Staying artistically present in the long term - health in the music profession today

The conversation between Katrin Frauchiger and Veronika Lubert will focus on the question of how musicians can remain capable of regulation and artistically present.

KF: You have been a professor of musicians' health since May 2025. What was your personal path to becoming an expert?

VL: I came to musicians' health via sports psychology. I was interested early on in how people remain productive under pressure. In music, we encounter similar situations to those in competitive sport: auditions, tryouts, competitions. As musicians, we can learn a lot from athletes about how to deal with these situations.

KF: At the time of my studies, musicians' health was not yet a topic during training. There were some optional courses in physical techniques, such as Alexander Technique or breathing courses. Above all, the psychological and mental challenges and possible difficulties that had to be overcome during music studies and later in professional life were - depending on the respective teacher - a taboo or something that you had to solve on your own responsibility. How has the attitude towards this changed in recent years?

VL: Health is no longer a marginal issue, but is increasingly seen as part of professional training. At the same time, the requirements have become more complex: Internationalization, portfolio-like employment models, self-marketing. This means that, on the one hand, we need to think of health more as a competence - as an ability to self-regulate and shape a sustainable career - but on the other hand, we also need to critically scrutinize the working conditions of musicians.

KF: Singers in particular are especially dependent on their physical and mental state and are often directly affected by inconsistencies. During vocal training, regardless of style, the development of one's own perception of body and soul and the fine-tuning of these relationships, both in terms of technique and artistic expression, are crucial. What can instrumentalists learn from singers?

VL: Singers work in a very differentiated way on the connection between body, breathing, emotion and expression. The voice makes it immediately audible when something is out of balance - physically or mentally. In my opinion, this sensitivity to inner states and their regulation is a model for all musicians. Instrumentalists can learn from this to combine technical excellence and self-awareness even more. They can benefit by controlling their level of activation more specifically before a performance, better recognizing physical signals of overload and more actively shaping regeneration between intensive phases.artistic presence arises through regulated tension and mindfulness in the moment. Consciously working on perception, recovery and mental preparation is not an addition to technique, but part of professional competence - for example through preparation routines, breathing or focusing strategies and clear recovery windows in the weekly schedule.

KF: Sonart is intensively committed to improving the framework conditions and public perception of the music profession. The cultural-political commitment of various professional associations contrasts with the serious and rapidly changing reality of musicians. The music business seems to be increasingly out of balance; while corporations are enriching themselves, it no longer offers most musicians a livelihood, apart from the star market. Self-promotion, which primarily takes place via social media, is on the rise. Being a musician today requires staying power, flexibility and resilience to an even greater extent than before. How can we specifically support these skills? And how can we prevent ourselves from becoming exhausted as lone fighters?

VL: The current discussions show that many musicians are experiencing a strong concentration of demands. It is important for me to differentiate here: Resilience must not mean tacitly adapting to problematic structures. Sonart's cultural policy work to improve framework conditions is therefore central and necessary. It also underlines the importance of exchange and community among musicians. At the same time, musicians need personal skills in order to remain capable of acting in this field of tension: clear role and priority setting and reflection on their own identity, conscious recovery strategies and demarcation from permanent digital visibility, but also psychological flexibility - to be open, conscious and engaged in actions that correspond to one's own values, even in the face of difficult thoughts and feelings. If we teach these skills early on in education, we not only strengthen health, but also artistic performance.

Prof. Dr. Veronika Lubert
... is a psychologist, violinist, professor of musicians' health, and professor of musicians' health at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

Music.Katrin Frauchiger
... is a singer, composer, member of the board of Sonart and lecturer at the Lucerne School of Music.