The four participating first-year students were not selected because they had displayed physiological problems. However, it eventually transpired that they had started their studies suffering physiological complaints of one kind or another: stiff neck, shoulder pain and tense muscles. These were complaints that they had experienced but not really sought help for. Only one of the students had seen a naprapath before the project started.
The students describe how the one-to-one sessions with the naprapath may have involved therapy in the form of massage, but the guidance was always based on the students’ posture and movements while practising and playing. The students recount how “we regularly looked at how we hold the instrument and how we stand”, how during the course of the seminar they “got feedback on our playing and good suggestions as to how to prevent muscle tension”, and how the naprapath was able to “see that there was something wrong with my body as I was putting excessive strain on the shoulder and upper arm while playing, and told me where this excessive strain came from”.
The training and resistance band exercises they were given to build strength in the neck, back and arms were well received and described as “really useful”. The students have indicated that they use the bands regularly. One of the students writes that “the exercises we were introduced to were really useful, and I use them several times a week after I’ve played a lot and want to reset my muscles!”. Another student highlights the importance of the exercises in boosting blood circulation, especially in the muscle groups he had been struggling with.
One student concluded that “I certainly don’t think I would’ve all but got rid of my neck problems had I not been advised and made aware of what I’m doing wrong in terms of strain”. Awareness was very much a recurring theme when the students assessed the outcomes of the project: “I’ve become so much more aware of my physical ‹bad habits› while playing (not just the ones Morten told me about there and then, but I am generally more aware of them myself when I’m practising), and I know what I need to do to avoid them,” writes another student. A third student claims that the insight he has gained “has meant that I can now work with more purpose to eliminate the risk of the same problems reoccurring,” while the fourth mentions “lots of good tips about physicality in relation to playing”, and that “the exercises he showed us were very good, they work well as warm-ups and mini-workouts”.
On that basis it is reasonable to conclude that these students have acquired skills in respect of the three objectives set out earlier.