Creative Genius

There’s a fair correlation between musical success and mental eccentricity. Axl Rose, Nick Drake, and Fiona Apple are classic anguished musicians, but there are other examples of persons less tortured who simply seem to see things that the rest of us don’t. Tom Waits, Jack White, Leonard Cohen, the list goes on.

I think all of us would expect that a visit to any musical higher education establishment would reveal a wide assortment of genius and vibrant mental individuality.

This weekend, after extended guitar practice, I had an idea. Perhaps it isn’t necessarily a uniquely wired brain that triggers musical majesty, but instead the study of music that gives rise to mental peculiarities.

Music practice is an odd bird. The thousands upon thousands of hours of excessive repetition, competition, self-criticism, and solidarity associated with a day of practice might tip the scales away from psychological normalcy. Or, at a minimum, generate an odd atmosphere for child development.

I’m not saying this situation is unhealthy, just distinctive. I would love to hear comments from the professional musicians amongst us. Alicia? Sarah T? what do you think?

Do you feel that your music practice changed your personalities? Or perhaps your unique personalities made you successful within the arts?

8 thoughts on “Creative Genius

  • 12/14/2009 at 4:08 pm
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    What an interesting post! I’ve definitely improved musically as a result of working through my life issues over the years, so in that way my mental state has affected music and not vice versa. I’d imagine there are plenty of famous rockers who’ve cleaned up drug habits (which I’ve definitely never had) and other problems during their lives, and I doubt they became worse musicians in the process.

    I’ve always been good at extended quiet, focused studying, so practicing hasn’t changed me much, but performing has. Even more than that, the way in which we collaborate has forced me to become infinitely more patient and self-confident. It’s one thing to have someone say that they disagree with how you solved a math problem, and an entirely different thing to have a colleague tell you that they disagree with the way you played something expressive, or to screw up in front of a thousand people.

    I’ve tried to switch to pretty much every other job there is (including politics, urban planning, law, medicine, customer service, writing, grantwriting, acting, and elementary school teaching) and nothing else made me as happy. My aptitude tests always have musician in the top few options for me too, so I’m sure there’s something to be said for certain personalities just being inclined this way. The lack of security stinks, though, so maybe you have to be at least a little off to want to live this way!

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  • 12/15/2009 at 9:59 am
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    Ben and I had a great conversation about this topic. In brief, Ben commented that he was one who believed in innate skill, but that dedication and relentless practice were the meat and potatoes of success. Perhaps, Ben wondered, it’s the ability to find enjoyment in the practice that is a key to future musical might.

    Ben came up with another great comment:

    “i’ve always wondered why drugs and music go together, but drugs and investment banking don’t… in pop culture anyway”

    Thought provoking!

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  • 12/15/2009 at 11:54 am
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    I think a great deal of the culture is just social acceptability. It is generally regarded as ok for musicians to do drugs, so they do and they talk about it. It is not socially acceptable for lets say Engineers to do drugs, if you talked about doing drugs openly and managment found out about it, it’s a fast ticket to getting fired.

    I think it’s hard to tease out whether musicians are more eccentric, or if it’s just regarded by society that it’s ok (and that it is expected of them) to be more eccentric. Although this is my completely non-musician opinion!

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  • 12/15/2009 at 4:01 pm
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    Drugs + music are ok because musicians can’t ruin our economy.

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  • 12/15/2009 at 6:37 pm
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    Plenty of engineers do drugs. Plenty of musicians don’t. Plenty of lawyers are eccentric. Plenty of musicians aren’t. Sure, some child musicians practice their lives away. But kid math, chess, and gymnastics prodigies do, too. So I guess what I’m saying is that your post makes musicians out to be this grand eccentric population, but actually, everyone on the planet is weird. Ta da!!!!

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  • 12/16/2009 at 10:27 am
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    A good point. Perhaps the real question is whether a prodigy of any field is more likely to be eccentric because of their studies, or whether someone who is eccentric is more likely to become a prodigy.

    Or maybe there’s no correlation at all between success and eccentricity.

    My original thought was derived from a strange feeling after some excessive guitar practice. I felt like I had accomplished a lot, but felt a little depressed from lack of social contact. Just my personal observation.

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  • 12/16/2009 at 11:16 am
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    I generally feel reinvigorated by the alone time spent concentrating when I practice. Do you feel that way if you spend an evening reading by yourself, or is it just the practicing? I find them to be similar tasks for me.

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  • 12/16/2009 at 11:43 am
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    This is a good comparison. I would agree that the two feel similar.

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