| Author |
Subject |
Lucy
Clifford
Registered User
(4/18/01 4:19:06 am)
Reply |
Here it
is: Why Pro-musicians go Pro....
Finally I've found out why we put
ourselves through years of pain, heat, cold, misery, penury,
tinnitus, bruised nerves and audition stress 
A
recent study has shown this:
Two musicians of equal (and
admirable) ability finnish their schooling (ie at 17). One goes to
Oxford and reads law, the other starts a music degree.
Why?
Apparently the desire, nay, compulsion, to become a
(professional) musician is caused by some deep and profound
emotional trauma, suffered at some time during a person's life,
mainly between the ages of 5 and 15.
The pain caused by this
trauma is very intense, and of course needs to be alleviated in some
way. Due to personality type, or whatever, the only way a certain
type of person can achieve this is though playing music.
Why, not writing poetry, or composing, I hear you ask? No!
It is something to do with people who have suffered this particular
problem being able to express their emotion through the catalyst of
another person's feelings (ie those of the composer). Our own
suffering puts us more 'in tune' with identifying and expressing the
emotions of another person, even one who has been dead for 200
years.
It is, in short, a form of masochism
So, the
five years of college, thousands of hours of practice, hundreds of
lessons, rounds of auditions, suffering, rejection and the odd happy
occasion when a performance goes well, putting up with insane,
sadistic, incompetent 'beat managers' et al. It is all caused by
something dreadful which happened to us.
The desire to be a
musician is a compulsion.
You'll remember all those people
with whom you were at school who were damned good players, better
indeed that some of us, but who went to do law, or medicine, or
physics or education....they were normal happy people, now normal
happy amatuers who actually play for pleasure, while the rest of us
only play as a carthatic experience
I'll
try and get the actual article from my husband, and type it out on
the board for you all to enjoy. I wonder what motivates conductors
to be conductors.
In the meantime, what was YOUR
trauma?
|
jdacheetah
Registered User
(4/18/01 5:50:05 am)
Reply |
Re.:
Here it is: Why Pro-musicians go Pro....
The reason I started playing guitar
at age 12 was because my father played bass guitar. After leaving in
my early in my childhood, I thought that perhaps I would be more
noticeable to him if I could play music too. I guess you could say I
was pursuing a link of communication, which we never had.
Well...unfortunately, my plan didn't work. Luckily though, music
stuck around and I've used it to express myself all these years. I
don't what I would have done without it.
I find that the
hypothesis of trauma/self expression/art to be a viable one. Seldom
have I ever met a musician who didn't have something deep that they
wanted to express. Sometimes words just aren't enough. 
Jeremy
|
Paul
Tseng ICS Staff 
Administrator
(4/18/01 12:14:37 pm)
Reply
 |
very
interesting
At first I was inclined to disagree
with this theory, but then I thought about it. I did suffer some
emotional trauma during those years.
Of course, I loved music
very much from the beginning (ages 14 and up) but during those years
certain events caused me to withdraw from my "ordinary" social
settings and seek refuge in other people like me (music students).
Having that social setting empowered me emotionally (if not a bit
unhealthily) and gave me a very strong, yet artificial, sense of
self confidence and self worth. All I'm saying is that it carried me
through some difficult years though it was merely a temporary
fix.
Ultimately, I turned back to my faith in God as a
believer in Jesus and found my true sense of significance and worth
as well as how everything in my life fits together (re: music,
computer career, parenthood, marriage, family, friendships, etc.) I
don't think ever been more stable.
Lucy, I'd be very
interested to see that article in its entirety.
Thanks! 
Paul Tseng
My Website
Alexander's website
Free Cello Music!
|
zambocello
Registered User
(4/19/01 1:21:30 am)
Reply |
I must
be repressing my trauma.
I can't for the life of me think of
what it is. And all this time I thought I decided to concentrate on
music because I suspected I wasn't major-league calibre as a
baseball player!
I'm curious to see the article. I'm willing
to let my skepticism be overcome by a convincing argument.
|
Lucy
Clifford
Registered User
(4/19/01 2:22:38 am)
Reply |
Re: I
must be repressing my trauma.
Maybe it was the trauma of realising
that you would never be major-league calibre?
It is a
horrifyingly long article, so my husband and I are trying to find a
reference on the 'net, so we can provide you with a link, or, he
might try to persuade the music librarian to email it to us, so that
we can cut and paste it onto CelloChat. This is a test of our
hitherto limited IT powers!
|
drcello
Registered User
(4/19/01 6:40:45 am)
Reply | Edit |
a more
wide-ranging truth...
Rather than, "those with youthful
trauma go into music professionally and do well at it," it would be
truer to say that "those with youthful trauma are often driven to
become successful at whatever they choose to do." People with
wonderful peaceful childhoods aften lack the compulsion that leads
to "success" in every area of life. But how do you define "success?"
The world defines it as money and power and fame. I define it as
peace and satisfaction with whatever you are and do. Best to all,
drcello
Marshall C. St. John
drcello@vei.net
Cello Heaven
|
DoDahlberg
Moderator
(4/19/01 7:47:02 am)
Reply |
wider
yet...
"People with wonderful peaceful
childhoods aften lack the compulsion that leads to "success" in
every area of life."
Many of the people you speak of possess
ambition and achieve eventual success but in less riskier,
introspective careers than in the arts. Developing an artistic
personality may not have been necessary, while for others music,
art, writing created insulation from their circumstances.
Participation in the arts is cathartic as well.
Dorie
|
mcello
Registered User
(4/19/01 9:11:45 am)
Reply |
your
article is interesting
My husband thinks that my problem
was that I'm the ultimate 1st born--1st born child, 1st born
grandchild, on both sides of the family, etc. He basically thinks
I'm high maintanance because of all that attention I received as a
very young child! Maybe my trauma was the births of my 4 younger
siblings, and numerous cousins.
 I think its
funny that I've always suffered with a very low self-esteem, and
though musically sometimes, I think we have egos that have to come
out to protect us from those moments and feelings of rejection when
things don't the way we want them to. I agree with Paul that it is
faith that keeps us where we should be and trust that all will be
well, no matter the circumstances.
|
bridge
Registered
User
(4/19/01 9:32:56 am)
Reply |
Re: I
must be repressing my trauma.
If you want to photocopy it, I can
scan it at work and post it that way. You'd have to mail it to me
via snail mail. If you e-mail me by clicking on my username "bridge"
I'll send you my address via e-mail.
|
zambocello
Registered User
(4/20/01 7:02:28 pm)
Reply |
Can you
cite the article for us?
|
music
Registered User
(4/20/01 10:03:15 pm)
Reply |
Re:
Here it is: Why Pro-musicians go Pro....
There seems to be some truth to it.
I probably would have never started the cello. Throughout high
school, I used the cello as a "stress reliever." Later it became a
source of inspiration for me to play the cello.
|
Sasha
A M
Registered
User
(4/21/01 12:53:16 pm)
Reply |
no
trauma needed!!!
hello!
i think there is two
kinds of us professional musicians.
there are those who might
have suffered something like a trauma of childhood, feel that they
need to prove something by becoming professionals etc
etc...
ok, those people, in my opinion, are those who distort
music, make it serve their needs and who do not serve music. most
"celebrated" conductors for example are of this sort (bernstein,
karajan) and many soloists (glenn gould for example). they dont give
a damn about the composer, but take every opportunity to show off
with the music.
then there is the other kind, who feel deeply
for the music and want to live their whole lives with (classical)
music. they dont need any special traumatization to become good
professionals. they want to communicate the emotions, hinted by the
composer, to those who listen. they are humble enough to put the
composer first and serve the music. a good historical example of
this kind is felix mendelssohn-bartholdy.
of course one can
start with the trauma and later become a really good musician - but
for me ego-tripping on the podium is not music making, however
talented the person might be...
sasha
|
Martine
M 
Registered User
(4/22/01 2:22:36 am)
Reply |
don't
understand
If you mean that someone who
plays to deal with a trauma is an ego-tripper and doesn't feel music
deeply :s, I disagree.
I think that a trauma even can make
people more sensitive and that helps to feel the music (perhaps even
to feel Schumann's pain).
If you mend something else,
consider this as not written (English is hard for me, but this board
helps a lot )
!!!
xxx Martine.
|
Tracie
Price 
Registered
User
(4/22/01 9:00:12 pm)
Reply |
Re: no
trauma needed!!!
Ego tripping musicians ARE very
annoying.
However, suffering some trauma doesn't make someone
into an egomaniac. That is not a very good generalization in my
opinion.
I don't know about this article Lucy writes of,
it's an interesting concept.
However, along a similar vein, I
think enduring various forms of suffering that we humans go through,
does deepen our abilities... hmm... I'm not sure how to say what I
mean... deepen our abilities to understand a wide range of emotion.
For example, when Beethoven wrote joyful music, it was
REALLY joyful. I always feel like he had so much pain in his life,
that when he experienced joy it really meant something. And when he
wrote joyful music, it has a quality that goes beyond other music
that I would describe as happy. (Incidentally, I like to classify
all music in one of two categories: "Happy" and "Not So Happy" but
that's another story.) To me Beethoven's musical expressions of joy
are imbued with a life of their own, which I don't think would be
the same if he had lived a cheery, untraumatic life.
I think
as musicians we are actors and that if we have no basis for
understanding a certain emotion that a conductor portrays in music,
that it is more difficult for us to understand and bring that
emotion across to the listener. However, I don't believe this means
in order to be a good musician you have to have suffered some awful
thing in your past. I just think that all our experiences serve to
expand our artistic palattes. I'm sure that each different person
has his/her own way of bringing life to a work of music. I tend to
delve inwardly and try to feel the emotion within the work (as I see
it)- perhaps not unlike method acting. I try to become angry when
the music is, and happy or mournful or whatever when the music is.
(with varying degrees of success) I think this is why often times
you will hear about a prodigy's expression being musically flat.
Perhaps the person doesn't have enough life experience yet to
relate.
Just my own unscientific theories.
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