Subject:      Re: artist/musician with RSI


> I had a similar experience to yours.  I played the harpsichord for
> recreation and worked long hours on the computer in a fairly stressful
> job.  One Monday morning I sat down at the computer, unaware that I had
> a problem, and when I started to type I had immediate pain.  That was
> eight years ago.  Today I am almost completely out of pain, but my
> duration to typing or playing the harpsichord remains very small.  If I
> do too much, the pain comes back rather quickly.  So I worked mostly
> with speech recognition, and have given up my dream of being a musician.
> At least I can still play a half-hour here or there, but that's not
> enough to improve my skill, or even keep the skill that I had.

I never gave a lot of thought to the harpsichord although I have
heard from many, many pianists who have injured themselves.
But I'm just now thinking about the unusual issues with the
harpsichord playing action, which is so very different from the
piano.  The fact that it is a plucked action may - emphasize the
"may" - make it potentially harder on your body, if it causes
more tension than the "struck" piano escapement action.  The
very few times I've played a harpsichord I found myself having to
really push those keys instead of striking them - but I'll bet
that's not considered good harpsichord technique.

I really wonder how much of the literature and approaches to
ergonomic piano technique transfer to the harpsichord.  I'd
encourage you to visit my website at
http://www.engr.unl.edu/eeshop/music.html where there
are a lot of resources listed for injured musicians.

In regards to the action issue: it occurs to me to suggest that
(suppress your gag reflex) an electronic keyboard with a harpsichord
patch might give you the sound without the plucked action . . . but
I have heard from a number of folks that those apparently
easy, un-weighted "organ"-type electronic key switches actually
can contribute to injury because they give no feedback and you
slam right into the key bottom - and because you use muscular
tension to hold fingers up instead of having weight and resistance
to balance them.