Stress and Music

[nicolem333]

A La Jamaica Kincaid

Before:

I may not have my chapter letters yet, but I'm wearing a pan pipe pin above my heart. You ask why I'm wearing a pin and I say that I'm a member in training for a fraternity and you crinkle your eyebrows at the same time that your eyes widen and you break eye contact and start to fidget with the buttons on your shirt, or tug on the hem. You're judging me, I know it. Let me say who I am. I'm Nicole. Music is one of the most important things in my life; it's my escape and my passion. It's where I fit in. I also love to help people.

MUSIC MAKES PEOPLE FEEL GOOD.

SAI is an international music fraternity for women. Initiation is in 2 weeks.

After (1):

I don't have my letters yet but I can already feel you judging me. I have this pin pinned above my heart every day and you've noticed it. You've noticed that around this time of year, a lot of college students start wearing pins. You know that I'm in college, that I have freedoms that I didn't have when I lived at home. There are more *ahem* opportunities in college. What is going to happen when I get my letters - something that I'm incredibly excited about - what then?

You see me standing with an emblem across my body- not just across my body, but as a woman, a prominent part of my sex. You think of what society has taught you about people like me. Think of Legally Blonde, think of Animal House. You associate those ideals and practices with me even though you haven't even asked me what the letters stand for, what I stand for. You probably don't know that I've seen Legally Blonde the musical and that Elle's sisters are her best friends and her support group through thick and thin. They're like-minded women who strive to do the best for themselves. In many scenes, the sisters are the motivation for Elle to follow her dream. But you look at me and see a house of girls, all with an inclination to drink heavily and dress scantily. You don't give me a chance to say that Sigma Alpha Iota doesn't have a house. You don't let me explain that the fraternity that I've pledged is an international music service fraternity for women. Or that I'm 19 and I don't drink, nor do I have an overwhelming desire to do so. You're putting me in a box and making assumptions about my character and you haven't even come up to me yet. You're still just standing there staring at the Greek letters on my chest, trying to avoid eye contact.

After (2):

Tonight I was initiated into the Lambda Phi chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota at UMass Amherst with 10 of my, now, good friends. I am so excited to be a part of this wonderful organization which dedicates itself to peace and harmony, music, and music service. I have my chapter letters and I'm proud of them. I can't wait to show them off! :)

[nicolem333]

As one of my last required posts for the tumblr project, I think this is a very fitting statement. Musicians are musicians are musicians. If you don't put in the time, if you don't learn the music, beta blockers are only going to help you realize just how unprepared you actually are. Beta blockers aren't a substitute for hard work.

So get practicing!

[nicolem333]

Other Point of View

I briefly touched on it in my essay but I haven't brought it to the Tumblr-ing world yet. The other side of beta blocker use, another perspective, is that of those who view it as an equivalent to steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. With this view, beta blockers are a dependency relationship that alters the natural state of the musician to allow him or her to perform without jitters.

One article I read had a quote that read "if you need to take a drug to do your job, then get a new job." If you need a performance enhancer, then maybe you are in the wrong spot.

However, I can counter these arguments with other information. While I can look at this perspective and see a valid concern and argument, I can also say that beta blockers do not create a physical dependence. It is possible to have a psychological dependence, but strictly speaking, beta blockers will not cause dependence. Beta blockers also do not enhance performance FOR MUSICIANS. The drug is incapable of lending dexterity, musicality, technicality, or expression but it allows a performer to overcome an excessive physical reaction to stage fright in order to perform.

If a musician loves to perform, if they feel they were born to be a musician, a physical reaction is detrimental and completely not the fault of the possessor. Beta blockers can help! (When prescribed by a doctor after a full physical examination and taken infrequently in very small doses.)

[nicolem333]

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS

This blog project is really cool. I'm learning so much more about my classmates and about other topics and it's incredible. I'm still on the struggle bus with Tumblr, but we're trying to work our problems out.

Anyway, I'm going to talk about one of my classmate's blogs and why I'm interested in it. Just Keep Calm and (Cari) On. It's all about stress and anxiety in college, something that I deal with directly every day. I wake up in the morning and go, oh, shoot! I forgot to do that last night. When do I have time to get it done today? What instrument did I not practice enough? What events are there? Concerts? Life can be stressful; we're all aware of that. I think that also need to be aware of small things.

This blogger posted a list that she made of 75 things that make her happy. She reblogged posts from others who are concerned about the level of stress in college and I've found out that there are going to be therapy pets back at UMass for finals week. PET THERAPY!!! I also liked the memes that this blogger posted about anxiety because we all succumb to the same things. For example, thinking that skipping a class can help give us time to get caught up on work but in reality it makes us more stressed because we're then behind in that class and have to add that to the workload. It's a vicious cycle. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to get around stress, to alleviate it, and that's what I'm looking for. That's what a lot of people are looking for. I know my outlets, whether or not I always want to get off the internet and go for a run is a day-to-day thing, but I know that it will calm me down. Just knowing these things about myself helps to de-stress. We have to understand our own anxiety and stress as well as ourselves in order to overcome the debilitating couch-potato-ness caused by a heavy workload.

[nicolem333]

I really have no ideas of what to write for this. The issue that I researched is still very underground. One of the articles I read (I can't remember which) equated using beta blockers to using Viagra, people use it but no one wants to own up to it. I can't think of any singular event in which beta blockers and classical musicians would come into contact with the general population. Beta blockers are typically used for auditioning purposes, to decrease the physical manifestations of stage fright to allow the musician to audition without the trembling, dry mouth, shaking hands, and foggy mind. Beta blockers are not typically used for performance, so an event would not necessarily cater to the purpose of this post.

[coconutlimeverbena]

Don’t ever compliment me by insulting other women. That’s not a compliment, it’s a competition none of us agreed to.

jaythenerdkid (via escapedgoat)

I'm going to call this my "changed my perspective" post because I have something to say about this. I have a lot of guy friends that think that in order to boost a woman's self esteem, or to talk about women in general, they need to compare. It isn't fair to either party, especially when men comparing real women to the women in magazines, to the women on tv. That's an unattainable perfection that not even the model can achieve. Our social media gives women competition against perfection and it's impossible. We didn't agree to perfection. We didn't agree to competition. Women want to be themselves. Speaking for myself, I don't want to be complimented by being compared to another woman. I'm not perfect. There's always going to be something another woman is better at; sure, I have my strengths, but I'm not good at everything. By complimenting me and, in that, comparing me, I'm always going to fall short in some aspect. If someone wants to compliment me, compliment ME, not something that I do better than someone else. If you feel the need to compare me to someone else in order to give me a compliment, then you don't know me well enough to know who I am as a person and you don't even know your reason for complimenting me. You're complimenting something I am, as well as something I am not, by comparing me to another woman. Appreciate me for me.

I think that more guys need to hear things like this. Removing objectification and treating us as individuals worthy of the praise that they're trying to give, that's how it should work.

[nicolem333]

I've gone on for a while about beta blockers and how beneficial they can be when used properly, so how about this for the opposite. The opposite of beta blockers is a blob of wobbly mess, accurately named Mr. Nervous.

[nicolem333]

The 42 Best Signs From The Boston Marathon

"We're back!"

As my random post, I'd like to look at all these wonderful signs for the Boston Marathon. The bombings were very close to home and I took part in a touching tribute to the survivors, victims, first responders, and everyone else affected this past weekend. These signs made me smile.

[nicolem333]

Hey! Look at what I did! Some of our presidents were involved in music. I knew Bill Clinton played the saxophone but didn't know about many of the others. Good thing for musicians, instruments aren't affiliated with any political organizations! :D

[nicolem333]

I'm running out of ideas. So, here we go. Make of this what you will.

[nicolem333]

Remix It Again!

Unit 1 Remix!

Hi! I'm Nicole. I've realized, through Greg's class, just how much my social context has defined who I am and how I view the world. I'm shaped by my world as a New Englander, as an Eastern Massachusetts-er. I'm a boater. I'm an athlete. I'm a thrower. I'm a sprinter. I'm a musician. I'm a singer. I'm a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend, a cousin. I'm a lefty. I'm a college student. I'm an honors student. I'm a knitter. I'm a crocheter. I'm a driver. I'm a photographer. I'm a cat-lover. I'm a reader. I'm a writer. I'm a girl. I'm a friend. I'm a listener. I'm a talker. I'm someone who loves the ocean. I'm someone who loves quiet. I'm someone who loves my friends. I'm a movie-watcher. I'm a music-listener. I'm me.

[nicolem333]

Classical Musicians Turning to Drugs Like Beta Blockers to Treat Anxiety and Boost Performance

Musicians experiencing performance jitters is nothing new. Some musicians feel that a little performance anxiety actually makes for a more exciting performance. But those who experience debilitating forms of anxiety often turn to medications like beta blockers to calm their nerves, as public radio station WQXR reported recently.

Maybe some people are predisposed to extreme stage fright. Maybe as many as 1 in 5 people. That's a lot. So maybe we should all be more aware of that. Beta blockers, when used correctly, are a helpful tool, not a dependence mechanism or a sign of weakness. They're for people who are able to admit that they have a great likelihood of excessive physical reaction.

If you're skeptical, walk a mile in their shoes. Better yet, play a performance in their shoes. I dare you.

[nicolem333]

Well, I have no idea how to find out whether this has been talked about on Tumblr before, so I'm going to say that it probably has. People find things like this funny (like meeeeeee) so it's probably been talked about. And I don't know how to find it on Tumblr because I don't know how to use Tumblr.

Anyway, about my topic. Musicians - unless they are using beta blockers for heart problems - should not be taking beta blockers regularly. This cat- who's on the phone (this is funny because cats can't use phones. Or talk.) - is asking for quite a few beta blockers. However, this is a mistake. Musicians should take beta blockers infrequently about an hour before an audition, recital, or incredibly stressful performance as opposed to every day for small stressors.

[nadinemd]

I just thought you all could use a little nature pick me up! When ever I’m stressed or am missing being outside I look at pictures like these. These pictures are pretty and give you even more reason to appreciate nature! Seeing things like this should make you appreciate and want to preserve nature! All of these pictures came from of my favorite blogs called the-three-trees. http://the-three-trees.tumblr.com/ CHECK IT OUT

[nicolem333]

"whenever I'm stressed...I look at pictures like these." I'm including stress reduction, so here's a good place to start. Nature. Comfort. If nothing else can calm you down, a walk outside, a seat by the window, a picture on the internet can transport you even more effectively that self-medication can.

[nicolem333]

The Stars and Stripes Forever - Official [HD]

The United States Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus perform John Philip Sousa's most famous march, The Stars and Stripes Forever. http://www.armyfieldband...

Again, I'm getting away from my topic and turning into all encompassing music things, but I'm okay with that. Topic deviance is necessary in this case unless you want me to be sarcastic and medicinal. Which no one wants to hear...read. You get it.

Anyway, of all the flautists I've talked to, this particular solo (in this performance there are 5 people playing it) is terrifying. Everyone knows the Sousa march the Stars and Stripes Forever. If you're from the east coast, you've heard the Pops play it on the Fourth of July with the fireworks going and people cheering and it's all crazy fun. But, because everyone knows it, it means that there is that much more pressure to perform it correctly with nuance and with correct pitches and rhythms and everything. It's a tricky thing, although these performers don't look fazed.

[nicolem333]

Remix #2

So, I can't remember exactly how I phrased it, but I'm going to redo my generative writing for the audiences.

She is a teenage girl, early high school, with long red hair and brown eyes. She is average height and average weight. Average all around, really. She is not quiet, she is not loud. She listens closely and interprets but does not spend much time voicing her thoughts, preferring instead to write them. She likes natural sciences and taking pictures. She lives with her parents and her younger brother and a pet dog. She is uninterested in the affairs of the world because they make her feel small and insignificant and she dislikes feeling as such. She appreciates music but has no great skill at it.

[nicolem333]

You know, I've seen a lot of methods for stress reduction, and this doesn't really seem to be a good choice. If you think it is, maybe you should take a nap and we can talk later, when you're calmer. I think that a lot of my paper is turning into stress reduction because a lot of other beta blocker information is about the medical side of it, when the drugs are used for cardiovascular complications. And the classical musician side of it, well I could go on forever about classical music, musicians, stereotypes, jokes. But this is more helpful a route- stress reduction. Because that's where a lot of the problems stem from, those who take beta blockers. They're stressed out and their body freaks out when that happens. Stress reduction is important, so working on calming stress is a good tie in to my topic.