This week’s blog explores another one of my favourite studies surrounding musicians, alcohol and mental health, also written by a musician.
The study (Insecurity, professional sociability, and alcohol) compares Jazz and classical musicians and how they view their working life and creativity. Eighteen young musicians (nine classical string players and nine jazz musicians) took part in the study, exploring the relationship between creativity and psychopathology (the mad genius concept). Using interviews, the main themes reported were life in the profession, self-doubt, peer-comparison, the importance of reputation, lack of job security, the importance of professional sociability, alcohol as career facilitation and performance-related drinking.
The first theme illustrated how both demographics valued the diverse and flexible nature of their jobs yet struggled with the instability and financial insecurity of the unpredictable working environment. The research also outlined how both sets of musicians reported feeling ‘unusual, different, alienated’ and ‘disconnected from real life’ and vulnerable in their musicking. I have talked about this sense of feeling ‘different’ as musicians, but I will also be writing a future blog around neuro-diversity over the next few weeks. Perhaps we are different, in both good and bad ways! We are certainly unique, who else would choose this path! Maybe we are also a privileged community to have music…who knows.
Back to the study, alongside the ‘difference’ mentioned above, self-doubt, peer comparison and the importance of reputation were more prominent in the jazz musician demographic compared to the classical players. However, perceived peer and audience pressure was an issue in both cohorts, with a high importance placed on the need to continually prove one’s worth in their musicking life worlds. The theme surrounding the lack of security also highlighted the negative feelings of both groups towards freelance work and the pressure they felt to maximise their work potential. This comes as no surprise in such a precarious occupational world which is becoming ever more difficult in the digital desert we’re slowly becoming.
Looking at the next theme of alcohol as a career facilitator, the study reported a divergence between the jazz musicians engaging in performance-related drinking and the classical musicians drinking in a socio-professional context. Despite these differences, within both groups, alcohol was reported to be used as a scaffold for the lack of routine and the facilitation of socialisation. Dobson also found that drinking was used to alleviate performance stress within the string player demographic. Interestingly, this group of musicians drank to wind down, to counter MPA and to sustain post- performance emotional elevation. The string players regarded the use of alcohol as unavoidable, while the jazz musicians’ use of alcohol was a conscious decision.
This discrepancy between the two groups was further interpreted as the string players drinking to alleviate anxiety, stress and MPA, while the jazz musicians drank to alleviate boredom. Furthermore, the jazz players seemingly exerted a level of control, whereas the string players used drink to cope with the pressures of the performance. These findings also highlight an apparent obligation for freelance musicians in general to use alcohol.
Overall, Dobson’s study illustrated the multifaceted aspects of lived experience amongst two different demographics of musicians. If you are interested in this area of substance use, abuse and booze you might want to also check out the writings of Jeordie Shenton of Tonic Music, he has recently written an amazing chapter in a compiled book about the music industry and mental health stuff and talks about his journey here.
Musicians and addiction is a tough and complex world but there are resources out there. A large part of the addictive process is the attempt to regulate how we feel, this starts with knowing how we feel. As a tip, learn to check in with how you feel, seems simple but it’s not! Or join the Tonic Rider Peer Support Group.
Adam Ficek hosts a monthly show 'Tonic Music' on Totally Wired Radio, where he talks to various guests about music and mental health. You can listen again to any of the previous show on the Tonic Music Mixcloud page.
