When I
think back to highlights from my music career,
many performances with the Royal Philharmonic
Orchestra around England and in London's Royal
Festival Hall, and a "live" TV recording with
Luciano Pavarotti in front of an audience of
25,000, are high on the list.
I was born
and raised near a large city in Sweden, growing
up in a community which, luckily, had a
wonderful music school, available to children
from an early age. Hence, from the age of 10 I
took drum lessons at the local music school.
After high school, I did my military service in
the Swedish cavalry and when completed, moved on
my own to London, studied with famous English
percussionists, (notably James Blades the
‘Father’ of British percussion and Mike Skinner,
principal percussion in the Covent Garden Opera
Orchestra) and in 1976 was admitted to the Royal
Academy of Music (RAM) in London, where I
studied until 1980.
I have
worked as a freelance musician with major
English orchestras such as the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra, Sadler's Wells Royal
Ballet Orchestra, and the Covent Garden Opera
Orchestra, among others. I have taught in
schools in Germany and at the College of Music,
University of Cape Town, South
Africa. I worked
as principal percussionist at the Cape Town
Opera for 10 years where I was also orchestra
director for a couple of years.
After 12
years in South Africa, my wife and I moved our
family to the United States where I found a job
in the IT industry, working as, among other
things, project manager for various IT projects
for 19 years. During these years I continued to
be active in the music field, playing
drums in a blues band and leading my own jazz
quartet on the vibraphone.
My experiences in the IT field, coupled with
daily use of technology, has facilitated my
understanding and use of technological aids
such as apps and digital tools to enhance my
instrumental practice.
After more
than 50 years as a musician I still practice as
much as possible, between 3–5 hours per day, and
have since 2020 conducted individual research in
the field of music pedagogy, with a special
focus on how musicians work to
build up their expertise. Additionally, since
2019 I have been collecting biometric data
during my own practice, using different data
collection devices to identify moments of stress
during practice; these are described
later in this blog.
Challenging
myself
“Si l’on se
préoccupait de l’achèvement des choses, on
n’entreprendrai jamais rien”
If we were
concerned about the completion of things, we
would never undertake anything
~ Francis I, King of
France, on the building of Chateau
Chambord
Many
studies show the positive effects on
people's health from singing and music
making in communal settings and
learning a musical instrument. Such
effects manifest themselves in
relaxation, increased blood movement,
deeper breathing and activation of the
internal muscles of the body and the
brain (Magrini, 2019). To make music
together with others adds to the
communication and social interaction,
giving a sense of community with other
musicians and provides extraordinary
physiological benefits (Tsugawa,
2009; Balbag et al, 2014; Daykin et
al, 2014; Yesil & Ünal,
2017; Helton, 2019; Barbeau &
Cosette, 2019).
A
study at the Royal College of Music,
London, UK, explores the practice habits
of students at music conservatories
(Taylor, 2019). Another explores results
from a practicing workshop in a music
academy (Johansen and Nielsen,
2019). No study, to the best of
my knowledge, has focused
exclusively on the individual mature
(50+) musician and possible health and
well-being benefits derived from individual instrumental
practice.
The
individual musician spends many hours
alone on individual practice of his
instrument or voice. This can often be
both physically and mentally demanding.
Of great concern is that research over
the past 30 years reveals alarming rates
of injury and unacceptably high levels
of performance related health issues
among musicians of all ages (Wijsman
& Ackerman, 2018).
Though
correlational and experimental studies showing
the role instrumental practice has on slowing
the natural decline of cognitive facilities
have been conducted on individual musicians
(Roman-Caballero et al, 2018), studies of the
individual musician are few and needed
(Lehmann, 2014, p. 181). A study by
Talbot-Honeck and Orlick (1999), limited to
classical musicians from a younger age group
examined, inter alia, practice routines.
However, no study has focused on the older
musician sitting alone in his room during long
practice sessions and especially on how the
perceived general health and well-being of the
musician is affected by such a disciplined
regime.
I base my
personal practicing activities on the goal of at
least 1% improvement every day, and, in the early
part of 2019 set myself a set of challenges as
part of my daily drum practice regimen.
