- Course type: Performance course
- Year: Year 1, over two semesters
- Final assessment: Assessment by course tutor
- Prerequisites: Admission to one of the study programmes in which the course is included
- Language of instruction : Norwegian and/or English
Course description
Musicians’ Health, Motivation and Practice addresses issues that music students will encounter on a daily basis. The course will be focusing on preparing the students physically and mentally as they study to become professional musicians.
Key topics include motivation, practice, self-care and occupational physiology.
The students will address their practice routines from different perspectives, set themselves goals and develop strategies for reaching them. They will perform physical, cognitive and creative exercises and learn to discover their personal limits.
The course is closely linked to the students’ principal instrument practice and is classed as a performance course.
Learning objectives
On completion of this course, the student is expected to
- Demonstrate awareness of their own practice habits
- Be able to see themselves as practitioners in a professional and social field
- Have acquired further awareness of their musical desires and of working collaboratively and creatively
- Be familiar with key principles for looking after their physical and mental health
- Have acquired experience of and be able to apply techniques for dealing with stress
- Demonstrate awareness of muscle use and working posture
- Be familiar with common strain injuries amongst musicians and their early symptoms
Contents
Relevant topics include:
- Life as a student
- Health, sleep, nutrition, movement
- The body and the instrument
- Strain injuries
- Breathing and body
- Concentration and focus
- Practice strategies
- Motivation and ambition
- Performance and stress management
- Inspiration and creativity
Structure
The course is given as two modules: “Musicians’ Health” and “Motivation and Practice”. Many of the topics covered will overlap across the modules.
The tuition is experience-based and centres around the students’ personal circumstances, intentions and experiences. The students are expected to play an active part in the course.
Course requirements
- Attendance is mandatory for this course. This means that more than 20% non-attendance per module will normally cause the student to fail the course.
- The students must complete three short experience-based assignments linked to the Motivation and Practice module. The assignments will be set in between each block of teaching.
Final assessment
All course requirements must be met before the student can be given a final assessment.
The assessment is based on the learning objectives for the course. The course is assessed on a pass or fail basis in the form of an overall evaluation of the student’s engagement with the topic.
New assessment:
The student must retake any failed modules before they can be given a new assessment.