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I am a horn player and a teacher from Finland. I have a long experience as an orchestral musician (Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra 1984-2001), chamber musician,  soloist and I am now a full time Senior Lecturer in horn at the Sibelius Academy. I have been teaching mental and physical practicing and improvisation for classical musicians alongside my regular horn teaching almost 20 years. I have been working in the field of Music Medicine since the year 2000, doing research and developing new courses for musicians. I have done this together with doctors specialised in Music Medicine in relation to practicing and preventing injuries. I have been active in creating new ways of teaching classical musicians, because I believe in a ”wider perspective” for musicians’ training. It seems to give musicians better tools in the long run to help their careers.

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Today we need virtuoso and versatile musicians and the competition is getting harder than ever for permanent jobs in an orchestra or at a teaching institution. It seems that when we train  musicians to have more mental strength and to be more creative with their practicing skills as well as taking  care of their well being it helps them to be more free and personal in their playing and assists them to survive better and be healthier during their careers. I want to share some thoughts about these approaches with you and hope you will find them useful.

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