Greg Dempster
Greg Dempster (born 1960) is an American pianist who has studied the injuries musicians sustain in the course of their professional lives. In 1994, he successfully adapted certain methods used to rehabilitate injured musicians to the larger industrial population of injured computer users and conducted research to corroborate the method.
Theoretical Development
In the early 1980s, Dempster studied the technique and methods of Dorothy Taubman first with Nina Scolnik at the University of California, Irvine, and then with Taubman and her assistants at the summer sessions of the Taubman Institute in Massachusetts. Taubman called her method Coordinate Motion and cited as her antecedents the pedagogical writings of British pianist Tobias Matthay[1] and the scientific research conducted by Otto Ortmann at the Peabody Conservatory in the early 20th century.[2] Both Ortman and Matthay departed entirely from the conventional, nationalist methods of piano technique training then in vogue. Taubman’s technical model had been used successfully since the 1950s to both develop a virtuoso piano technique in her piano students, and also therapeutically to treat the repetitive strain injuries pianists and other musicians suffer during the course of their professional lives. Taubman’s principal thesis was that technical insufficiency and eventual injury at the piano are caused primarily by the technique used to play the instrument, not the instrument itself necessarily, nor the environment nor pathological conditions latent in the player. She further posited that traditional technical methods and practices were in fact a cause of injury.[3] Taubman’s technical model departed substantially from the traditional, orthodox piano technique taught in conservatories world-wide and provoked considerable controversy.
It was from this perspective that Dempster made an adaptation of the Taubman piano method to injured computer users in the early 1990s. He subsequently conducted basic research to corroborate the efficacy of his method with Workers' Compensation claimants suffering repetitive strain injury in the upper extremity, first in a clinical survey[4] and then in collaboration with the Biofeedback Institute of Los Angeles using laboratory assessments.[5] Both initial studies showed markedly improved outcomes in treatment plans that included technique retraining as part of rehabilitation. Dempster was awarded a United States patent in 1995 for his adaptation based on this initial research.[6] The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory made an independent assessment of the approach in 2000 and showed similar successful outcomes, as well as markedly decreased rates of post-injury recurrence over time compared to traditional rehabilitation methods.[7]
Controversy
Dempster’s method engendered controversy at the computer, as had Taubman’s at the piano.[8] However, his approach found corroboration in other research exploring the hypothesis, first with other students of Taubman and then with researchers outside that circle.[9] Most prominently, Emil Pascarelli was a medical researcher who founded and directed the Miller Institute for Performing Artists in New York throughout its existence. Pascarelli had begun to investigate incorrect technique as a potential cause of upper extremity disorders first in musicians and then in computer users.[10] Pascarelli found, as had Dempster, that his clinical patients shared a number of similar technical habits consistent with their injuries. When these were remediated through training, the subjects’ symptoms generally abated.[11]
As a concert artist, Dempster's performances have received critical praise for their beauty of tone, expressiveness, stylistic mastery and virtuosity, especially in the works of Debussy, Ravel and Mozart.[12] He has appeared in numerous concert venues in the Western United States and France.
Dempster was a Regents’ Fellow and teaching assistant at the University of California, Irvine, where he received the Master of Fine Arts degree in 1994. He pursued post-graduate studies in Paris, France at the École Normale de Musique, as well as private studies with American pianist and composer Noël Lee concentrating on the works of Debussy.[13]
References
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- ↑ Matthay wrote extensively and descriptively about his system of technique. The following is considered his principal work on the subject: The act of touch in all its diversity; an analysis and synthesis of pianoforte tone-production. Bosworth Press, London, 1903.
- ↑ Ortman, O. Physiological Mechanics of Piano Techniques. Originally published 1929, reprinted by Perseus Books, ISBN 0306760584 Search this book on
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- ↑ Taubman, Dorothy. “A Teacher’s perspective on Musicians’ Injuries,” in The Biology of Music Making: Proceedings of the 1984 Denver Conference, Wilson, F., & Roehman F., editors.
- ↑ Dempster, Greg."Movement Retraining and the prevention and rehabilitation of computer injuries", Proceedings of the Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference, San Jose State University 1995.
- ↑ Dempster, Hirsch, D., Lindsey, D., Toomim, H., et al., "Surface electromyogram studies of computer users undergoing Movement Retraining and Myofascial Release Therapy," Proceedings of the Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference, San Jose State University 1996.
- ↑ Dempster, G., "Typing & mouse manipulation technique and instruction method", U.S. Patent Office #5,538,431, 1995.
- ↑ Pereira, W., Tittiranonda, P., Burastero, S., "Ergonomic Analysis of Movement Retraining of Computer Users: A Pilot Study," Proceedings of the Triennial IEA/HFES Conference, San Diego CA, August 2000.
- ↑ Hudson, B. “Duet for Piano and PC : In a Controversial Technique, O.C. Musicians Teach How to Move in Harmony for Health,” Los Angeles Times, 19 October 1994.
- ↑ With pianists, Micklem H., "Dorothy Taubman: Her Approach to Piano Technique", Piano Journal, (European Piano Teachers' Association) 1994; Pereira, W., Burastero S. et al., "Dynamic Postural Analysis of a Movement Retraining Method used in Prevention and Rehabilitation of Work-Related Injuries", Proc. 13th Triennial Congress of the International Ergonomics Association, (Finland, 1997); Dybvig, T., Scolnik, N., "Assessment of a retraining program in improving pianists' involuntary movements," 12th European Congress on Musician's Medicine/3rd International Congress on Musician's Medicine, Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music in Milan, Italy; and with computer users, Griffen, V., "Movement Re-education and the Injuries of Computer users", Proc. Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference, SJSU 1995.
- ↑ Pascarelli, E., Quilter, D. Repetitive Strain Injury: A Computer User's Guide. Wiley & Sons, New York 1994.
- ↑ Pascarelli, Kella, J., "Soft Tissue Injuries Related to Use of the Computer Keyboard: A Clinical Study of 53 Severely Injured Persons," J Occup Med, #35(5), 1993, 522-532.
- ↑ El Debssi, S., "Phoenix Rising School Recital is Big Success," Nisqually Valley News, 20 May 2016, p. B7
- ↑ Teixeira, C., "Formal Recital Benefits Phoenix School," Nisqually Valley News, 6 May 2016, p. A2.
