Health, Safety, & Wellness

Nearly everyone in every position in the College of Music is, in some way, a musician, and even the ones who are not are enthusiastic about music! So, we take it seriously when an ailment, injury, or mental health struggle befalls someone in our community. It can be a major impediment to students reaching their goals as musicians and to anyone striving for success in a rewarding career.

It is why the health, safety, and wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff is a major initiative in the MSU College of Music. We have devoted ourselves to helping musicians avoid injury and ailments and to providing resources when something is amiss.

Our annual efforts include a Health and Wellness Resource Fair at the start of each academic year where students can pick up resources for health, learn about campus physical and mental health services, sign up for free hearing screenings, and much more.

We hold Performance and Physical Therapy Advice Sessions where licensed physical therapists provide one-on-one insight to students to help them manage pain, stress, or tension and build strength.

We have a College of Music Embedded Counselor from the MSU CAPS office, providing someone in-person to speak to Thursdays and Fridays at the College who also provides mental health workshops and resources. Each Friday during the school year, our embedded counselor hosts MSU CAPS Connect sessions where students can attend as individuals or groups to ask questions about anything concerning them. Meet the embedded counselor here.

We provide Hearing Testing at the College of Music three times each year. Students can get a baseline hearing test and follow up at later dates to ensure a problem is not developing.

Chair Massages for music students and staff are offered twice each semester, free to all to address a specific area of need or simply for relaxation purposes.

Special Courses are available for students to focus deeply on health and wellness topics. Health and wellness for Musicians (MUS494) is offered fall semester of odd years, and an Alexander Technique course (MUS491:097) is offered each semester. Academic advisors can help students work these into their course load.

Year-Round Resources provided by the College include complementary foam earplugs and deeply discounted musician earplugs, free pain management supplies such as cold packs, Thermacare/heat packs, and ibuprofen or acetaminophen, and a Health and Wellness Steering Committee is available for consultation on specific challenges and to field ideas for new health and wellness programs.

And finally, we realize that even though we foster trust, professionalism, and mutual support in our college, we are not immune from occurrences of abuse within our community. With that in mind, we provide a list of on- and off-campus resources and reporting information that College of Music students, faculty, and staff may access should abuse of any kind occur.

Health, safety, and wellness will forever remain one of our top priorities!

Explore in Student Resources