Music and Mental Health... A Reminder
Some of you may know that in addition to being a therapist, I’m also a musician. This is my cello. I’ve owned it since my senior year of high school - 1998.
I recently took it in to get a couple upgrades and some routine maintenance. While at the shop, my luthier was surprised to find out that the cello needed some extra attention.
One thing that makes stringed instruments like the violin and the cello so cool is that while they need to be built, repaired, and played with nuance, skill, and subtlety, there are some really simple guiding principles at work.
Case in point… my fingerboard.
The fingerboard is similar to the fretboard of a guitar, but without the helpful markers telling us where the notes are. Typically made from ebony, sometimes rosewood, it’s a hard piece of wood that needs to take a beating but remain responsive. While it may not seem like it, wood is actually a dynamic material, contracting and expanding with changes in humidity, temperature, and the regular stresses of music making. The fingerboard is typically glued on with hide glue, creating a durable but flexible hold that will allow the fingerboard to come loose or detach if too much shifting around happens somewhere else on the instrument. It’s one of a few “break points” designed to come apart on string instruments in order to prevent bigger problems that are more damaging to foundational and structural parts of the instruments.
My luthier Derek discovered that my fingerboard was excessively warped, and recommended a replacement, to which I enthusiastically agreed. While trying to take off the old fingerboard he discovered that at some point it had been attached with wood glue, and it had affixed to the neck so strongly that it was impossible to take it off without sanding and cutting. The fingerboard had warped and fused with the neck, ultimately warping the neck as well.
What did I take away from this?
Nothing and no one exists in a vacuum. We have to acknowledge the influence of our environment. My cello has continued to adapt to different environments throughout the years. Because the fingerboard was glued too tightly, it couldn't move the way it was supposed to, and this impacted the rest of the instrument. People are like these sensitive instruments, more or less, and we are often affected by our environments. It doesn't do much good to pretend that we're not or to try and be stoic and unyielding.
There are ways to relieve stress that are more helpful and less damaging than others. If the fingerboard on my cello was glued on correctly, it would have been able to move, and perhaps fall off. This would have prevented long term damage. In the same way, we can look to healthy coping skills to address problems as they arise, when they're smaller, and more manageable.
Now that I have my cello back and repaired, it's playing better than ever. It took awhile to get used to the new correct set up. This reminded me that it can be all too easy to fall into harmful patterns or get used to unhealthy situations. But, we are resilient, and when we address problems and challenges, we can find ourselves doing better than ever.
What's So Special About September?
September 10, 2023
I realized recently that this is the first year since 2002 (and that was only a one year hiatus) that I’m not beholden to the academic calendar. In my previous professional life, I was a music teacher for fifteen years. The fall was always the start of something new - planning out the lessons and performances for the upcoming year, introducing students to new instruments, new music, and as many new experiences as possible. Fall meant meeting new colleagues, meeting new students, meeting their families. A new beginning, a fresh start, full of hope and excitement. I left teaching in 2020, but was deep in grad school for several more years, following the familiar schedule of academic life, planning around classes, papers, and internship.
And now that I realize that familiar rhythm is absent from my life, I ask myself what does September look like without school to plan around?
The short answer is that I’ll never really not have reminders of school present in my life. I work with a lot of college students helping them navigate the various challenges of their own return to school, to the start of a new semester. I work with school teachers and administrators helping them plan and respond to the mental health demands placed upon them and their students. I work with parents who find themselves adjusting to new schedules brought on by the start of the school year, trying to figure out how to get their children where they need to be while making sure to attend as many of the back to school parent meetings, orientations, games, and practices as possible. I work with music ensembles, many of their own schedules based on the traditional academic calendar, coming back to rehearsals, learning new and healthier ways to work together.
For many of us, even without the personal connections to school, we find something pulling at us this time of year. A memory, a nostalgia, that tells us something new is coming, change is possible, we can restart if we want. After a long hot summer, it’s exciting to create a different structure, find a different speed, and a new focus.
During my teaching days, I did a lot of “backwards planning”. That meant envisioning a goal (it was usually a performance of some kind), and then working through the steps, the knowledge, and other resources needed to support my vision of success. This seems like a good season to bring back this practice. With the holiday season and end of 2023 quickly approaching, it’s a good time to ask ourselves where we want to be, what we want to have achieved, and how we want to feel throughout this process.
I’m excited to jump into this process personally, and with clients. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out, and check the Resources and Upcoming Events pages which I’ll be updating frequently.
Here’s to a September that provides us with the opportunities we need.
Take care,
Rebecca
What's in a name?
August 24th, 2023
Naming a business is a daunting task. You’re supposed to create something catchy, something unique, something that tells a story, something that states what your business does. Something that’s not already in use or copyrighted. When you’re trying to name a business that specializes in mental health, the checklist now needs to include a name that’s calming, soothing, and hints at the benefits of internal work without scaring away potential clients by acknowledging the hard work of therapy. I guess that’s why you don’t come across too many practices with names like Cry It Out, LLC, or You Can’t Avoid Your Feelings Forever.
I chose the name Tune In for several reasons. It works in both a mental health and a musical context. To tune in can mean making time and space and seeking knowledge and guidance to help you get to know yourself better, at a deeper level. It may mean taking time to assess relationships in your life, or look for unhealthy patterns or behaviors to address. It can refer to the detailed level at which musicians have to work on perfecting their craft through improved intonation, technique, or ensemble skills. For some of us, it can mean all of this at once.
During the last several years, while in graduate school, training to be a counselor, I did a lot of work to know and understand myself better. Classes, consultations, internship, trainings, workshops, and my own therapy helped me on my personal journey with mental health. I also reevaluated my relationship with music, took time to heal past traumas, evaluate my strengths and areas for growth, and develop new goals that are meaningful to me, and not based on outdated standards and the toxic culture that was rampant throughout much of my musical education.
Part of my ongoing personal, professional, and musical growth is finding a more holistic and inclusive approach to life. This includes finding ways to share what I’ve learned with members of the communities I inhabit - educators, musicians, neurodivergent people, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Working with the clients of Tune In allows me to help others, and also reminds me to stay focused, grounded, and to keep tuning in to who I am and where I’m going.
Thanks for tuning in.
Rebecca