Thank you all so much for the kind comments and for sharing all your stories. Also, we wanted to make a small correction. It's easy to become psychologically reliant on beta blockers, but they're not physically addictive. Thanks a lot to those who pointed this out in the comments!

You two are much appreciated & I am sending you both Blessings ✨✨✨

Thanks for saying that. I am an amateur musician and composer, and I also have a prolapsed mitral valve and a genetic typo that gives me cholesterol levels that would stun a moose and are impervious to dietary changes. I take beta blockers because I have to, and it galls me to constantly hear about how it deadens the soul, prevents people from meaningfully connecting with audiences, kills your inspiration, etc. etc. etc. etc. If classical music is only for the physically and psychologically perfect, then what good is it?

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! You are both very generous! 🤗🇨🇷

@littlecloudflower You're welcome. Showing musicians how they already love themselves and others helps in creating a more healthful atmosphere in which we act. Trying to get us to recognize this after our spending hours upon hours daily finding fault with what we do is cathartic.

Thank you for you guys talking about it. As a musician and a first year uni student now, I feel frustrated and kind of depressed of not knowing what I am doing and how can I be better as in both music and studies. I haven't been to my uni and music centre due to the pandemic for this whole year, so I am having my instrument and uni lessons through online platforms. And I basically learnt nothing. I feel like wasting the time and don't know what to do,and depressed of getting no improvements in music and academic studies.

I just want to say: Thank you for this video. Thank you, a lot!

Vunerability is power!

This helped so much. Love you guys so much. So much opened up in this video I want to highlight for stigma destruction on so many fronts

I wish for all parents of music undergrads to watch this video.

Now I think I finally understand why Tchaikovsky killed himself

thank you for sharing guys. this video is extremely valuable

Fantastic video, thank you. It reminded me a lot of a great book about performance anxiety and musical freedom in general: A Soprano on Her Head. Not sure if it’s still in print but it’s brilliant.

I pinched a nerve in my arm and paralyzed my arm and couldn't play for a month . Not being able to practice really crapped on myself worth.

Excellent video! Thank you for talking and being open about this. There's sort of a paradox when pursuing a musical career. You begin the journey with music because you love it and you are passionate about playing it/making it. You want to get better, so you study more to become more proficient. But there's a threshold when the initial spontaneous musical love stars to fade and it's replaced by technique, strictness, methods, structure, routine, premeditation, self-consciousness, frustration, anxiety, panic, shame. You become too focus on perfection, harmonies, mistakes and technicalities instead of just... enjoying it. Don't get me wrong; structure and technicalities are good, but you can easily get sucked into the other extreme and having to stop it all for your own health and sanity. So you become a musician because you love it, but too much into music can make you kill this love.

Really important video, guys. Thanks for opening up. Just one q: the intro background music was SO AWESOME that continuously distracted me from listening. What is that track???

''if you work for the reasons of insecurity, there is going to be a price to be paid later'' beautifully said. In psychiatry we see time and time again that the emotions we bottle up, tend to find a way to emerge later. Be it through many small streams of bitterness, passive-agressiveness, bullying or one big emotional breakdown, this is something we can't escape. To everyone practicing hard in a stress-filled competitive environment, or anyone in general, don't deny or avoid your emotions and your emotional needs. What good is to be at the top of your field being controlled by someone else's desire? Do it for your own sake and get help to have a healthy relationship with work and yourself.

I only recently started playing the piano again after years of avoidance due to suffering from insanely debilitating Bipolar disorder. This year, I realised if I didn't play, I am letting the illness get the better of me. No matter what, never stop playing. Music gives us joy, even when we're frustrated and composers laugh at us from the grave.

I’m honestly at the burnout point at the moment.😭

Thank you so so much for this video! I've only been playing violin for three years, and so it's great to know about this. Thanks twoset for bringing awareness to this subject!!!

Truly healing ❤️ Thank you so much for sharing something so important like this.

Oooohh so that's what happened to me too! I experienced a very annoying pain on my right leg one day, the next day my other leg was hurting too, the following day me arm was also hurting but I kept pushing and doing my everyday activities trying to ignore the pain telling myself that it was do to overworking myself on P. E. Class... It came to the point that I couldn't move for 4 months, I even lost my balance and I resigned myself that I would live bedridden. I went to physiologist, shrinks, neoroligist and did every medical test imaginable the only thing that didn't hurt was talking, anyways once I eventually started to move the neurologist said that it was a betrayal from the brain where my body experience pain but I kept pushing through it that the command to feel pain and that somehow led to my body loosing balance at the moment of moving.... I'm soooo glad to know I'm not the only one who experienced that because while my parents where very concerned about my health there were a lot of people who said I did that just to gain attention or to not attend school. Thanks for sharing your experiences guys!

watching this almost made me cry, but I held it in. my family is very music-oriented and they encourage us to play musical instruments. but when I got this new violin teacher (after 2 of them failed to teach me properly lmao), he started to put me down and not encourage me enough to appreciate my playing. my mum, who is a VERY strong example of this, did not see this and thought that I just lost my interest simply because I was scared of the teacher and did not understand anything he was saying (this is because he has a strong Russian accent). but really, it was because he kept on telling me to improve on all these things that it made me lose all the joy and happiness I had for the violin, which really sucks because I loved the instrument since I was very small, but I never got to play it until I was 9. from this point on, I stopped practicing regularly and eventually lost all the joy I used to feel. before I even knew, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in the middle of 2019, due to many factors with my music lessons included. everyone still believes that I’m now okay, and while I do feel a lot happier than before, I still have this lonely and dark feeling that carries me throughout my life. but I’m continuously trying to get better and hope that this doesn’t drag on for my entire life 😅

also to add on, recently my mother asked if I wanted to do violin lessons, except this time it wasn’t classical but Karnatic (indian/eastern way of playing violin I can’t rlly explain it well haha), but I refused because I still was not confident in playing the violin and had no strength to pick it up because I was still recovering. My mum didn’t take my answer and instead went with it, to which me and her had a fight about it, because at that point I lost all interest in violin and didn’t want to play it again. a few days ago, we had the first lesson and I hated every part of it, because I kept on stressing over each stroke I made with my bow, but also I had strong cramps in my legs because of the sitting position we sit on (we sit on the floor playing the violin, with the scroll resting on the sides of our feet). I was getting continuously frustrated because the teacher was going so fast and I was on the verge of crying. my mum didn’t help, seeing as she was next to me and said ‘no it’s this way’ or ‘no wrong note’, AS IF SHE KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT VIOLIN. eventually I asked my mum to quit the lessons and she finally agreed. mission sort of accomplished?

I heard that many professional musicians develop a great nervousness and fear of making mistakes during concerts. And thus they start using medication and drugs and become addicted. Can you maybe talk about this, too? It seems to be a taboe, but i would like to hear more about...

Thank you so much for making this video. It's so brave of you, and it will help so many people. Given that 6.8% of the general population struggle with social anxiety, I'm astounded (but probably shouldn't be) that 33% of orchestral musicians struggle with it. This is something I myself (piano teacher) have struggled with a lot. Not being in a normal workplace where you are interacting with an ever changing pool of clients makes it get worse with age, as you can feel that your social skills are off, which only makes you more neurotic about it. I tried to push through it and was teaching piano at two schools plus from home, and my body literally broke down from the strain. Hand pain, forearm pain, bad cervical radiculopathy, a twitching eye...I've cut back a LOT, but am still recovering. For anyone reading this comment who is struggling with this, I have to say, try to increase how much you're socialising, even if it's something small like an online conversation with someone you haven't talked to in a while. Don't go big and force yourself to do stuff way out of your comfort zone, as if it goes badly it will make you spiral down further, but try to make yourself catch up with someone for a walk, or hang out with someone doing something zero pressure, like watching tv. Small wins will help get you back to a more stable place. Seymour Bernstein has spoken about how he believes musicians don't cope well with the social world because in music everything is in perfect order, but interacting with people is chaotic and unpredictable. That makes sense really....musicians become obsessed with getting everything "perfect," - the perfect first note, perfect articulation, dynamics, expression etc, but in interacting with people you are improvising. Things won't always go perfectly, not even with the most socially ept person, let alone someone who isn't getting enough practice at conversing. Also, due to a lot of practice at listening closely, we notice changes in tone more acutely than other people, which can also lead to more overthinking, which isn't helpful.

The sustained concentration constantly required in classical music does really seem different than most other demanding disciplines. Excellence in any field has its own special demands, but that one aspect of sustained concentration without more frequent breathers in between, appears unimaginably stressful to me. Pressure must be incredible. I’m used to revving up to concentration up for a minute at a time, with long cool downs in between.

Thank you for the openness and vulnerability; it helps to just hear and not feel alone. I didn't make it through uni and lived with that sense of failure. It's been 17 years and sitting at the piano is still tinged with resentment, while it used to be pure fun and spontaneity before. Ironically, the last time I was able to let go and just play was accompanying a pop singer friend...

So, I don't know if you will ever read this, but I wanted to say thank you. I come from a third-world country with limited access to certain things. This includes classical music. I started learning to play the violin at the age of 9 and loved it so much that I wanted to continue studying classical music after high school. Almost 11 years ago, I went to university intending to pursue a double major. One of those majors was in music. I assumed that university would be a perfect place to grow as a musician. I was right, but only to an extent. You see, I learned that (as the professor would word it) "my skills were so poor, there was no way I could ever be considered as a music major". I came to realize that for the 9 years I spent learning the instrument, my teacher had not been a very good one. There were skills and information I should have learned that I never did. My level at the time was comparatively low for a college musician. I never blamed the university for this. If I had a better-trained teacher growing up, I wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. Still, I was determined to get into this program. I loved music and desperately wanted to improve. So, when they offered to accept me as a probational student, I agreed. By the end of the school year, I was kicked out of the program. Despite their lessons, I still wasn't good enough. I spent the next 2 years as a music minor, taking classes to improve my skills. By the end of my third year, I passed the audition and was finally accepted as a music major. I was happy, but only for a time. You see, I had endured quite a bit of bullying by a few music majors during this time, and when I became accepted as a music major, the bullying extended to some of the professors. I won't go into much detail here about what I went through, but it was absolute hell. My already high level of anxiety and depression spiked. My self-esteem plummeted. I was told things like "the only reason why I took you in as a student is because the department chair begged me to". Eventually, I had a breakdown and was forced to see a therapist on campus. Despite all of this, I pushed through, and in my 5th year of undergrad (yeah...still did the double major), I performed a successful senior recital. Professor (surprisingly) expressed pride in me. I was proud of myself too.  I continued playing in the school's orchestra while working on my masters in the other major, but with time, the trauma of it all came back to haunt me. I found myself playing violin and piano increasingly less than before. Now, it's a struggle to even touch the instrument. I get literal panic attacks from seeing masterclasses now. My mental health is a wreck. But people made it seem like I was being dramatic...that I should be over this by now. So, seeing you talk about mental health and its impact on the classical music community made me really happy. Thank you for being willing to bring topics like these to the surface. Things like this matter to so many of us. I'm sorry this was so long. I don't know if you will even read this, but I wanted to share just how and why you impacted me so much. I definitely look forward to seeing what else you come out with. ❤️

Great job to talk about this topic. Love your videos, dear Brett and Eddy ❤️❤️❤️

My anxiety got so bad I stopped singing. That was 25 years ago. It literally stopped me even singing as part of a group. So stupid! But it's real. And there was not one single person that I knew of - irl or celebrities (this was before the internet lol) - that even mentioned anxiety so I had no way of understanding it and realising how normal and common it was. I'm so glad now that people are openly discussing mental health issues so people stop experiencing the shame that goes along with it - we literally all have issues at some point. Just knowing that others go through the same thing is helpful. We all need to talk about such things more... Thank you both for encouraging the conversation.

https://youtu.be/L3gI_qBk2aE

Thank you both for this one. It might be the first time I've heard much of what I've gone through talked about by someone else. The stigma of talking about this stuff is very real. Especially when you're visibly upset, the instinct of everyone around you is to hush you up. "You shouldn't have posted that. It reflects poorly on you professionally. I'm just trying to help you out, bro." Yeah, thanks. Band-aid solutions and pretending everything is fine it is! TwoSet cut right through the stigma though... damn dude. I wish I had known about this stuff ahead of time too, but better late than never, and this video helps change things for those younger than us.

You guys are the best. :) I don’t play violin but I’m a huge fan.

Thank you so much for talking about this ! I had a lot of luck to study at the Musikhochschule Basel, Switzerland, where there was actually a course to learn how to deal with stage fright, yes it does exist !! It was so good to see how we all experience it, and that there are actual tools to make peace with it (mental exercises etc). I wish such courses would exist in France, where I live and teach music. I always talk about it with my students and give them these tools to perform with "positive stress" because I think that's so important.

I had done classical piano for about 5+ years and I used to love it, it was my way of destressing but most of all it was fun!, but I was never taught that playing music doesn't only have to be for the sake of moving up levels and getting certificates in RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) I remember my caretaker at the time forced me to play this one song over and over for months striving for a perfect standard that was unattainable. I remember crying and breaking down over this song, what's the worst is because of this one experience I've lost my passion for playing piano. What used to be a fun hobby turned into a tedious chore.(and it didn't help that my caretaker would threaten with violence if I refused to practice that song until he deemed it as "good enough") I catch myself staring at my piano, too scared to even play out of fear of being forced into that situation again. I miss playing piano but my motivation has died. I've recently picked up violin and I love it!. But I can only hope that I don't fall into that toxic perfectionism once more.

Stress, burn out, anxiety, imposter syndrome, high goals, muscle strain, physical rehab, anger, doubts, raging about situation... very familiar.

Something my counselor and my mom always coach to me is "watch how you're speaking to yourself because you're the one listening."

Eddy talks too much.

Then don't watch fck face. Smh

Well done boys. You did great. Tough subject but oh so necessary to broach. I'm sure there are many young musicians and people like me who are not musicians at all, who will benefit from your wise and compassionate words. So, much appreciated.

Fantastic. Congratulations for such an important video. As a violinist of course I relate to everything. You guys rock

I was a music major in uni then got in translation in graduate school, and that translation program had a course called Mindfulness for Interpreters, which was basically sitting down together and meditate for an hour or so every week

Thanks a lot for sharing .. sincerely ❤❤❤

This is awesome. Thank you. I had focal dystonia for 12 years and it was steeply related to my mental health. Once I addressed this in depth my symptoms resolved within 1 year. Peace!

Bravo gentlemen. As a psychiatrist myself, life long lover of classical music, amateur French horn player and member of a high quality chamber chorus, who has also treated many professional musicians in my psychiatric practice, I congratulate you on this amazing video. Yes, medication is sometimes necessary and helpful but the deeper psychological and spiritual layers are generally even more important. I’m so grateful to have discovered your channel. Your humanity emerges from all of them. Thank you so much.

Curiously, knowing the listeners are accustomed to perfection puts pressure on amateur performers, like me, too.

Thank you for this, feels good to know we're not alone ♡

Thank you so much for this one! Thank you, with all my heart.

A few years ago, I practiced piano really hard for a regional competition. I didn't remember why but I was like really stressed about it. I had 4 lessons a week and practiced for long hours everyday. My 8-year-old mind just couldn't handle the stress that i started having tics disorder. It literally stopped my piano career and from that day, I couldn't even touch the piano any more. That's my story though, really happy because you guys shared about mental health problem.

Thank you for speaking the truth about the classical death cult.

I can definitely resonate with this even though I'm not a musician, but I am an artist. Currently haven't touched paper with the intention of drawing for about 3 months now. All of my sketchbooks are just sitting to the side. But this video definitely made me feel better, I haven't forced myself to sit down and draw yet. But I know I will eventually.

I appreciate you both for making this video.

This video is really nice 👌 Beacuse I really know that feels Every Semester exam is really terrible That you guys say is really happened on my,so this issue is very important for me.

Quite a many of the musicians and bands I follow were having not so good a time of it being prevented from performing on stage. Oh sure the travel, set up and tear down can be a bit of a slog and something always seems to go "wrong" on the road, but for these guys the 40 plus minutes they are on stage is worth it-- they wouldn't do it if they didn't love it. So for you touring musicians your fans miss you as much as you miss us and hopefully this spring or summer we'll meet again.

Whats the music played in the bginning of the video?

Guys: the shaky bow makes you nervous NOT the nervousness makes your bow shaking... in engineering we call it “over constrained” because too many fingers pressing on the bow at the same time causing an unstable situation. Think of it as the four legged chair, which wobbles vs the three legged chair will never wobble... it’s a mechanical problem - not a psychological problem... you are focusing on the wrong area.... how do I know ? It happened to me for many years... here’s what you do: only hold the bow with the thumb and the middle finger - apply some pressure on the index finger on the down bow - use the pinky to stabilize the bow on the up bow. That’s it ! Do not use the 4th finger at all - it is the root cause of your shaky bow.

Thank you both for this video! I’ve been going through some performance anxiety and haven’t been okay mentally. Thank you both for sharing your stories. It reminds me that I’m not alone. Much love to you both 🥺🎹

Eddy, you retrained your limbic system through neuroplasticity. You were so blessed to meet that doctor who understood that. I was so stressed in college (music degree) that I started having panic attacks, tachycardia, and other symptoms. Chronic stress can injure your brain and cause physical symptoms. It subsided after college, but I got sick again when I had kids and it got so bad I was housebound/bedbound. Thankfully I discovered neuroplasticity and did a program to heal my brain and fully recovered. Thank you for making this video. It's so relevant and a widespread problem.

I love you guys!

Damn you put Rachmaninoff's 2nd concerto to the background that he wrote during his psychotherapy after a 8-10 years long depression. Personally me i was "something like a prodigy" when i was young but i did not get the right teachers the right enviroment for develop as i wished. My parents never liked the classical music, my teacher was always about to humiliate and subpress me and also my mates were extremly jealous. I had only 2-3 good teachers who really helped me and just a few friends but they couldn't compensate the bad thing i went through. So yes, i leaved. Now, after a 10 years long of burnt out mental state I restarted practicing piano, and will record a CD in the studio. It was crazy terrible to go through... especially when i wanted to play something i started to feel a crazy strong anxiety, and this was ambivalent: i wanted to play music as i did and wished in my childhood but also i was somehow disgust of it. To me the sport helped. It taught me the "philosophy of Eminem", just don't give a fuck, be yourself, love yourself and live your dreams. Anything is possible. (Teachers are veeeeeeeeeery dangerous)

I fear for the child prodigies that they would lose their passion for the musical industry through stress and burnout.

Great courage and leadership in broaching this vital subject guys.... and you handled the issues with great discernment and care.... very well done

I really feel like more people should post these kind of videos, everybody suffers even once in their lives, I will always love and support u guys with my all my heart

I was not ready for sad stories-

My depression and anxiety basically forced me to quit the violin. I had to sell my violin a few years ago and it hurts to think about it.

Thank you so much for addressing this!

yo this was posted on my birthday. fun.

thank you for sharing, wonderful video! Can relate with the competitiveness of the classical world, the performance anxiety, and the downward spiral of knowing you can play if you weren't nervous and bashing yourself for playing subpar due to nerves. Wish the classical curriculum incorporated more on mental health.

10:39

We (my husband and I, who play violin and piano just for our own pleasure, among friends) , like this, and we are NOT professional musicians, but we love those who play for a living and share their gifts with the world: you guys are a real Blessing to the world of art, and performance. Your openness, especially when musicians cannot employ their profession in concert halls all over the world, I am sure gives insight to those of us who would be gladly flocking to such REAL PHYSICAL performances, and are all adapting to VIRTUAL concerts, and performing. To use a grossly overused, and popular expression "you rock" and that is not meant to be trite -- we just mean to say, merci beaucoup. arigato gozaimasu, sheh sheh, and spaceba (do not know how to spell any of those in their original characters, but only to spell them phonetically.) Ciao for now, and please do not give up sharing your humor, irony, and just sheer joy of making music with the rest of us! Judy and Don

❤️❤❤❤️

I think artists by their nature are sensitive, which is why they can exist in a world of great precision subtlety and nuance, but a community where the competition and the outcomes have such dramatic consequences for your life, create a pressure that can be very destructive if not properly understood. Thanks. Cheers boys.

Every time when Brett is speaking I become nervous: "Now Eddy will interrupt him and will miss what he was meaning to say". Please, Eddy, don't!

What fine examples of humanity you both are. We are truly blessed that you do what you and that you love doing it. Mental health is becoming less of a taboo topic, thanks to people like you. Perhaps the most dramatic example of the collision of mental health and musical passion can be found in the life of the great Australian pianist David Helfgott. Suffering a nervous breakdown at age 24, while studying at the Royal Academy in London, he spent 11 years in mental institutions, unable to play his beloved Rachmaninoff 3rd Concerto, or any other piece for that matter. My I suggest that you do a video on him, his struggles and how he overcame them and returned to performing, albeit in his own unique way? There is a wonderful short documentary on YouTube called "I am David" which was co-produced by the Leipzig Symphony Orchestra. There is also the Oscar award winning film based on his life, Shine. Australian actor, Geoffery Rush, won the Oscar for best actor.

What’s interesting is I’m actually finding that getting back into playing my instruments and learning a few new ones is helping my depression. But I’m just doing it for fun and a feeling of accomplishment. But I am a writer and I currently am unable to work on my book depression sucks. Just get through it.

Well, just watch Whiplash and you can get an idea about why musicians are stressed out! (By the way, it's also a fantastic movie!)

do violinists like you just jam?

This one may very well be your most important video you made guys ... thank you !

I really appreciate you guys speaking about this. I feel like I never get to see other Asians talking about mental health and there is so much shame around it in the culture. This was really comforting as someone who has gone through mental health as well. Thanks.

I recently watched the series "Forest of Piano" and I thought it was interesting how they portrayed the classical music culture as being one that was all about status and formality and perfect technique and national pride, but like 0% about the music. A culture where actually enjoying the music and enjoying performing is almost frowned upon as vulgar and plebian. This is really reminding me of that. Classical music sounds like it's no fun.

great video guys, thanks! It's really usefull to share these subjects with other musicians

I wish someone told teenaged me about burnout... I wish someone told my parents about burnout. Someone might have recognized that I didn't really want to quit playing music or dancing but just needed a break.

When you said “when I looked back to when I was playing as a kid, 5 years old, and see how unstifled we used to be...”that hits so hard.

Thank you so much for this video, as an aspiring multi-instrumentalist/composer I have been going through an extremely low period with my self-esteem and mentality surrounding how I approach music and practice, and as you guys mentioned with the whole "perfectionist mindset" that comes with being a musician its so easy to become consumed by the destructive self-talk that constantly goes on in your brain. But I have been able to walk away from this video with a new perspective and outlook on how to deal with my extremely self-destructive behaviours and thoughts surrounding my music. So thank you again, it was actually really reassuring.

School have a tendency to teach humans to not do mistakes, that it is something bad, instead of see it as something natural and a knowledge to carry with you through the journey of life. Two different viewpoints on mistakes, the biological respons will also be profoundly different.

Such an excellent and poignant video, guys. I wish I’d had peers such as yourselves in high school and college to confide in. You’ve gotten wonderful feedback from professionals and other fine folks here, so all I can add is personal experience. I was “shaky bow”! I was also shaky brain...memorization was hell, while sight reading was no trouble. Odd, huh? The judgement I felt I was getting from others was tough and I was incredibly sensitive about it. This was my own view about life in general, however. It will affect other aspects of your life. It was tough to overcome, but with success in other areas of your lives comes reassurance which can roll over into your musicianship and performances. (Martial artists feel this all too!) What was brilliant was performing with orchestras and baroque chamber groups that had no assumption of challenges. One auditioned for one’s conductor and were placed within a section and in a seat. We were rotated. There was little competition and we simply played for the love of the pieces. We were able to bring our passion to bear when we had Aaron Copland conduct us in playing his organ concerto! It was sick, it was so brilliant! All of us pretty much sucked, (we didn’t), but the man suffered no fools. Since we were all in the same boat, and not competing, the pressure did come off. I’m glad you know to stay away from chemical stimulants or depressants, whether they be anti-hypertension medication or other addictive substances. I’m sure you’ve had meditation suggested, but I’ll thrown my two cents in here. It helps...you must get past performance anxiety in this too, but it can be a remarkable way to still the mind. Some folks don’t enjoy it because they don’t like the company, lol, but the practice, if you try, can be a way to help you thought-block or thought-remove. Just start with “simple” mindfulness meditation. You needn’t sit in the lotus position, as long as your back is straight and your hips are a bit higher than your thighs. A good straight-backed chair is fine. Make sure you can breathe through your nose. Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind the upper front teeth. Practice inhaling, holding the breath, and then exhaling to the same count. Which ever count is shortest or toughest for you, use as your gauge for the other 2 counts. Breathe from your belly and not your chest. Don’t focus on anything but your breath. “Watch” the breath. If your mind wanders and you begin to think about other things besides your breath in and out, (like how you want to scratch your nose or how your leg is falling asleep), bring the focus back immediately to the breath. That’s it. All you’re doing is watching the breath. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, and you’re nor allowed to judge yourself - bring the focus back to the breath. I’ve found over decades that this simple thing, (maybe hard to begin with), is something I could do to settle my mind before all sorts of things, including performing, speaking, teaching, doing martial arts, dentistry and so forth. Try to remember this one thing: the state of your thoughts, your breath, and whether you are calm or anxious are directly related to one another. If you have anxious thoughts, you will physiologically change your breathing. If your breathe rapidly your mind will follow. You needn’t get into adrenal feedback loops unless you’re so inclined, but just for now, if you’re not doing this already, learn to consciously slow and deepen the breath. It’ll slow down the mind and help you take both conscious and later, unconscious control of your thoughts. It helps to stop the head noise and self-value judgment. Maybe it’ll help. It surely can’t hurt. Finally, once I turned 45 like 19 years ago, I decided that the activities I was participating in, including performing, and also martial arts were absurd! I had to consciously decide that no one could love what I do except me, because everyone else would think what I was doing was stupid. I know you both mentioned this in another vein, but I guess I had to decide to make a conscious paradigm shift in how I approached others...that I really didn’t care what they thought because I loved what I did with passion they would never understand. I stopped apologizing for every little thing, and certainly for my performances. If I didn’t technically prepare, that was on me. If someone didn’t care for my interpretation of something, then I could explain why I did something the way I did, but not feel as if I had to change it. Try to remember what are opinions of others - and of your own head noise - and subjective, and what are objective facts. No one may judge you as human beings, only comment on their opinion of you as human-doing. As you said, you’re not anxiety...you’re experiencing anxiety. Try to stay away from phrases such as “suffering” from this or that. Ok, I lied! The last thought I’d like to leave you with is this: when you were born, you became everything you were meant to be. Human. That’s it! Everything else is a gift.

Best Datting Click 🔽 18cams.xyz 在整個人類歷史上，強者，富人和具有狡猾特質的人捕食部落，氏族，城鎮，城市和鄉村中的弱者，無`'守和貧窮成員。然而，人類的生存意願迫使那些被拒絕，被剝奪或摧毀的基本需求的人們找到了一種生活方式，並繼續將其DNA融入不斷發展的人類社會。 說到食物，不要以為那些被拒絕的人只吃垃圾。相反，他們學會了在被忽視的肉類和蔬菜中尋找營養。他們學會了清潔，切塊，調味和慢燉慢燉的野菜和肉類，在食品市場上被忽略的部分家用蔬菜和肉類，並且學會了使用芳香的木煙（如山核桃，山核桃和豆科灌木 來調味食物煮的時候

I had to use beta blockers for the last few public performances that I did because of shaky hand. I literally go numb when I get in front of people. After those I put down the guitar for almost two years.

can anyone tell me what piece is playing in the background at 06:00. is it I know i have heard it before but I can't recognize the name. isn't it rachmaninov?

Beta blockers are so common as a "nerve control agent" for auditions it's scary. I have known many, many musicians who not only take them without giving it a second thought, but that become severely dependent on it, sometimes even to play in a lesson. This needs to be addressed more openly. Thank you for this.

A great video, thank you for speaking so honestly about this important topic. Maybe you could reach out to your uni colleagues that study psychology and make a video with them for part two.

Musicians are generally depressed

As a cook myself, I can understand the stress and the psychological pressure a ''job'' can put on you. Since you do it with love and passion, it's hard to simply quit it. Even though the world doesn't really know much about your struggles. There are so many factors that can influence you in your progression as a person and well being and in the end, that's life. Also a little bit of positivity! Here is a youtube link to a song from Porter Robinson called: Musician. (Not a promo, just genuine interest in showing appreciation to musicians c: ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-74HTjRbuY Enjoy your passion!

bunch of cry-babies! you should be practicing instead of blah blah blah on the internet. SHAME!

I think you two should create & teach the new class for musicians on mental/emotional difficulties as performers. This video was a gift to me, and I'm not a performing musician! Thank you for your openness. I am a mom of 4 kids that was recently diagnosed with Bipolar 2. The part about letting the emotion go through you without identifying with it was helpful..."I feel this, but not I AM this". Thank you!

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my violin teacher was using harsh words everytime i get a note wrong and i counldnt see the notes clearly as i have bad eyes and i was just a beginner, i would cry silently while he go teach some other students and like- i stopped going to class just after a month and self taught myself because of school and all.. it's been 2 years and i really want to learn from the start again but taking a violin class still scares me

Not a musician but thank you. Just.... thank you.

Thanks for making this video guys

I am crying and watching 🥲

I wish I could weep

It’s a bind. Everybody I ever met who is intelligent, creative and sensitive almost always suffers periods of anxiety and depression. Not unique to musicians, artists of all stripes endure it. I am a painter and compose music, but have never performed. I am always in awe of classical musos who can stand up and perform in such a rarified arena, the beta blocker thing makes sense although I never thought of it before. It’s great that you guys are talking about it....

I think this video means more than all your videos.

I'm not a professional musician but I clicked on this because it was about mental health. I think that even for non-musicians, or whatever path you're on, the issues related to your path need to be spoken about more. Like you said, "Your brain is part of your body" so that means how you're taking care of your body, yourself, will affect your brain, thus your mental health - your mind, body, and soul/ spirit/ heart are all connected so neglecting one part will negatively affect the other parts and your life. And you do have to check in on yourself regularly. I've been going through and am going through my own cycles of anxiety and really negative emotions and this time has been a bit more difficult for me to try and get back up but watching this video gave me a little confidence to try again so thank you.

One thing I've learned during my last depressive bout was that it made me experience the 5 stages of grief, just by dying inside. Getting out of the negative factors and opening up to the right people helps ease the pain, and mostly it's a fight within one's self. Questions piling up, frustration builds up on a rapid pace and the need of an outlet to release it, easily annoyed and instances of lashing out as an attempt to lessen the burden, and gaining clarity upon accepting the ordeal. That's how it felt like for me back then, more if an existential crisis.

@Alectrona Black Thank you as well, it was a long process for me but eventually you will also get through it

I understand. I watched myself went through the 5 stages. I watched myself die. I'm terrified of becoming a lesser version of myself. I'm not over my shit yet. I just wanna say ur such a trooper for getting through your bout :( ur comment gave me a bot of hope

just here to say i appreciate that you made this video so much, and as a 3rd year undergrad student in music school, I agree that mental health isn't talked about enough. These conversations are so important