Angela Whaley, COMBO board member and co-founder of Music Minds Matter, set up a ZOOM meeting for an interactive open discussion on mental wellness within the music industry. After introductions of those joining in the meeting, Angela asked how each of the attendees was dealing with the coronavirus crises. We also talked about how mental wellness can affect a musicians’ ability to live a healthy life, resources musicians can utilize, and how to practice self care. Co-leading the discussion were Spencer Townsend Hughes (of the band The Hollow) and COMBO VP, musician, and medical professional Dr. Annette Cannon.
Dr. Cannon also offered the following articles as places to start if you are feeling “yucky” or “blue” during this time or if someone you know may be exhibiting signs of anxiety and/or depression.
A Psychologist’s Take on Mental Health for Musicians
https://artists.spotify.com/blog/a-psychologists-take-on-mental-health-for-musicians
Teletherapy, Meds, Mediatation: How Musicians With Mental Health Issues are Coping with Corona Anxiety
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-04-27/coronavirus-musicians-mental-health-hayley-williams
http://www.musicmindsmatter.com
From Josie Quick: You might be interested in the Mindful Music Association which is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) service organization introducing the benefits of mindful music to new audiences through educational outreach, growing public and community awareness while providing a platform for members to communicate, network and share ideas.
http://www.mindfulmusicassociation.com
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Reminder: COMBO does not usually run general meetings during the summer months although we’ve participated in many of the festivals in previous years and have done tours of places like the Pepsi Center and Red Rocks. However, with the coronavirus having shut down two of our meetings, we are going to leave our options open and might run make-up meetings this summer when and if it is feasible to hold in-person get-togethers.
Also, the ZOOM meeting worked well and we might try a couple more of those. Kind of nice to stay home but “meet” with others of like mind. However, we much prefer “in person” meetings so that we can network with other musicians as well as our expert guest speakers. We’ll let you know what we plan!