Please read carefully through the Powerpoint Healthy Musicianship and answer the following questions. Hand in this replacement assignment (as a doc or pdf) directly to the teacher via e-mail criss.taylor@hku.nl to get credit, and then go on to the regular homework questionnaire listed on the previous page. This second questionnaire you can hand in on Project Campus.
Questions about the powerpoint:
1. Musicians monitor their own work, which means montoring their own bodies. Go to the slide entitled “Automated response…” Describe how you can tell if your are in a good state to work (on the left) or if you are going into the read zone (on the right). Have you experienced moments when you have been in the ‘red zone?’ Describe the situation and feeling. Have you experienced moments when you were calmer (blue zone). What did that feel like?
2. Go to the next slide, which is about the “Polyvagal Ladder.” The Polyvagal Theory (Dr. Stephen W. Porges) makes a powerful new link between neurobiology (the autonomic system) and emotions. By understanding how it works, we can find ways to improve our state of mind and body daily to do better work. What do the red, yellow and green sections on this slide show? Have you experienced these states of mind/body? If you are further down the ladder, do you have ways to help yourself feel more comfortable and fit to climb up the ladder? These can be quite simple strategies. Name one or two.
3. Go to the next slide. What are the three systems mentioned here that affect our balance and well-being?
4. Go to the next slide about muscles. What do muscles need?
5. Go to the next slide. How do you get the muscles you need to do what you want to do?
6. Go to the next slide. Which element of coordination rules over all that your muscles do? Explain what this word means to you.
7. Go to the next slide called “How heavy is your head?” Describe what you see there. Name three situations or moments when the position of your head might not be optimal.
8. Go to the next slide “Motor Control Center.” What do you see in this picture?
9. What does the next slide tell us about movement?
10. In the next slide “Motor Control: Default Settings” what are the suggestions for healthy work? What is a “default setting?” Under what conditions can your mind and body do its best?
11. The next few slides are about what happens when you have to perform under “suboptimal circumstances.” What circumstances might these be? What does “suboptimal” mean? Under what conditions, external, or internal, does your body not want to do its best?
12. In the next slide there is a picture of the well-known drummer Bram van den Berg
During the lecture we watched a film made for us of an interview with him about the challenges that he faced in body and mind when he was asked to play with the band U2. If you can, ask a fellow student what they saw during this film. Under what conditions might you experience stress and physical discomfort?
The rest of the powerpoint lists the ten steps for maintaining health. You do not need to read these slides, as they are also presented in the regular homework questionnaire.