Performing Arts Clinic Director Uses Experience on Stage to Help Injured Musicians
As director of the Performing Arts Clinic, Michael Charness says his years of playing the piano help him work with injured musicians.
Whether you play the piano, guitar, drums or horns, being a musician requires years of practice, and injuries can easily follow the many hours spent honing those skills.
Michael Charness, MD, director of the Performing Arts Clinic (PAC) in the Department of Neurology at BWH, understands this all too well. His years playing the piano have given him a unique insight into the trials of those seeking to make music their career.
“The whole clinic started very casually when musicians began to contact me to find out about problems they were having, and I had no place to see them,” said Charness, who opened the clinic in 1989. “It gradually grew, because there was a real vacuum at the time. There was almost no one who had a special interest in problems with musicians.”
At first, the clinic was run out of the back of Charness’ lab in UCSF in 1984, but a formal center was established at BWH five years later. During this time, Charness met Barry Simmons, MD, BWH Chief of Hand Surgery, and the two began to collaborate on surgical matters. He saw many patients informally at the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) on Huntington Avenue, and joked that students would sometimes run up to him to ask him questions.
“I couldn’t walk down the hall without somebody showing me their hand,” said Charness.
The BWH PAC is only open on Saturdays, as Charness also works as the chief of staff at the VA Boston Healthcare System.
“Every musician brings their instrument, and virtually everybody plays for me,” said Charness. “We’ve seen everything from bagpipes to people wheeling in harps, double basses and clavichords. It’s what happens on Saturdays at the Brigham.”
The Family that Plays Together
Michael Charness has been playing the piano for the many years, and performs with his wife and children, better known as the Charness Family Quintet.
Charness’ musical experience is far more than a casual hobby. Since 1993, the Charness home has been filled with classical music, courtesy of the Charness Family Quintet: Michael, his wife Deborah, who plays the flute, and their three children, Daniel, Sarah, and Jennifer.
Daniel has studied the cello since he was 4 years old, and Sarah and Jennifer play the violin. Through the years, the family has played an average of 20 concerts a year, ranging from Baroque to pieces written exclusively for them by current composers.
The quintet has performed at several locations, including the Duxbury Art Complex Museum, Museum of our National Heritage, DeCordova Museum, Boston Public Library, Newton Free Library, Brandeis University and WCRB FM's Classical Concerts at Copley Series. They appeared as soloists with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra in 1999 and with Newton Symphony Orchestra in 2001.
Today, the three children have moved on with their own musical projects or educations, but every so often, the quintet will come together once again.
“We don’t play together as much as we did, but we’ll still do two or three concerts as a family a year,” said Charness.
Ironically, Charness said he and his wife grew up with few musical influences, adding that Deborah became interested in the flute after a concert at Symphony Hall, noticing that it was the only instrument played by a woman.
“Being a musician isn’t just having a career in music,” Charness said. “The fact that my amateur musicians are as disconsolate, as crestfallen, when they can’t play as my professional musicians also reflects that people play music because they love to play music. And when a musician can’t play anymore, it’s devastating.”
Musicians’ Injuries
When a patient comes to the PAC, Charness will often ask them to bring their instrument to demonstrate just how the injury is affecting them. Not only can he observe the musician’s technique, but he can also see the instrument in action. The majority of his patients are guitar and piano players, and Charness said different instruments can cause different injuries.
“For example, if you play the violin, or the viola you have to hold it between your chin and your shoulder,” said Charness. “Unless you have got it set up exactly right, a lot of those people tend to raise their left shoulder. It’s a lot like sitting through the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy in the front row, far right—you will walk out with a stiff neck.”
But rather than suggest surgery, Charness first looks at changes that can be made to the instrument to prevent the injury from recurring. He cited the clarinet or English Horn, and pointed out that devices can be used to transfer the weight of the instrument from the musician’s thumb to the chair or floor, lessening the burden on the person’s body.
If the best option is to stop playing, Charness will help map out a schedule for when the patient can resume playing, and proper therapy to be completed in the interim. His patients range from young students at NEC and Berklee College of Music to 90-year-old players, from across the country and even overseas. As a musician, Charness said he understands how important their chosen craft is to them. For many, their career can be at stake.
“Being a musician isn’t just having a career in music,” Charness said. “The fact that my amateur musicians are as disconsolate, as crestfallen, when they can’t play as my professional musicians also reflects that people play music because they love to play music. And when a musician can’t play anymore, it’s devastating.”
Learn more about the Charness Family Quintet. Learn more about the Performing Arts Clinic.
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