Until recently, musicians seeking relief had only limited opportunity for expert care. But methods of relaxation and balancing, such as yoga, tai chi and the very popular Alexander technique are offered in most cities and at many festivals. And some solo practitioners have developed impressive reputations for healing. In an apartment in New York's Carnegie Hall, a Lithuanian-born physical therapist named Shmuel Tatz, who bills himself as a "body tuner," has garnered endorsements from such celebrity musicians as Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Rosalyn Tureck and Christa Ludwig. A session with Mr. Tatz, who prods and massages and puts you through a rigorous routine of movement and posture adjustment, does amount to a tuning of sorts, and his admirers are legion.

Classical Musicians Suffer for Their Art by Stuart Isacoff, January 31, 2007.

body tuning: for healthy, tension-free creativity!

Finding the Right Physical Therapist

by Shmuel Tatz, P.T., Ph.D.

For musicians, professionally related physical trauma can be one of the worst kinds of trauma because working musicians can repetitively, step-by-step, hour-by-hour continue to damage their bodies.

Musicians' injuries usually don't happen overnight, and healing doesn't happen in one day. It takes time. Injuries related to the music profession can become aggravated because they are generally related to overuse and are difficult to avoid.

Chamber Music

THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CHAMBER MUSIC AMERICA

An Interview with Shmuel Tatz, Body Tuner

by Barry Lenson

With this column Chamber Music introduces a series of short articles about the ways by which various musicians are trying to overcome the problems that came between them and their audience, ranging from the many manifestations of performance anxiety to the actual physical pathologies that can affect them with pain, debility,, and even atrophy.

Here, Barry Lenson talks with Shmuel Tatz, a New York City resident who calls that he does, Body Tuning.

Allegro: Associated Musicians of Greater New York

Alternative Treatments Can Benefit Musicians: Body Tuning®

by Richard L. Simon and Adam C. Fisher

The physical problems of musicians, particularly injuries due to misuse of the body, have received considerable attention in recent years. Most of the interest has been focused on resolving injuries that already exist, rather than on preventing these injuries. A recent discussion with Shmuel Tatz – a rather remarkable Manhattan-based physical therapist and physical education specialist – provided some important perspectives on these subjects.

Piano Today

The Magazine You Can Play

Tune Your Body

MASTER CLASS

by Shmuel Tatz, PT, PhD with Sheila Weinstein

I’ve worked with thousands of musicians from Rosalyn Tureck, Mstislav Rostropovich and Issac Stern, to Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode and Gidon Kremer. Most of the pianists I have seen have had good training in the mechanics of playing the instrument properly: how to sit... the importance of arm weight and relaxation... and having a nicely rounded hand. Even so, there are many pianists for whom the normal pedagogical training simply doesn't apply, and yet, regardless of their anatomical make up-whether their hands are large or small, whether they play with straight fingers or curved or hold their hands high or low-they still achieve wonderful results. Vladimir Horowitz often played with almost completely straight fingers. Glenn Gould sat very low and almost seemed to play from under the keyboard.

June 2006

Double Acts

Shmuel Tatz is the favoured physiotherapist of many of Manhattan's Leading Musicians, among them New York Philharmonic Violinist Hanna Lachert

I WAS INTRODUCED TO HANNA ABOUT 20 YEARS AGO THROUGH her husband, the Manhattan violin maker David Segal; she has been a regular client ever since.

Eighty per cent of her treatment is using hands only and for the other 20 per cent she gets individualized exercises. Just like a violin pupil plays a sonata at their lesson and the teacher after listening to it makes some suggestions, big and small, so only when I am touching or watching the body can I maneuver it and give some suggestions, some ideas. Hanna's a very good student as, like most musicians, she has the discipline needed to practice. You don't need to rush to the tuner, you can do self-tuning - if you have problems you need to go to the master, but mostly you can do it on your own.

Fine-Tuning the Body at Carnegie Hall

Some of the world's best dancers and musicians seek the help of virtuoso bodyworker Shmuel Tatz.

by Tara Bennett-Goleman

In the maze of rehearsal room and offices that rise high above world-famous Carnegie Hall, Shmuel Tatz practices unique art. His artistry lies not in music or dance, but in fine-tuning the human body.

To Tatz's studio on the 8th floor come some of the world's finest dancers and musicians, seeking his help in relieving the aches and strains their craft imposes on their bodies.

Among the famous musicians who have come to have their body tuned are violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin and the recent Russian immigrant and master pianist Vladimir Feltsman.