The Muse Muscle Method
Injury Prevention For Musicians · All Instruments · Downtown Edmond
Most musicians are never taught how to use their body. They are taught where to put their fingers. Muse Muscle is a set of exercises done away from the instrument that closes that gap, so a player can build speed and endurance over a whole career without getting hurt along the way.
It was developed by musicians working alongside injury-prevention experts, and one of its developers teaches cello right here at the school.
What It Actually Is
The work happens off the instrument. It improves fine and gross motor skills, develops kinesthetic sense, and trains movement that stays fluid and free of tension while you play.
The central idea is simple. It teaches a musician to play with the whole body instead of only the hands and wrists, which is what lowers the risk of overuse in the small muscle groups that get injured first. Players come out of it with more strength, more speed, better endurance, and better independence between the hands.
Injuries are common in music, and most players take them as the cost of practicing hard. Most come from repeating a movement the body was never set up to repeat, and that can be fixed.
What Sets It Apart
Off the Instrument
The exercises are designed around what a musician’s body is actually asked to do, which is not what a general fitness routine trains. You put the instrument down to do them.
A Schedule Built for You
The practice schedule is personalized. It accounts for your instrument, your background, your daily habits and lifestyle, and your age, size, muscle tone, mental condition, past injuries, and diet.
Tools You Have Not Seen
It brings in techniques and ideas most players have never met, including mirrored instruments, tapes, and weights.
Who Teaches It Here
Yasaman Seif
Cello Instructor, Soltani Music School
Yasaman holds a Master of Music in Performance and is one of the developers of the Muse Muscle Method. She also serves as Administrative Assistant at the UCO School of Music. She teaches cello here, and she brings this work into her studio.
Where It Has Been Presented
- 2024 ASTA National Conference
- Oklahoma Research Day
- The 15th Annual Transforming Learning Conference
- The University of Central Oklahoma
Published Work
The method has been covered in The Strad, the American String Teacher (the ASTA Journal), the Oklahoma Chapter ASTA Newsletter, and the Grossman Newsletter.