About Us
About Us
Andrew
Andrew is an osteopath with over 25 years of clinical experience who has worked with and treated hundreds of musicians.
Both his children have had a conservatoire training, and they were the inspiration for the realisation that the physical aspects of being a musician were complicated and widespread. Once he started looking at the breadth and depth of the issues facing musicians he found that the rate of injury amongst musicians seemed extraordinarily high.
He started looking into the causes of musculoskeletal problems in musicians and read every book he could find on the subject, and then delved deeper into the research evidence from around the world.Â
What he found was that whilst there was a wealth of knowledge examining the problem, there didn’t seem to be a coherent plan to help musicians to prevent injuries from occurring. Most of the academic studies concluded that something should be done. So, with his professional knowledge and clinical experience, as well as his experience of working with musicians, he set about developing a resource to help them manage their physical health.
The issues are complex and wide-ranging and it took several years to put together something from which everyone could benefit that was also straightforward to understand and easy to follow. What was clear from the outset was that each instrument had its own physical challenges and therefore each instrument needed a slightly different solution.
Andrew works with several youth orchestras as a physical health tutor and has developed programmes for their young musicians to raise their awareness of physical well-being and has also introduced warm-up and recovery exercises for them. The orchestras have incorporated these sessions into their residential course timetables, and they have adopted tutti, instrument family or sectional exercises according to their needs.
Professional musicians need something that is effective, easy to do, and something that they can incorporate into their tight schedules, and this is what we have created.
Harriet
Harriet was the initial inspiration for the whole idea of creating an innovative solution for preventing musicians’ injuries and for finding a way to help them to look after their physical health. She came home from her day at the junior conservatoire with an ache in her shoulder and this is where it all began.
An accomplished cellist, Harriet has played with two national youth orchestras and performed in many leading venues including the Royal Albert Hall in London. She has a degree in Music from the University of Cambridge.
People we work with
Andrew has worked with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain since 2016 as the Physical Health Tutor and has introduced warm-ups and active recovery for the orchestra and for each section.He also helps to keep the orchestra’s musicians in tune by being the residency osteopath.
In addition to providing a tutti warm-up and recovery session, Andrew has given workshops to the Symphony orchestra on physical health and well-being at the orchestra’s residencies.
The Benedetti Foundation provides a transformative programme of music experience for young people and for those starting their career journey. It has been a pleasure to work with the Benedetti Sessions since their inception to provide warm-ups for the ensembles and workshops and talks to young professionals and music teachers.
Andrew has been a guest lecturer on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s BMus degree programme lecturing on practical ways that musicians can create and maintain physical well-being and resilience.
Andrew is keen to educate and inform musicians at all stages in their education and career and is an experienced speaker. He is prepared to travel and to present to music schools, Conservatoires, and orchestras, and indeed any other organisation that cares about the welfare of musicians.
