At Front Row Music, we know that being a musician can be an amazing adventure. It’s a creative profession, it’s exciting and it’s a great opportunity to meet people! But we also know that many musicians struggle with their mental health.

To honour World Suicide Prevention Day, this article explores the specific mental health challenges that musicians face. We’ll also share a few practical tips for how musicians can proactively look after their mental health.

Music and Mental Health: The Statistics

In 2016, a survey was commissioned by the charity Help Musicians in collaboration with the University of Westminster. The survey spoke with over two thousand professional musicians and the results showed that 71.1% of respondents experienced high levels of anxiety or panic attacks. It also showed that 68.5% of musicians reported experiencing depression. This is three times more than the general population.

There have been similar statistics produced in more recent studies. A 2019 study by Swedish digital platform Record Union showed that 73% of independent musicians struggle with mental illness. This figure climbed to 80% in the 18-25 age group.

Our Experience at Front Row Music

It has been our own experience at Front Row Music that many musicians are struggling with their mental health, especially in the wake of the pandemic. Founder of Front Row Music, Dave Fidler, explains how being a musician in the pandemic has been difficult.

“The Musicians I knew – our lives are varied and we moved around a lot and more than most other professions, being a musician is a sociable, communal profession. Having that taken away during the lockdowns felt very isolating and it was very difficult to write and create new work. As musicians we take inspiration from the world around us, I do that in my songwriting, and having that taken away was really hard.”

It is unsurprising then that The Musicians Union’s Covid-19 Impact Poll revealed that 34% of musicians were considering abandoning their careers in 2020 due to financial hardship caused by the pandemic. Consequently, during the pandemic, 47% of the Musicians Union’s members have been forced to seek work outside of the industry. Dave explained how many musicians felt left behind in lockdown:

“Music was getting a lot of people through lockdown, yet musicians felt left behind by the government schemes that encouraged us towards reskilling. It might not have been intentional, but I know that for many musicians and other creatives, it felt like a comment on our work not being a real profession, which was very difficult from a mental health standpoint. Lots of musicians have degrees in their subject, some play at really high levels in orchestras and that takes an amazing skill level. To then feel as if our professions were not being taken seriously made many musicians feel abandoned.”

Prioritising Wellbeing at Work

At Front Row Music, we want all musicians to feel inspired and uplifted, not abandoned. That’s why we believe in providing an excellent employment environment for musicians so that they can continue to work in the industry. Our tutors know that we provide regular, reliable work for them to supplement their own music careers. Dave explains Front Row Music’s approach to working with musicians:

“We have worked really hard to cultivate an environment where musicians are supported and protected. Our training and recruitment practices give our musical tutors the skills they need to teach a range of students of different abilities, instructions in invoicing and important skills and an entire curriculum for them to teach that doesn’t rely on extensive prep time that might eat into their other professional engagements. We love to work with working musicians, not just to inspire the children, but also to support musical artists and give them stability and flexibility so they can continue to tour and perform worldwide.”

A Front Row Music tutor, Adam Hynes, has this to say about the support that Front Row Music offers working musicians:

“I can only heap praise on my colleagues for all their help and support during some really arduous and stressful times. Whenever something awful has reared its ugly head the team have gone out of their way to help me out so I don’t have to worry about work and I can concentrate on my own wellbeing and the wellbeing of loved ones.”

Looking After Your Mental Health as a Musician: Top 5 Tips

From working late nights to facing rejection as an artist, dips in mental health are to be expected as part of a musician’s life. Dave explains how the act of performing itself changes a musician’s mental space: “You’re on a high, as a musician. Performing to thousands of people is intoxicating and coming back down to earth and reality after that can be a real low. It’s important to recognise that and take care of yourself.”

In coordination with mental health organisation, The Lily Jo Project, here are our top 5 tips for what musicians can do to manage their mental health.

1. Be proactive with self-care

The music industry has always been a world that can challenge a person’s self-care. Late-night gigs and long weeks of touring are things that can make a musician’s mental health decline if they don’t put plans in place to protect their physical well-being. Our bodies and minds are connected and when we don’t get enough sleep or eat healthily, our minds can suffer. Dave has the following tip about self-care:

“What I’ve tried to do when touring is be kind to myself. I need to give myself time to relax to get the adrenalin out of my system so I can go to sleep, and give myself an extra day. It’s easy to eat junk food all the time on the road, so I have to make a conscious decision to be careful about my food.”

2. Stay aware of the symptoms of burnout

Burnout can manifest in different ways for musicians. It could come as writer’s block, it could come as chronic fatigue, or it could come as the feeling of being perpetually emotionally overwhelmed, especially if a musician is struggling with financial worries.

At Front Row Music, we aim to create a working environment that enables musicians to avoid burnout. Front Row Music tutor, Adam Hynes, has the following suggestions:

“Burnout is a real issue with many musicians – it’s not exactly something you do for the money so the stress of making ends meet or working long and difficult hours can really take their toll on your mental and physical health. I myself work long hours during term time so I’m very strict about my work/life balance so I can take time to do the things I enjoy. I have a number of coping mechanisms that really help me – running and walking the dog really help with my mental health.”

3. Create Boundaries

Since the pandemic, many freelance workers and creatives have struggled with creating good work/life boundaries. Having to work from home and being unable to maintain workspaces due to financial burden or a decline in regular work can sometimes lead to a ‘hustle’ mindset, which may cause an individual to feel guilty if they are not working constantly. This can often lead to setting poor work/life boundaries.

Considering the hectic schedules of our own tutors, we know first-hand how important it is for musicians to create a personal environment with good boundaries. Here are a few tips from tutor Adam Hynes.

“As a musician, I make sure I have really strong boundaries when I’m not working. If I’m not gigging or composing then my weekends are sacrosanct so I spend time cooking, watching sport, or going to a restaurant or cinema with my partner and we have a rule where we don’t discuss work between 5 pm Friday to 8 am Monday. Set clear boundaries that work for you and don’t deviate from them if you can help it.”

4. Cultivate a Support System

Many musicians are self-employed so they do not have the built-in employment support that many other people do. As a team of working musicians, we know how important having a network of fellow musicians who understand one another is and we strive to create a support system for all of our tutors and our team. For our musician friends, we have some advice about how to cultivate a support system:

“One of the best things about Front Row is the sense of community we have built. We have a WhatsApp group and our tutors can communicate with us in the app when they need to. For musicians who feel like they’re not part of a support system, I always recommend going to Open Mic nights. I used to attend a lot of them in Manchester and it’s a great way to make friends and to meet collaborators.”

5. Ask for Help

During the height of the pandemic, many people were talking about the decline of the music industry and other creative industries due to the lockdowns. There was a lot of awareness of how musicians were struggling financially, mentally and socially but since the world has opened back up, there has been less awareness. Yet we know that many musicians are still struggling. That’s why it is so important to ask for help.

“As a company director, I would always prefer that someone ask for help and we really encourage that in Front Row Music. We want our staff to reach out to others because we understand what it’s like to struggle in this industry. In the past, as a musician, I’ve spoken to colleagues and collaborators when I have been struggling and really felt the benefit.”

We also recommend Music Minds Matter. They provide a 24-hour hotline where you can talk through issues as well as online resources and access to free counselling and CBT therapy through their website.

Working With Front Row Music as a Tutor

So what’s it really like working with Front Row Music as a music tutor? Here are Adam Hynes’ thoughts:

“Front Row Music has been fantastic for me in the 7 years I’ve worked for them. Tutor managers do what they can to help musicians fulfil professional engagements by covering teaching work. The other side of the coin is if musicians want more work as a tutor the team go out of their way to help find more hours for them.”

“When needed they’ve always supported me and helped me out in any way they can. I took a leap of faith when I decided to become a tutor full time and I was fortunate to have a team of people who encouraged me, helped me out and gave me the tools to succeed.”

“The pandemic could have ended my career in this field but instead, I’m busier than ever and without FRM I’m certain this wouldn’t have been the case. Dave, Adam and the rest of the team have dropped me off at schools when time has been tight, or they’ve needed me to teach at short notice. They’ve gone out of their way to help me and I feel as though it’s my duty to do the same for other tutors.”

“On a personal level, for as long as I’ve been working for FRM the rest of the team has been made up of genuinely kind, decent human beings. I can say they are comfortably the nicest group of people I’ve ever worked with. It’s a tough job but it’s also a really nice job! I would recommend it to any musician looking to support themselves and do something amazing and worthwhile.”

Final Thoughts

We are always on the lookout for passionate music tutors to join our crew! If you are a working musician, love working with kids, and are in need of some flexible hours to supplement your music career – we’d love to here from you!

Check out our tutor application form: https://frontrow-music.com/contact-us/tutor-application/

Hope to hear from you soon!

About Front Row Music

Front Row Music specialises in primary school music tuition, teaching thousands of students in schools across the globe. Founded by British recording artist and musician, Dave Fidler, Front Row Music is committed to making music as fun and accessible for young people as possible, using songs that they already know and love.

Whether it’s guitar, ukulele, keyboard or beyond, Front Row Music’s lesson plans are specially designed to encourage and support students as they grow both in talent and passion for music.

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