Ep 9: Mind in Body, Body in Mind with...Me! (Karen Bulmer)
about Karen
Karen Bulmer is a versatile tuba player, educator, writer, and podcaster. She is active as a tuba soloist and improviser and has performed her original one-woman show Girl Meets Tuba, which chronicles her on-again off-again relationship with the tuba, in venues across Canada.
In addition to serving as Associate Professor of Low Brass at Memorial University of Newfoundland’s School of Music, Karen is a movement educator and meditation facilitator. Her unique Mind/Body Tools for Musicians program combines mindfulness with movement and self-regulation strategies to help musicians access a greater sense of their innate capacity for expression, mastery, and resilience. She is the creator and host of the Music, Mind, and Movement Podcast and maintains a blog about practice, performance, and self-care for musicians at www.musicmindandmovement.com
Karen holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the University of Western Ontario, a Professional Studies Diploma from the HARID Conservatory, and both a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University. Karen trained in meditation facilitation under the mentorship of Michael Stone, Movement for Trauma (Level 1 and 2) with Jane Clapp, and is a certified yoga instructor with additional training in biomechanics and anatomy.
in this episode
We’re switching it up! Guest host Daniel Fuchs interviews ME about my approach to musicians’ health and wellness. Daniel is a great interviewer and an even better listener. Here’s what we touch on:
My background and training as a tuba player (by default)
My struggle with performance and practice anxiety and why I turned to meditation and movement practice
How mindfulness and somatic movement practices can be helpful for musicians
The Window of Tolerance model and how it relates to both meditation and movement practice
Using mindfulness and movement practices to increase our capacity to deal with intensity
Approaches to managing injury
What pain is and isn’t and the role that psycho-education can play in finding solutions for managing pain
Why all musicians might benefit from a better understanding of anatomy and biomechanics
Some thoughts on applying mindfulness and movement practices in music practice
How being able to feel and control the flow of attention helps make practice more efficient and less fraught
learn more
Almost everything in this episode (except pain) is explored further on the blog — especially the nervous system stuff, which we touched on but didn’t get into in depth. (Maybe we’ll do a Part 2…)
For more on pain, check out my interview with Kayleigh Miller or her awesome blog Musicians’ Health Collective
For more on mindfulness in practice and performance, check out my interviews with Travis Baird, Frank Diaz, Vanessa Cornett, and Barbara Bogatin
