1. Music-Mind : Thoughts on Musicians' Mental Health
With this post, I’m starting a series of short articles related to Musicians’ Mental Health.
The pianist Angela Hewitt described an encounter with a taxi driver in Atlanta, Georgia. The taxi driver asked her: "So what do you do?" She replied: "I play the piano around the world".
"Oh my!" said the driver, "That sure sounds relaxin'…"
Ha!
(Every professional musician has just fallen off his or her chair.)
Relaxin’ might be one of the more elusive rewards of a life in music, but what are some others?
Being privy to essential human experiences?
Receiving unspoken insights from across generations that go beyond one’s ability to verbalize them?
Contributing to a better, more peaceful and more harmonious world?
Being part of a mysterious and secretive society that probes the depths of experience?
A client told me: “When I’m on stage I feel alive.” Another client told me that music was the vehicle that most meaningfully served a higher purpose.
Musicians, when they are not caught in the grips of cynicism, narcissistic exhibitionism and self-doubt, tend to be altruistic. They often believe that music has the power to solve societal problems. A statement of Daniel Barenboim/Edward Said’s first iteration of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra claimed: “We aspire to total freedom and equality between Israelis and Palestinians, and it is on this basis that we come together to play music.” Yo-Yo Ma states. “Music is one of the ways we can achieve a kind of shorthand to understand each other.” And Herbie Hancock said: “Music is the tool to express life- and all that makes a difference.”
Dr. Brené Brown’s plea for us to cultivate “Strong Backs, Soft Fronts, and Wild Hearts” seems like a career imperative for musicians.
This need for a strong back (steeliness, resilience in the face of set-backs and failure) a soft front (openness, sensitivity, trust) and a wild-heart (risk-taking, embracing uncertainty, everyday encounters with the most heightened emotional experiences) can take a psycho-emotional toll. How long can one carry out the unpaid labor of “strong back/soft front/wild heart” before being thoroughly and fundamentally exhausted and depleted?
…And our society is not helping us.
Musicians often live lives of precarity. When a societal upheaval arrives, they feel the effects quickly. Already vulnerable pasted-together existences shatter. Narrowly trained artists are left with the feeling that they have nowhere to go outside of music.
So, Musicians’ mental health issues….
Where to start?
There’s a lot to say.
Well… here are some ideas for follow-up posts:
Dealing with an Insecure Future
Creating Community for Loners
Metabolizing Defeat
Perfectionism
Lifelong Development vs. Being a Trained Monkey
Cultural Mobility
The Greatest Teacher: Failure
Gurus and other Harmful Beasts
Am I Depressed or is Everyone Around me just an Asshole?
Is this a “Me” or a “We” problem?