Dr George Musgrave, Senior Lecturer in Music and Entrepreneurship, was recently appointed to the Royal Musical Association’s newly formed Music and Mental Health Committee.
The new Music and Mental Health Committee was created to raise awareness of the mental health crisis amongst musicians through music education, creation and performance. The group was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reaction to the growing urgency of the mental health crisis in society, particularly within the education system.
Offering a platform for the promotion and fostering of research and collaboration concerning the interaction of music and mental health, the Committee promotes inclusivity and diversity, addressing music practitioners, scholars and students of all backgrounds. They pay particular attention to non-affiliated and freelance individuals, as well as immigrants and non-UK students and musicians.
Since its creation, the Committee has rapidly attracted support from various areas, including representatives of the UK subject association MusicHE, colleagues and students at Music departments, as well as a number of composers and performers. The Royal Music Association was founded in 1847, and is the foremost society in the UK dedicated to the study of music.
Dr George Musgrave has long researched the mental health of music professionals, which is predominantly based on his original research in collaboration with Sally Anne Gross. Dr Musgrave and Gross published their book ‘Can Music Make You Sick? Measuring the Price of Musical Ambition’ in September 2020, which delves deeper into the meaning and practices of music making and the implications for music makers, educators and society.
The book explores the lived experiences of musicians through empirical research and interviews to challenge misconceptions and demonstrate how the industry’s often unstable working conditions provide the perfect storm to foster mental health struggles in music creators. Dr Musgrave has also published papers on the subject in the journal ‘Cultural Trends’ and produced a three-part project on lessons from the loss of Avicii.
Talking about his appointment to the Music and Mental Health Committee, Dr Musgrave said: “It is wonderful to see that the challenges around mental health in the music industry, which have come into even sharper focus over recent years, and are being taken seriously both within the music industries and beyond.
“I hope that my new position at the Royal Musical Association, I can bring together researchers working in this expanding field and continue driving the conversation forwards.”
Find out more about the Committee on the Music and Mental Health Group website.
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