Couple of years ago, during a span of just a few days, without any rhyme or reason, purely by accident, I found out that several people I knew were taking doctor prescribed antidepressants. I had not given it much thought before then, but ever since that time I began to pay attention to the avalanche of antidepressants advertisements on TV.
And then I began to think… If several people in my close circles were on happy pills, what about others? Is she taking? Is he? Are they? When I talked with someone I began to wonder whether I am interacting with the “real person”, or the “drug-induced” one.
I am not going to quote any statistics, but I would venture out to say that antidepressants are over-prescribed. We have become a society that is unable to cope with its feelings of grief, disappointment, and sadness. We resort to escapism. We numb ourselves with drugs (whether it be antidepressants, mindless TV, cyberspace, alcohol, or food) which leave us emotionally (dare I say) neutered.
So what does it have to do with music?
I interact with music students every day. Many of them have spent a number of years learning to play an instrument. They can play chromatic, pentatonic, melodic minor, and octatonic scales backwards, forwards, and up-side-down. They can play difficult pieces of music in the appropriate tempo with correct articulation and phrasing, and yet, there is no music in any of this. I merely observe mindless robots playing notes in the correct order. There is no emotion, no leaping of the soul, no charm, no adventure, and no passion.
Are these people sedated? Has anyone ever told them that they are allowed to feel? Do they know that it is every musician’s duty and their life’s mission to express their feelings through their performance? For goodness’ sake, stop this steady diet of corn mush, throw away your pills and play some music!
©2007 Dosia McKay
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Image of Joshua Bell from Baltimore Symphony Musicians
Now there’s a guy who plays with his heart, soul, and mind.
I thought about what you wrote and rings so true in a number of ways. First of all,
I noticed in myself that for me, photography brings an immediate anti depressant “medicine”.
When I’m creating something with my camera, I feel and think nothing else and this is good. The bad is that I get depressed often thinking to much about the world and other “stuff”.
I’m happiest when I’m with a camera, not even when I’m not actually “shooting” something, but when I’m on the hunt for a photograph or setting up a shot.
It’s weird…but true.
The down side is that like a “drug” when I’m not creating or nothing inspirational is happening, I get a little depressed and I need the “fix”(creating unique images).
I think that’s why I push myself all the time.
You know the picture you have of Bell, inside of me must “look” like he does playing, when I’m creating a photograph……
I believe there is a lot of commonality and connection between photography and music.
One can correlate the negative to the score and the print to the performance. …
Alan,
Very good comparison. I think that my blog indirectly stated that music is a drug! I think it can be.