Health & Safety

The National Association of Schools of Music requires the Music Department to inform students and faculty of health and safety issues, hazards, and procedures related to practice, performance, teaching, and listening. This includes but is not limited to information regarding hearing, vocal and musculoskeletal health, injury prevention, and the use, proper handling, and operation of potentially dangerous materials, equipment, and technology. Health and safety depend in large part on the personal decisions of informed individuals. Institutions have health and safety responsibilities, but fulfillment of these responsibilities cannot and will not ensure any specific individual’s health and safety. Too many factors beyond any institution’s control are involved.

—NASM website

The National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) and the Performing Arts Medicine Association (PAMA) have developed a comprehensive overview of hearing, neuromuscoskeletal, and vocal health issues for postsecondary schools and departments of music. Information of a medical nature is provided by PAMA; information regarding contextual issues in music programs, by NASM. The following information is drawn from Basic Information on Hearing Health: Information and Recommendations for Faculty and Staff in Schools of Music – NASM/PAMA: November 2011 and Basic Information on Neuromusculoskeletal and Vocal Health: Information and Recommendations for Faculty and Staff in Schools of Music – NASM/PAMA: July 2013 DRAFT.