Taking the next step in your education is a significant achievement, especially when embarking on a degree-level course.

After finishing your exams, preparing audition pieces, auditioning for several universities, and practising your skills over the summer, you probably feel like it’s time to slow down and enjoy uni life. But it’s only going to get busier — and that’s a good thing!

But to ensure you’re feeling your best throughout the transition, you must look after your mental and physical health. Uh-huh, making it through freshers week without getting ill is possible.

Whether you’re studying as a theatre, music, dance, film or circus performer or technician, or in any other performing arts profession, we have tips to help you settle in without stress. Scroll down to get the lowdown now.

 

Top 5 Tips For New Performing Arts Students

If you want to hit the high notes confidently, you’ll need to feel your best. Here are some critical tips new students need to know when starting university.

 

1. Use a Meal Plan

Yes, we sound like your mother. But healthy eating is the key to ensuring your mental and physical health is in check. If you’re not feeling 100%, you won’t be able to nail your first dance classes or show off your monologue skills.

Create a meal plan of healthy dishes that you can cook without fuss. This way, you won’t waste time (and more money) going to the shop daily, and you can ensure you’re getting good nutrition. Check out for some inspiration.

Or sign up for our upcoming online nutrition workshop with Lucy Swain, an NHS professional, who will be lecturing about the importance of diet, nutrition and performance, how to eat well on tour, and the importance of staying hydrated. This free event is on the 7th of November, and you can .

 

2. Drink Responsibly

University is the time to let loose, but your partying habits shouldn’t impact your daily life. Leaving the party early might leave you with FOMO, but we promise you’ll feel better when you leave at 1 am rather than 5 am.

 

3. Get Prepared For Class

Nervous about your first few classes? Try to get ahead. If you have the syllabus, you can familiarise yourself with the upcoming content. From the history of the performing arts to the plays you’ll be studying, knowing as much information as possible is helpful to calm your nerves.

Pro Tip: Look at previous students’ work. This will show you what lies ahead for your career.

 

4. Don’t Neglect Exercise

Whether you’re a dancer, pianist, or lighting technician, exercise is vital for your overall health. You don’t need to be running marathons, but doing a week is necessary to stay well.

If you don’t know how to get started, consider making a healthy practice diary to keep your goals on track. Find our healthy practice diary resource here to get started.

 

5. Sleep!

When you’re suddenly living with housemates, falling into a healthy sleep schedule can be challenging. But avoid going to bed at sunrise whenever possible. . Don’t go without.

Want to learn how to prioritise sleep when working in music? On the 28th of September, we’re running a free event with a sleep psychologist to help you learn about sleep hygiene, what impacts sleep, and the consequences of poor sleep habits. .

 

Clinics for Performing Arts Students

… And everyone working in the performing arts

Taking care of your healthy practice basics can help to prevent many avoidable problems. But if you do need support, BAPAM’s free, expert clinical service provides accurate diagnosis and advice to overcome practice-related problems, helping you to get back to focusing on your creative work quickly and safely.

We understand life in the performing arts and provide free consultations online and face-to-face in Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gateshead, Liverpool, London and Manchester.

Find more information on the BAPAM clinics now.

 

For Teachers & Course Leaders

Students are a large focus of BAPAM’s work, but they’re not the only performing arts professionals we assist. Educators can also use BAPAM’s clinical services, share our health resources, brush up on healthy practice skills for themselves and their students at BAPAM workshops, and commission bespoke education sessions for their institution.

And if you’d like to order physical performing arts health resources to share with your colleagues and students, get in touch during September and October, and we’ll send out the following for free (within the UK):

• A printed BAPAM welcome pack
• Warm-up exercises leaflets
• Performance anxiety posters
• Workshop posters

Find out more about the content and order here.

 

Start September With Success

Whatever discipline you’re studying, these tips will help you start the term on a winning note.

And the support doesn’t stop there. BAPAM is a charity dedicated to linking performing arts professionals with expert health and wellbeing services. If you need extra support, we’re on hand to assist. All degree-level performing art students can access BAPAM’s services, and you can find out more about us here.

Or check out our BAPAM Welcome Pack — an expert resource designed to help you perform at your best while caring for your mental and physical health.

Good luck to all 2023 students! You’ll smash it.

We are looking for an administrator to answer calls and emails from patients contacting BAPAM. Ideally you will have administrative experience in healthcare, experience of talking to patients on the phone and an understanding of the performing arts industry.

As the first point of contact with our patients, our helpline administrators are incredibly important to our service and we’d love to hear from you if you would be interested in this role.

Please contact Usman Iqbal on usman@bapam.org.uk for a job description. To apply please send a CV and covering letter to explain how you would be suitable for this role. Applications should be received by August 7.

BAPAM training events are a key resource for healthcare and education professionals.

We explore key topics in current performing arts medicine practice and share unique insights into performance health and wellbeing. The approach is multidisciplinary: physiological and psychological care, preventing as well as treating problems, supporting healthy and sustainable creative practice.

Through 2020/21, we are delivering a series of monthly CPD webinars, expanding our training provision and enabling wider access to a flexible ongoing programme. Sessions are held on the last Wednesday of the month from 7pm.

Our first session, Lockdown Health of Performance Professionals, takes place on October 28 at 7pm. The full programme for this event has now been published. All events in the series are open for booking, and we will be adding detail for future events in the series soon.

Find out more and book tickets here

We plan to make sessions available for ticket holders to view after the event if required.

Ticket prices per session:

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BAPAM Registered Practitioners:��£15

BAPAM Registered Practitioners who paid us a fee in 2017/2018 for their BAPAM Directory listing are welcome to contact us about complimentary booking options for these events.

BAPAM Assessing Clinicians and Colleagues: £10

For clinicians working in BAPAM clinics and colleagues providing services administered directly by BAPAM. If unsure, or to request authorisation, please reply to this email.

At BAPAM we support a wide range of performers suffering all kinds of health issues. At the various stages of contact with patients we do our best to get a coherent idea of their issue and advise them about a treatment pathway.

22-year-old saxophone player Murphy Robertson is one such patient who came to BAPAM at a particularly low point in May 2019, during her fourth and final year at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The final year for most degree students is a busy period, but for Murphy the year has been quite relentless. It was all systems go for her ever since things kicked off in September 2018. On top of university commitments, she was also working as a peripatetic music teacher in schools, while regularly performing in shows outside her degree.

So what specifically brought her to BAPAM?

She says things started to really deteriorate in March 2019 while she was working on an exam piece. She felt severe cheek pain and pain around the mouth, recalling how she thought her mouth would “fall off”. It was then she realised she needed to tell someone. She went to her saxophone teacher and head of music department, who suggested she come to BAPAM for an assessment.

At BAPAM she saw assessing clinician and GP Dr Tamara Karni Cohen. Before the assessment Murphy said the uncertainty about what it could be caused her a lot of nervousness. But once she saw Dr Karni Cohen she felt a huge sense of relief and recalls breaking down at hearing it wasn’t all just “in her head.” She says she had been dismissing the issue and admits having a medical professional listen and understand was very reassuring and validating.

Dr Karni Cohen says: “Here at BAPAM we see a wide range of vocational related issues with a wide range of performers.  Murphy was a very interesting case, demonstrating symptoms of muscle fatigue after a grueling and long recording session.  The facial muscles can also present with a ‘repetitive strain’ type picture.  Muscles being overused can overtire easily and we have factsheets on our website on how to maintain good physical shape as a performer. This includes the importance of strengthening, maintenance and appropriate rest intervals.”

Murphy was recommended a few options like osteopathy or physiotherapy, and Feldenkrais and was told that a consultation with a musculoskeletal or head and neck Ģ��tv maybe required if symptoms didn’t improve. As Murphy is a music student and matched the eligibility criteria for charity Help Musicians UK’s Emerging Musicians Health Scheme for financial support towards treatment, Dr Karni Cohen was able to help support her through filling out a funding application.

Looking back on the experience Murphy feels a combination of overplaying and lack of sleep and only one day off between September and March also contributed to the issue. She says juggling life as a final year student, working as a peripatetic teacher 6 days a week and other performing commitments created a lot of stress and exhaustion.

She also likens not being able to play for months to a “purgatory state” and says, “people start treating you differently, you feel like you lose your value.”

Dr Karni Cohen says cases like this show how physical symptoms like this can have an impact on mental health. She says; “When I see patients at BAPAM I like to cover all aspects of symptoms, including how it is affecting their psychological wellbeing. There is a lot of overlap between the mind and body, especially when it comes to a performer’s life. The impact physical symptoms have on people like Murphy, can really take their toll. As she aptly mentioned, people start to address you differently.  We are trying to improve the stigma related to conditions, how they affect performers and how often they are not going to impede them on their overall abilities, especially once addressed and treated. Especially when it comes to mental health related issues – these are still unfortunately stigmatised but there is a wave of change happening.  I always like to encourage performers to be open and connected with their mental and physical health. Prevention is key but recognition early leads to early intervention and prevention of chronic conditions.”

So how is Murphy doing now?

Murphy was successful in receiving funding from Help Musicians UK and has been using the funds to get treatment with a physiotherapist who has experience of treating performers. The treatments she has been receiving includes jaw massage, acupuncture and physiotherapy from the shoulder up. When we spoke to Murphy at the end of September 2019 she had received 5 sessions and said that even though the pain was easing she was still unable to play for very long. She also admitted she had underestimated how long the recovery would take.

What advice does she have for others who maybe in a similar situation?

Despite the challenges she has faced Murphy feels positive about the experience. She says it enabled her to take a step back and realise that she can’t do everything at once. Her advice to others is “don’t push it” and to stop and assess the situation sooner rather than later.