Hi! My name is Ella and I’m a 17-year-old musician living in Seattle, Washington. Having played piano since age five and violin since age six, I’ve experienced many of the struggles commonly faced by classical music students and am driven to make education surrounding music and wellbeing more accessible.
In this series, I’ll share some resources, tips, and stories surrounding music, mental health, and wellbeing, for musicians and music enthusiasts alike.
When feelings are part of your everyday practice…
-Sanity, Madness and Music
…how would you know if they are out of control?”
Many studies suggest that musicians report greater levels of anxiety and depression compared to other professions. Yet, many studies also show that musicians report a greater rate of job satisfaction. There are certain issues within the music industry and music education space sphere, such as low-paying gigs or unhealthy attitudes towards competition, that contribute to musicians’ poor mental health. By recognizing and learning about these unhelpful structures and mindsets, musicians’ may be better able to combat them and focus on what they love about their job and instrument. Here are some resources for music students and professionals alike to start learning:
Anya Wassenberg. “Feature: It’s Time to Talk about Classical Music’s Mental Health Problem.” Ludwig van Toronto, 25 Feb. 2019, www.ludwig-van.com/toronto/2019/02/25/feature-its-time-to-talk-about-classical-musics-mental-health-problem/. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.
Wassenberg’s article discusses the mental health struggles faced by musicians and some aspects of their lives and of the industry that cause such issues. The article also provides perspectives of Toronto composer and pianist Frank Horvat, who describes his childhood growing in musical training and discusses how mental health issues were never discussed. Wassenberg then notes ways the educational sphere of music has improved in recent years and how change is continually being made. Wassenberg also notes that there are many mental and physical health benefits of healthy music practice, while the stress of music practice can have detrimental effects. The article ends with a list of composers who lived with depression or mental illness yet argue against the myth that the suffering of the tortured genius is what allowed for their amazing work.
David J. Sternbach. “Stress in the Lives of Music Students.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 94,
no. 3, 2008, pp. 42–48. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4623690. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
Sternbach’s article describes the factors in a music student’s life, including elementary, middle, and high school students and college music majors. He states that music is more emotionally taxing and stressful for students than professionals, as they are still learning and have less developed egos. He also describes the stress that comes with performances, the social isolation that comes from practice schedules, and more common issues that distinguish music students from their peers. He offers up a new term called “defensive practicing” which occurs when students practice based on the assumption that “if I get it perfect, maybe I won’t be criticized,” and explains how to help students stay out of this mindset. Sternbach ends the article discussing performance anxiety and its solutions, and the ways music students may nurture a positive attitude towards their craft.
Gross, Sally Anne, and George Musgrave. “Sanity, Madness and Music.” Can Music Make You
Sick?: Measuring the Price of Musical Ambition, University of Westminster Press, 2020, pp. 25–40. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv199tddg.6. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
This chapter of Can Music Make You Sick? introduces and analyzes the findings of Gross & Musgrave’s study into the incidence of musicians’ mental health. It first defines the terms “mental health” and “well-being” and the current state of the world which may lead to poor mental health and lack of well-being. While mental health describes the state of the mind, well-being combines body, mind, and external factors. They then state the two purported causes of musicians’ poor mental health, which include external factors that cause distressful situations for musicians, and “biological and neurological factors that might be responsible for elements of music perception and performance” (Marin and Perry 1999). Then, the authors lay out three key features of the systemic, institutional conditions of music enterprise and practices that “act together corrosively” (Gross): The status of work, the status of value, and the status of relationships. They then explain how each can be analyzed in correspondence with the results of their findings, which are described in summary.
Jenne, Michael. “The Young Musician’s Present Role: What Kind of Musician Do We Want?”
The World of Music, vol. 29, no. 3, 1987, pp. 106–10. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43561167. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
This article discusses the role of young musicians in 1987 and how the development of technology has affected the music world. It first claims that the world wants musicians who feel a sense of responsibility towards the music they perform are sensitive in respect to the cultural needs of today and tomorrow. It states that the young musician has a central role in our world, as we cannot succeed with them.
Kelley, Jamey, and Alison Farley. “Self-Compassion Levels in Music and Non-Music Students.”
Contributions to Music Education, vol. 44, 2019, pp. 167–84. JSTOR,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26724265. Accessed 17 Sept. 2023.
This article introduces the findings of its study with the widespread belief that music studies can help build healthy levels of self-esteem. It then explains the differences between self-esteem and self-compassion, which may be more beneficial for children to learn in the long run. While self-esteem builds one’s self worth, it may be detrimental to students who believe they must prove themselves to teachers to keep up their self-worth. Self-compassion, on the other hand, can be described as the way individuals view themselves when encountering failure and obstacles. Yet, the study finds that there is little difference in self-compassion levels between musicians and non-musicians.