Instrumental injuries.

[saxikath]

So I was idly thinking last night about injuries -- or not so much injuries; physical changes in general -- associated with particular musical instruments. For instance, anyone who's played violin (or viola in my case) knows the "violinist's hickey," that red welt on your neck where the instrument presses in. And string players develop fingertip calluses.

I have distinct sore spots (sometimes blisters) on specific parts of my fingers after playing handbells, depending on exactly which bells I'm playing with which techniques. I can't think of any other way I'd end up with these particular sore spots (and eventual calluses, I suppose).

If you play an instrument, what are the distinctive physical marks it leaves on you?

Comments

[mlstrm.livejournal.com]

From my days in college music classes, I was told that horn players (usually trumpet players) can develop a kind of callus around the lip area, due to pressure against the lips (cutting off the circulation) and the tightness of the embouchure. In extreme cases, this can form a lesion. I had a really tough time learning the basics of the trumpet because of the pressure. That and the breathing was totally different than in singing, and I couldn't get used to the breath control.

As for other instruments, I've heard of guitarists getting punctures on fingertips. I've also seen one or two piano players get repetitive stress injury, forcing them to wear a wrist brace, but the affliction's not as outwardly apparent unless you're wearing the brace.