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Watch the Preliminaries of the Chopin Competition

The Preliminaries of the 19th International Chopin Competition are underway in the Chamber Music Hall of the Warsaw Philharmonic. From April 23 to May 4, 163 pianists from 28 countries are performing their best Chopin etudes, nocturnes, scherzos, and mazurkas. Watch all performances online and form your opinion about who is worthy of a place in the final stages of the competition this October. Read more

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Topic: Problems, addictions and musicians (Read 1716 times)

lisztisforkids

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Posts: 899

Problems, addictions and musicians

on: September 18, 2005, 03:50:02 AM

Has anybody ever noticed that mant great Pianist, composers and musicians in general (Gould, Howorwitz, Tchiakovsky, Beethoven, for a start.)are seriously depressed, Hermit like, and or addicted to a substance???(Alcohol for the most part of my observances). I personally know a promising young pianist that battles with binge drinking and a somewhat dysfunctional Family, And i am a serious anti-socialite. Has anybody else here noticed these traits/and or have a streak of them?

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m1469

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Posts: 6638

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #1 on: September 18, 2005, 03:55:34 AM

Hi, I'm m1469 Fox, and I am a piano addict...

NO WAY!!! I am nothing like that

Actually, you know, everybody needs something to depend on. It's just a matter of placing that dependence somewhere that will ultimately do one well. Like balance. Why not get addicted to balance ?

I think it's just more about channelling the tendencies and using them to accomplish what one wants. Focus, all that.

m1469

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"The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving" ~Oliver Wendell Holmes

steve jones

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Sr. Member
Posts: 1380

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #2 on: September 18, 2005, 04:17:13 AM

I can swing both ways (with regard to this thread at least

). Sometimes painfully introvert, other times annoyingly extrovert. I do enjoy a good binge, but probably not anymore than other people.

But then again, Im probably not a great musician

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rimv2

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Posts: 798

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #3 on: September 18, 2005, 05:47:03 AM

They are depressed because they are great and they are great because the are depressed.

Pretty much all real artist are depressed. Many are even borderline schizo, paranoid, suicidal. Some can pretend to be normal in large crowds, but only for so long.

Bunch more psychobable/..............

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bernhard

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Posts: 5078

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #4 on: September 18, 2005, 10:49:49 AM

Great musicians get depressed mostly after googling their own names and getting directed to the threads in pianostreet where unknown teenagers give their opinions about them. (“overrated pianists”, “worst composers”, etc.)

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The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. (Hunter Thompson)

thalbergmad

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Posts: 16749

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #5 on: September 18, 2005, 10:53:33 AM

I only hope Brendel has not logged on recently.

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Appenato

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Posts: 87

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #6 on: September 18, 2005, 10:50:02 PM

I'm normal afterall!!!

...

It's a musician thing. SEE!

...

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When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear the heart and the senses, then it has missed the point. - Maria Callas

yamagal

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Posts: 106

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #7 on: September 19, 2005, 06:46:00 PM

Yeah, but some of them led very happy lives for the most part, such as Bach, Mendelssohn, Gounod...

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rimv2

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Posts: 798

Re: Problems, addictions and musicians

Reply #8 on: September 25, 2005, 05:56:49 AM

Those were not musicians. They were experts on form.

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Piano Forum

Piano Street Magazine:Watch the Preliminaries of the Chopin Competition

Topic: Problems, addictions and musicians (Read 1716 times)

Piano Street Magazine:Josef Hofmann – The Pianist Inventor

Piano Street Magazine:
Watch the Preliminaries of the Chopin Competition

Piano Street Magazine:
Josef Hofmann – The Pianist Inventor