Juan Aguirre

I want to share a personal experience that I hope may be useful.

Between 2002 and 2003 I had the immense fortune of being immersed in a great tour that took me to play all over the country and also in America. It was something I had dreamed of since I was a child. Playing live, traveling and making music my life.

I was dealing with an injury to my left hand for the first time. You can imagine the anguish I felt when I experienced that situation. It was an inflammation on the inside of my index finger and it made even the simplest chords painful. I didn't understand what was happening to me and I was terrified that I wouldn't recover from it. I looked at my twelve-string guitars, my amplifiers and felt that I wanted to make them sound like nothing else.

Through a friend I met the team at the Terrassa Art Institute. They made me understand that it was something much more common than I thought. I started some treatments and a slow but progressive recovery. In the end, it happened. I started playing again, little by little; I even took the opportunity to improve some technical issues.

Several things remained from that bitter experience: the friendship of Doctor Rosset and a feeling of gratitude towards all the professors of the Institute. And a teaching that I want to share with all of you, whatever your instrument and the type of music you play:

Musicians are vulnerable and our hands, arms, shoulders and other joints need care to respond to what our mind wants to play.

Our fingers have a lot of small muscles that work in the same way as those of any athlete and although I am not experienced enough to give you advice, I would like to convey the importance of being aware of this.

I'm writing these lines because I wish no fellow musician would have to go through as bad a time as I did during those long five months.

A hug to everyone.