March 2, 1999

MUSIC RESEARCHERS SEEKING CLARINETISTS

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The UNT Health Science Center and the College of Music at UNT in Denton are conducting a study concerning clarinet technique and its relationship to performance-related injury. Researchers at the institutions’ joint

Texas Center for Music & Medicine are seeking clarinetists to participate in the study.

The research is being conducted in response to increased reports of upper-extremity medical problems of clarinetists. The study aims to identify techniques that may develop into medical problems such as pain and discomfort in the neck, forearms, shoulders, upper back, wrists and hands. The study includes asking musicians to play exercises on a clarinet while a small sensor measures forces between the right thumb and the clarinet.

Researchers are seeking sixty subjects, including students of any age, amateur and professional level musicians, who actively play the clarinet. Research activities take place at the Fort Worth health science center. Participation lasts about two hours.

The Texas Center for Music and Medicine was established in 1998 to study, treat and prevent disorders related to careers in music. The center is led by Bernard Rubin, D.O., chief of rheumatology in the health science center’s Physicians & Surgeons Medical Group, and Kris Chesky, Ph.D., research assistant professor in the College of Music at UNT.

The study is funded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Musicians who want to volunteer for this study should call Dr. Chesky at (940) 565-4126.