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Practicing Safe Trad: Why Existing Approaches to Playing-related Musculoskeletal Disorders May Not Help the Irish Traditional Music Community

The effect of playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) on the Irish traditional music community has, to date, received scant attention. The Safe Trad research project was established in 2009 by Liz Doherty, herself a professional traditional fiddle player, in collaboration with colleagues in the School of Health Sciences and a team of traditional musicians and healthcare professionals. Funded by the Higher Education Academy, the University of Ulster and the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, preliminary research involved a controlled trial, individual case studies and a pilot study, information on which is available at www.safetrad.com. A second stage of research involved focus group interviews conducted at the University of Ulster and the University of Limerick between May 2011 and June 2012.

‘Practicing Safe Trad’ draws on data generated through these focus groups and discusses the issue of identity within the Irish traditional music community, specifically how the complexities surrounding this may have affected musicians’ capacity to recognise, relate to, and deal with PRMDs. A companion paper, ‘Perceptions of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (PRMDs) in Irish Traditional Musicians: A Focus Group Study’, published simultaneously in “Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation” (DOI: 10.3233/WOR-131737), takes a scientific rather than an ethnographic approach and deals more specifically with quantitative data generated from the same research. Each paper approaches the topic from a different perspective, one emic, the other etic. Combined, and in addition to preliminary research conducted as part of this project (see report for funders included in portfolio), they offer a robust primary overview of an issue which has affected - and continues to affect - practitioners of the tradition. On-going work through the Safe Trad project has the potential to impact significantly on transmission processes within Irish traditional and other folk musics; this portfolio represents the early stages of this development.