ヤマハ『音遊人』に掲載されました。
少し前に取材を受けていた、ヤマハの会員誌『音遊人 2026 Autumn』が届きました。
今回は管楽器60周年の特集。その中で「息を吹き込む楽器は健康増進にも有効」というテーマについて、医学的な立場からお話をしています。
僕自身、医師である一方で、子供の頃からクラシック音楽に囲まれて育ち、今でもピアノを弾き、オペラやコンサートに足を運びます。
ですから、僕にとって「医学」と「音楽」は、それほど離れた世界ではありません。
管楽器を演奏するという行為を医学的に眺めてみると、なかなか面白い。
息を深く吸い、一定の圧力を保ちながら長く吐く。呼吸筋を使い、姿勢を保ち、指を動かし、譜面を読み、周囲の音を聴きながらタイミングを合わせる。
考えてみれば、かなり高度な全身運動であり、同時に脳のトレーニングでもあります。
しかも音楽には、運動とは少し違う利点があります。
「楽しいから続く」のです。
健康のために毎日30分運動してください、と言われるとなかなか続かない。でも、好きな曲を吹く30分なら、いつの間にか過ぎてしまう。
医学では、何をやるかと同じくらい、続けられるかどうかが重要です。
そう考えると、楽器というのは案外優秀な健康器具なのかもしれません。
今回こうして、長く親しんできたヤマハの媒体で、医学と音楽についてお話しできたことを嬉しく思います。
そしてせっかくなので、掲載誌を持ってクリニックFの院長室のピアノの前で一枚。
結局のところ、音楽は「聴くもの」でもありますが、「自分で音を出すもの」になると、また別の世界が始まるのだと思います。
https://www.facebook.com/1486146253/videos/pcb.10244969494880531/1873127634115102
Featured in Yamaha’s Myujin
The latest issue of Yamaha’s membership magazine, Myujin 2026 Autumn, has arrived.
I had been interviewed for the magazine a little while ago, and it was wonderful to finally see the finished issue.
This edition features a special section celebrating 60 years of Yamaha’s wind instruments. As part of the feature, I spoke from a medical perspective about the idea that playing a wind instrument may also contribute to better health.
Although I am a physician, I also grew up surrounded by classical music from an early age. I still play the piano, and I regularly attend operas and concerts.
So for me, medicine and music have never really felt like separate worlds.
When you look at the act of playing a wind instrument from a medical perspective, it becomes quite fascinating.
You take a deep breath and then exhale slowly and steadily while maintaining a certain amount of pressure. You engage your respiratory muscles, maintain your posture, move your fingers, read the score, listen to the sounds around you, and coordinate your timing with the other musicians.
When you think about it, that is a remarkably sophisticated form of whole-body exercise—and, at the same time, a workout for the brain.
And music offers an advantage that exercise alone does not necessarily provide.
You keep doing it because you enjoy it.
If someone tells you, “You need to exercise for 30 minutes every day for the sake of your health,” it can be surprisingly difficult to keep it up.
But 30 minutes spent playing a favorite piece can pass before you even realize it.
In medicine, what you do is important. But just as important is whether you can keep doing it.
Seen in that light, perhaps a musical instrument is actually a rather excellent piece of health equipment.
I am very happy to have had the opportunity to talk about medicine and music through a Yamaha publication that I have enjoyed for many years.
And since I had the magazine with me, I took the opportunity to have a photo taken in front of the piano in my office at Clinic F.
After all, music is something we listen to—but once you begin making the music yourself, I think an entirely different world opens up.
