Health Promotion Courses for Music Students: Part 1

Abstract

The September 2006 issue of MPPA included a Special Article and an Editorial on health promotion in schools of music, based on work done by the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) and the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). Consensus was reached on four declarations/recommendations at the Health Promotion in Schools of Music Conference in 2004. The second recommendation, reported in the Special Article, was to "develop and offer an undergraduate occupational health course for all music majors." The Editorial contained a call for descriptions of courses that have been developed and offered for this purpose. Below are the descriptions of five courses from music schools across the country. The courses are notable for their diversity in faculty, ranging from musician-educators to occupational and physical therapists to physicians. Readers will note some common areas of content among the courses. Student feedback is included in the first course description. Future work in this area should focus on evaluation of the impact of this type of coursework, which is now part of the NASM accreditation standards.