music and health
i've been thinking about the relationship between music and health and how complicated it is. for instance, for those with the innate need for musical expression, going too long with too little music can cause an uncomfortable and stressful buildup of tension. does it have to be _playing music_ that alleviates it? or can listening provide the same relief? when it has been too long, do you listen to music differently (where the "you" here is me, i guess, or anyone in a similar predicament) - does the neediness affect the experience of listening?
and then there is the flip side, where the expression of music (in my case for the last 8 days, intense and long recording sessions and performances) comes at the expense of sleep, which eats away at physical well being and mental stability.
i have in my head a multidimensional phase space with an elusive optimization. i wish i had a draft of this plot for all (both?) the people out there that might find this interesting, but i think that will have to wait for another post. whenever i start getting into trying to represent the relationships this way, it becomes daunting, complicated by financial elements if music is the sole source of income and times are tough, or psychological elements if music leads to fame and fortune.
the connection can get pretty deep. for instance, one of my music collaborators is visiting this month. our goal was to finish a 4 or 5 song EP that we've been working on for a while. we started off strong, but then on tuesday we learned that a mutual friend of ours in california had died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving her husband and friends stunned. we decided spontaneously to write a song for the husband and for the funeral. i've written songs for weddings and birthdays and holidays and births, but never for death. we wrote and recorded it all in one evening, and then finished mixing and a bit of overdubbing in one more session and sent it off to california. i was pretty overwhelmed by the emotional effect of this song, both on us as we made it and on those at the funeral. this perhaps gets to the most mysterious and most fundamentally important connection between music and health, but i don't know how to describe it or where to put it in the phase space plot.
i don't have any links for you this week - just these rather loosely collected thoughts. i'm really interested in what you all have to say on this topic, though. in the area of health, what role does music play for you? in the end, is there a net positive relationship?
and then there is the flip side, where the expression of music (in my case for the last 8 days, intense and long recording sessions and performances) comes at the expense of sleep, which eats away at physical well being and mental stability.
i have in my head a multidimensional phase space with an elusive optimization. i wish i had a draft of this plot for all (both?) the people out there that might find this interesting, but i think that will have to wait for another post. whenever i start getting into trying to represent the relationships this way, it becomes daunting, complicated by financial elements if music is the sole source of income and times are tough, or psychological elements if music leads to fame and fortune.
the connection can get pretty deep. for instance, one of my music collaborators is visiting this month. our goal was to finish a 4 or 5 song EP that we've been working on for a while. we started off strong, but then on tuesday we learned that a mutual friend of ours in california had died suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving her husband and friends stunned. we decided spontaneously to write a song for the husband and for the funeral. i've written songs for weddings and birthdays and holidays and births, but never for death. we wrote and recorded it all in one evening, and then finished mixing and a bit of overdubbing in one more session and sent it off to california. i was pretty overwhelmed by the emotional effect of this song, both on us as we made it and on those at the funeral. this perhaps gets to the most mysterious and most fundamentally important connection between music and health, but i don't know how to describe it or where to put it in the phase space plot.
i don't have any links for you this week - just these rather loosely collected thoughts. i'm really interested in what you all have to say on this topic, though. in the area of health, what role does music play for you? in the end, is there a net positive relationship?
5 Comments:
Hey,
My Firefox is acting up, so I didn't see this post until after mine. In addition to the death I mentioned in my post, another close friend's boss died yesterday as well.
I find that my music is related to my mental and emotional health. I have yet to notice a strong correlation to my physical health, other than to note that I'm more physically fit when I'm playing drums a lot. Having not played for a while, I sometimes find myself missing it greatly as a release.
I wish I could comprehend phase space - I'll read it again tomorrow and maybe I'll have some clarity. Mostly at the moment it reminds me of why I ditched physics for philosophy at university. Please explain more about it at some point.
I'd say, that aside from putting me closer to the vice alcohol, music has been good for my physical health. Even with regards to drinking heavy at least that is in an active pursuit. Better than drinking heavy and sitting on the sofa watching a football game. I've been doing a lot of percussion stuff lately too and yeah that is exercise, no doubt.
Mentally and emotionally music has been very healthy. I'd say 90 percent of the songs I've written I wrote during fits of depression that music helped me get through.
The social aspect of playing music has also been healthy even if at times trying - being social isn't just about having a good time (there's a real challenge to loving your fellow man sometimes!).
I got into my vocation through music connections. Met my wife through music connections as well as most of my long lasting friendships. Music led me to this (arguably unhealthy) blog project =)
Your funeral song reminds me that several years ago I was moved to do a similar recording. My friend's first child was born with down syndrome which, as I learned, isn't really something to mourn. But at the time it felt like it, more so because the kid was born with a hole in his heart and really struggled for the first few months. The heaviness this brought on my friend weighed on me too (I was already battling depression). I wrote a song called Whole Heart that I think really saved me from doing some very unhealthy things. Don't know that it did much for my friend though.
If you look at discussions about musicians and health insurance, you will find a couple of trends that I've encountered throughout my life working with musicians. 1. Generally speaking musicians have fairly tough physical constitutions and 2. they are also gamblers and as such gamble with their health like they have strong physical constitutions.
The result are music "careers" that on average probably last shorter than those of your average football player.
And this without taking into consideration mental health which is something else musicians tend to toy with as if they were the most mentally stable bunch around.
In similar news, those who own guns are on the whole, happier. Makes me think that being in control, or the feeling of (whether it's defense or ability to get food), is what makes people more comfortable, and thus, more happy.
Ergo, making one's own music, if one is made that way, would make one happier, rather than just listening.
It is your joy in creation that must be shown or revealed that is the big deal. Or, oneself.
So, I would bet negative feelings would pile up about the listening of music if a person who had a need to create music hadn't done it in awhile.
Finding balance is hard for everybody and I think kind of takes a lifetime.
For me, I'm a really good listener and try to remain open to different types because I have a feeling I'll get something out of it no matter what it is.
But then, Doug's post on Brazil is going to make me very happy because I love that Brazlian shit. And I'll happily listen to it over and over.
But then, even there is something new, as I haven't quite got the whole politics of the place down. So that will be interesting to hear more.
Hi Cherry
I have been sort of working through this subject for 200 years... health and music. Or more pointedly... bat shit crazy and music. Many of the NAP people here know that my younger brother is incarcerated and that he suffers from paranoid delusional schizophrenia. Well, recently he asked me to send him some song lyrics. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Not simple. It's like handing over keys to Hell's garden... I am working on a piece (as in piece of shit thing to read) that deals with schizophrenia specifically and music, and will share it at some point with people here. There is this that I can contribute to your asking us what we think on the topic now.
In general, having music in your life is healthy.... Life is a fucked up bag, and music is the soundtrack. Edith Piaf and artillery fire.... Edith Piaf at a bedside awaiting the reaper, Edith Piaf during a first kiss or the birth of a child or any number of life's amazing events... Sound track... even if it does have the power to affect the outcome of the score. I need more coffee.
Obviously when you anyone about "health", people are all over the fucking place on it. I am working in a medical clinic in the Aleutians right now. Though playing Exodus "Atrocity Exhibition" full blast may be great for my health... it scares the shit out of visitors... and that's how I like it.. No not really... yeahr.. but no, but yeahr, but no.
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