This piece follows on from last week and looks at the relationship between musicians and mental health, the research surrounding playing or making music, and my own personal experience of this. There is growing research exploring the relationship between active music-making and psychological wellbeing. One large study involving 14,265 Danish musicians from mixed musical backgrounds found that men and women who engaged in active daily music-making were more likely to report go

Some suggest (not just me) that playing music can have a positive impact on mental health and emotional wellbeing, alongside it being a lifelong resource. By active engagement I mean playing, practising, rehearsing or any other form of being physically involved with a music-making process. The use of creativity and active engagement of music can also present a unique opportunity for musicians to emotionally soothe themselves and make meaning from psychological difficulties ex

I think that musicians may have a greater sensitivity to music, but perhaps that’s just my own bias! The relationship between musicians and sensitivity to music is an interesting one, but how or why do we use it? Again, most of the research surrounding this greater sensitivity to music is situated within the classical musician demographic. For example, one study suggested professional classical musicians experience a greater level of emotional arousal than amateur musicians o