Music and health
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Making music, whether on an instrument or through the voice, is an art of movement. It requires a finely tuned interplay of body and mind in order to fully develop creative potential.
The "Department of Health in Music" at the Hamburg University of Music and Drama (HfMT) is dedicated to promoting health in music education in close cooperation with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). Our aim is to strengthen preventative measures and to provide students and teachers with the best possible support in their everyday musical lives.
We offer:
- Seminars and courses that promote health skills and teach preventative strategies for
musicians. - Counseling and treatment services for complaints that arise from making music
or restrict music-making - Information and events aimed at maintaining health while practicing,
teaching and performing.
Using an interdisciplinary approach, we combine medical, psychological and body-oriented health concepts to promote prevention and sustainable solutions. Because healthy musicians can not only live their art better, but also maintain it for longer - playing and professionally.
Seminars and courses
The Center for Music and Health offers a two-semester course on health topics. This includes physical topics (e.g. overuse of arms or neck) as well as psychosocial topics (e.g. stage fright, stress management).
A theoretical introduction to the topics is followed in the second half of each seminar unit by a practical part with exercises under physiotherapeutic guidance.
You can find some short and simple home exercises from our physiotherapy course with Julia Keyser here:
The course always takes place on Wednesdays every 2 weeks at 3 pm in the music therapy seminar room. Next course in October 2025.
Further information can also be found in the course catalog.
At Power Jam, we want to activate our bodies together and strengthen and tone our muscles. This is 45 minutes of varied compensation for practicing on the instrument, sitting a lot in seminars/lectures and the fast pace of everyday life.
The program takes place weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 to 13:15 in the music therapy seminar room. Sportswear is requested.
Course leader: Sara Bögeholz-Gründer
The "Moving Break" is an offer for the administration and teaching staff of the university. As part of a 15-minute exercise program during the lunch break, the muscles of the upper and lower back as well as the shoulder and neck area are specifically loosened and slightly strengthened. Problems and requests are assessed weekly and incorporated into the next lesson.
In the long term, a small self-exercise program is gradually developed that can be carried out independently on site in the office.
The program takes place weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:00-12:15 in the music therapy seminar room.
Participants do not need any sportswear or equipment.
Learn to release tension, improve your mobility and stability and understand the connections between the whole body network.
Registration / information at julia.keyser@hfmt-hamburg.de
Exercise videos for physical health when making music
In the following 8 exercise videos, you will see how you can relax different areas of your body or relieve discomfort.
Contact us
Sabine Sieg-Greitsch
Fachbüro Musiktherapie+49 40 209494224sabine.sieg@hfmt.hamburg.de
Prof. Karin Barbara Holzwarth
Institutsleitung Musiktherapie+49 40 209494282karin.holzwarth@hfmt-hamburg.de
Prof. Dr. Dorothee von Moreau
Institutsleitung Musiktherapie+49 40 428482-278dorothee.von.moreau@hfmt-hamburg.de
David Sebastian Baaß
Arbeitsstelle Musik und Gesundheitdavid.baass@hfmt-hamburg.de