While a career in music—including music teaching—can be immensely rewarding, it can also come with a unique set of stresses and strains. Mental health challenges for musicians can include performance anxiety, burnout, social isolation, and worry about financial instability. Physical health issues might encompass hearing health problems, vocal health concerns and musculoskeletal issues.
Add to these the well-documented challenges of the music industry environment for those who perform, including irregular routine, excessive travelling, high levels of substance use and misuse, suboptimal conditions at some venues, and reported high levels of harassment.
For these reasons and others, research shows that 75% of those working in the performing arts will face a career-impacting physical or psychological health problem at some point.
What makes BAPAM unique
The Musicians' Union is proud to support a wonderful organisation that has a deep understanding of all these issues. That organisation is the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine (BAPAM), which works every day to provide free specialist care and treatment for musicians and other performing artists, as well as advocating for a better performing arts industry and setting the benchmark for clinical advice and treatment in this space.
Unique in the world, BAPAM is a clinically led charity and the largest provider of clinical services to the UK's entire performing arts sector. It supports both professionals and students, from instrumentalists and singers to dancers, actors and circus performers, as well as those working behind the scenes.
In addition to providing specialist treatment when things go wrong, BAPAM works to ensure that everyone in the performing arts can access the best possible information and training to prevent poor health. Since its establishment in 1984, BAPAM has helped thousands of artists and creators each year to enjoy a healthy career.
Supporting musicians through collaboration
I am a trustee of BAPAM, and in this role it is fascinating to get a glimpse into the hugely varied work that the organisation undertakes, and to be part of the rigorous governance and quality assurance that underpins this work. BAPAM is also the engine room for a lot of wellbeing services and sector expertise that you might know under different names and brands, which are ostensibly offered by different organisations.
BAPAM is able to deliver a significant quantity of treatment thanks to the generosity of the organisations that fund it, but also because of the vision and tenacity of its small staff team, whose daily workload ranges from regular health and wellbeing training events through to clinical and regulatory compliance and liaison with the NHS.
BAPAM also has an extensive community of registered practitioners whose expertise covers just about every condition and treatment you can think of, meaning that there is very little that BAPAM cannot assist with.
Resources and routes to specialist care
The MU is a longstanding partner of BAPAM's, and we work together whenever possible to offer webinars and resources for musicians. I have previously used this [Music Teacher magazine] column to talk about our jointly produced Performance Health Guide for Instrumental and Vocal Teachers.
This comprehensive resource was created to help teachers support their students' health and wellbeing using the PERFORMANCE acronym: P for Posture, E for Environment, R for Routine, F for Fitness, O for Overuse, R for Rest and Recovery, M for Mental Health, A for Anxiety, N for Nutrition, and CE for Clinical Expertise. I encourage all Music Teacher readers to check out this valuable piece of guidance, which is free to access on the Musicians' Union website.
BAPAM is based in London but also runs in-person clinics in other cities around the UK including Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gateshead, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester. Anyone can request an appointment, including music teachers and students, and there is no cost. To book, call 020 8167 4775 from 9am to 5pm on Monday to Friday.
You will benefit from a face-to-face consultation, giving you access to a comprehensive assessment and expert hands-on care, including being able to demonstrate your performance in person.
Please note: BAPAM is focused on health issues arising from your work as a performer or teacher. It is not a crisis mental health service; nor is it an emergency service. If you require urgent help, please contact the NHS in the usual way via your GP surgery or NHS 111, or in an emergency via A&E or 999. BAPAM's Mental Health Support in a Crisis page and general health resources may also be helpful in this situation.
It has been a great honour for me to serve as a trustee for BAPAM for five years and counting, and I advise every musician and teacher to have a working knowledge of what the organisation offers.