ABOUT OUR FOUNDER, DR. LEA PEARSON
Award-winning Master Teacher Dr. Lea Pearson has been training students, performers, and teachers in innovative techniques for over 30 years. A Haynes Artist, Dr. Pearson holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in flute performance, a Master’s Degree in flute from Stanford University, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.
One of the first Licensed Body Mapping Educators in the world, Dr. Pearson authored the acclaimed book Body Mapping for Flutists: What Every Flute Teacher Needs to Know About the Body. She has helped thousands of musicians recover their ability to play with joy and ease through her sold-out workshops and master classes.
Her influence among flute teachers is legendary. Guiding international performers from Brazil to China, Dr. Pearson has taught at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the US Air Force Band, and more than 100 colleges, conservatories, military bases, conferences, camps, and festivals around the globe.
With a career as an active performer, college teacher, and a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist, Dr. Pearson applies her expertise to solving the music industry’s hidden secret: the pain and anxiety caused by traditional methods of instruction.A Haynes artist,
About Music Minus Pain
We are passionate about reducing the barriers to success, caused by:
- inaccurate information about the body that fosters misuse
- anxiety from an overemphasis on perfectionism
- tension and pain that often result in injury
- We teach practical information on how the body works to play beautiful music and improve artistic excellence.
- We explore the matrix of thoughts, feelings, and experiences that deeply influence the way we play.
- We provide professional development in workshops, courses, and teacher training programs for studio teachers.
My Story
For most of my career as an orchestra performer, soloist, and college teacher I played in pain, starting at age 18 when my left hand went numb. But the real problem began years before that, when I was a beginning flute student.
It was the teaching that I had – or DIDN’T have – that was the problem. What really kept me from improving was physical tension. Quite simply, nobody told me what I needed to know about my body in order to advance my technique, breathing, and expression.
Recently I got curious: in an ideal world, what should have happened, from my very first lesson, to prevent my 30-year journey of pain?
Many things.
But the most important one is that every teacher should have been curious about what I experienced when I played.
Every teacher should have been asking me questions: about how I used my body to play loud or soft, fast or slow; whether I was comfortable; or how I felt about a certain piece. I could have been able to discover ways of playing that promoted ease and reduced tension, instead of looking at my flute and crying because it hurt so much to play.
I don’t want anybody to suffer as I did.
That’s why I’m so passionate about empowering teachers to help their students.
Our Practice
Music Minus Pain supports all musicians in finding their authentic voice. By integrating the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of our lives and musical training, we can unleash full creative expression for a lifetime of playing with joy and ease.
Music Minus Pain is the brainchild of Dr. Lea Pearson. After playing in pain for 30 years, she committed to creating new avenues for learning so no one would have to experience that same terrible disruption in their career.
With workshops, master classes, college residencies, books, articles, videos, online courses, lessons, and the flagship Transformational Teacher Training Program, Music Minus Pain focuses on one thing: helping every musician to express themselves fully.
By training teachers in Body Mapping strategies, coaching tools, movement, and psychological/neurological approaches, Music Minus Pain helps musicians move from a place of limitation into one that fosters their love of music.
Teachers learn to focus on the student’s experience and the way they use their body, empowering students to translate what they’re learning into their artistic vision.
Washington
"By integrating the thoughts, emotions, and experiences of our lives into musical training, we can unleash full creative expression for a lifetime of playing with joy and ease."
- Dr. Lea Pearson
