Christoph Wagner (music physiologist)
Christoph Wagner (born May 20, 1931 in Marburg ; † August 30, 2013 in Isernhagen ) was a German physician and musician . He founded music physiology in German-speaking countries. His research on the individuality of the musician's hand is unique worldwide.
Life
Christoph Wagner studied medicine in Marburg , Mainz and Munich (1952–1957). After graduating as Dr. med. he followed in Detmold to study music with a major in conducting (1958–1963).
From 1964 he developed a concept for systematic instrumental educational research at the Max Planck Institute for Work Physiology in Dortmund. The starting point was the development of instrument-specific research methods: to elucidate essential organic requirements for playing an instrument, to represent physiological processes during playing and to objectify musical and technical skills on the instrument. The first research focus was the biomechanical examination of musicians' hands (later patented worldwide), with the participation of approx. 1000 instrumentalists from German music universities and orchestras. With the individual “hand profile”, which records up to 40 hand characteristics, he put the understanding of technical problems and organic complaints on a new basis. Further systematic studies focused on the rhythmic precision of professional pianists.
In 1974 Christoph Wagner was appointed professor at the Hanover University of Music and Theater . With the establishment of the Institute for Music Physiology (until 1979 under the name “Institute for Experimental Music Pedagogy”) he succeeded for the first time in anchoring music-physiological research, teaching and consulting in a European music college. In addition to the methodological development of biomechanical hand diagnostics, he also carried out numerous model studies, e. B. comparative studies of manual conditions in successful and healthy people on the one hand and problematic cases on the other hand, as well as finger forces in pianists and the force curve when striking the piano. In 1992 Wagner organized the first international symposium of musicians and doctors in Germany.
Christoph Wagner's 2005 book Hand und Instrument (Breitkopf & Härtel) summarizes his research results on the hand of a musician. With measuring sheets for the “pragmatic hand assessment” he makes the enormous range of variation in thumb spans and internal spans easily accessible for individual comparison.
Christoph Wagner was a co-founder and, from 2001, an honorary member of the German Society for Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine (DGfMM) and a founding member of the European Piano Teachers Association Section Germany (EPTA).
Since 2009, Wagner's Biomechanical Hand Diagnostics has been continued at the Zurich Center for Musicians' Hand (ZZM) in the Music Physiology / Music and Preventive Medicine department of the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).
Fonts
Books
- (Ed.) Medical problems in instrumentalists: causes and prevention. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1995, ISBN 3-89007-195-3 .
- Hand and instrument: Basics of music physiology - practical consequences. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-7651-0376-4 .
Article (selection)
- On the Problem of Practicing Music (1968)
- Investigations into the ergonomics of piano playing (1968)
- Experimental Studies on the Tempo (1974). Study with Herbert von Karajan
- Success and Failure in Musical Performance: Biomechanics of the Hand (1988)
- The Pianist's Hand: Anthropometry and Biomechanics (1988)
- Instrumental Play and Physiology: On the Difficulties of Understanding Between Art and Science (1989)
- Interaction of Biomechanical and Training Factors in Musicians with Occupational Cramp / Focal Dystonia (1991), with Fr. Wilson, V. Hömberg, J. Noth
- Physiological advisor (1993)
- Music Physiological Talent Research: Problems and Application (1994)
- Physiological and pathophysiological basics of making music (1995)
- Time for Music Physiology (1994)
- Wrist Symptoms in Instrumental Musicians: Due to Biomechanical Restrictions? (1996), with M. Schuppert
- Biological Problems in Instrument Making (1996)
- Music physiology in the context of the music college (1997), with J. Blum
- Musicians' Hand Problems: Looking at Individuality (2012)
literature
- Ulrike Wohlwender: Memory of the music physiologist Christoph Wagner (1931-2013) - life path, life's work and research concept. In: EPTA Documentation 2013/14, Every Beginning Is ... , Düsseldorf 2015, pp. 7-20. ( PDF ).
- Schuppert / Wohlwender / Blum: On the death of Christoph Wagner. Pioneer and father of German music physiology. In: Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine. Vol. 20 (2013), H. 3, pp. 94-97. ( Obituary of the DGfMM )
- Ulrike Wohlwender: New territory in music physiology - Christoph Wagner on his 80th birthday. In: Music Physiology and Musicians' Medicine. Vol. 18 (2011), no. 2, p. 37 f. ( PDF ).
- Gustavo Daniel Cardinal: Analysis of wrist flexion and extension in piano performance: Biomechanical and anthropometrical perspectives. Proquest, undated 2011, ISBN 978-1-243-69377-8 .
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wagner, Christoph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German physician and musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 20, 1931 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Marburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 30, 2013 |
| Place of death | Isernhagen |