximising performance – you move better, you play better,” Howard said.
“We hope that there will soon be a generation of students, performers and teachers with sound knowledge in this area to take much of the unnecessary pain out of a beautiful activity.”
According to Howard, the most common injuries include:
-Inflammation of tendons or joints.
-Damaged or overloaded muscles.
-Rotator cuff, chronic neck and upper/lower back pain.
-The extremities (fingers and wrists).
-Instruments that have specific loadings (shoulders and embouchure muscles).
As simple preventative measures, Howard recommends areas of allied health:
-Alexander Technique.
-Feldenkrais.
-Pilates.
-Yoga.
It’s been almost six months since Alexei Dupressoir succumbed to the searing pain of thoracic outlet syndrome. While he has been unable to properly play the clarinet, and full recovery is a faint milestone of the future, he remains surprisingly optimistic. If anything, his injury has made a positive lasting effect on his approach to performance and pedagogy.
“I think musicians should come in with a really clear idea, and just be intelligent about what they want to achieve with practice. If you’re really tired, don’t expect massive results – we’re not super-human,” he said.
“It’s kind of nice because I can be like, ‘I’ve had an injury and it’s from doing these things, so I’m an example of what not to do’. Obviously it’s not great for me, but I hope that it helps people in the future who can look at my case.”
But, Alexei’s own future holds a huge question mark. As well as his commitment to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Fellowship, there are looming professional commitments, and a growing desire to return to the clarinet.
“I’ll just take one step at a time. Obviously, I’d love to play again but it’s just about seeing how things go. The recovery hasn’t been great so I feel like symptoms are automatically there before I start playing – I’m having an MRI within the next week or so, and that might just give some insight,” he said.
“It’s kind of tricky, but people have been really lovely and helpful and considerate about what’s happening with me.”
Image supplied.
