First off: to all of James’s readers, he is, in fact, correct about the brain and music. Two important and well researched facts are key here.
The brain changes with use even as an adult. It grows in certain areas when those areas are used more often. Neuroplasticity is well accepted by most docs these days. We used to think your brain stopped development at the end of adolescence and that was it, all down hill from there. Not so! It’s a bit like a muscle growing with use but of course more complex and subtler. You can see by way of neuroimaging that musicians have larger, more active brains in areas that correspond to their chosen craft. Piano player=big hand coordination area in the brain etc.
Music, especially making it, requires multiple areas of the brain and is very demanding cognitively. Nothing lights up a brain perfusion scan like playing music, especially improvised music.

So to summarize James’s point, yes music (and art) is good for you and unfortunately it is not like riding a bike, you lose it if you don’t use it. In a very real way your brain starts to shrink. Too bad for me it turns out…

On a personal note, I’m definitely one of those part timers that James is lecturing/speaking to in his SMNP. I found myself starting to get a little defensive when reading the post. I thought some of the following defensive things:
‘Who does James think he is to assume that I’m just not making time by choice?’
‘How does he know what my life demands of me?’
‘I’d like to see him walk a mile in my shoes!’
‘What makes him think that what I do every day doesn’t bring me just as much, if not more pleasure than music?’
‘He can TELL something is missing..what!!’ ‘Where did he get that idea, do I look like something is missing?! Do I, PUNK?’…etc, etc…I have my issues too:)

After I had some time to digest, as I rushed to work to manage another very stressful day, I started thinking about it a little deeper. Hmmm, perhaps it does bother me a bit more than I realize. Why would I be so defensive? Maybe I really agree with what James is saying and don’t want to admit it? I don’t really want to confront this reality because it is much easier to let it go. (I talk to myself). I let this sink in for a couple of days and talked it over with my wife, (at least I don’t have commitment issues) and started to face a couple of realities:
I haven’t played my instrument more than twice since August, and once was only because James made me (thank you for the beat down James). I have to do something about that. I’ve been talking about writing some original music for years now. Last time I did it was 2004! That’s just pathetic. I have to do something about that! I haven’t played a real gig in at least two years. COME ON! I don’t remember the last time I went to a Jam session but I’m pretty sure it was before people had cell phones en masse! I’m not trying in anyway to make these things happen so I should not be surprised. But I am surprised. And that’s the disconnect. Granted, I’ve been in med school and then residency since 2004 so often I literally have no time of my own. But James’s post has made me look at my attitude and how I prioritize my life in a new way. There are times I choose to do other things with my rare free time. In truth, most of the time. I think this goes back to my defensiveness and thus avoidance of the reality that I have not prioritized music. I just ignore that dusty sax case in the corner because then I don’t feel bad.
So I have a new plan. Every night, that I’m not on call (sorry I can’t turn the pager off to practice or I lose my license) I’m going to dedicate at least one hour to music. I know that’s not much but it’s a huge step for me. I started yesterday. I loved it. The hour went by in a flash and I only stopped because I had to. The other cool part of this plan is that it just has to be related to music. That means if I feel like working on writing I will. Tonight my hour was spent writing this post to James. What ever it is it has to be related to music in some way that is creative and constructive.

To conclude; I hope everyone who reads James’s post takes it to heart. He knows what he is talking about and is preaching the gospel truth.

James this post seems to have sparked a lot of interest and passion in people. It has in me. Thank you.

Keep the truth hose flowing my verbose friend.

All throughout my childhood, teens and for the first few years of University art was a huge priority in life. I would get so much enjoyment and satisfaction of letting this huge amount of creative energy out in whatever fashion. Somewhere near the end of University I started to feel critical and insecure of doing art for two main reasons: I didn’t feel it was good enough (which looking at this now makes no sense), and that it wasn’t going to help me survive in the world. Well I can’t tell you how wrong both those statements are.

First of all the thought that your art is not up to snuff doesn’t make any sense. You do your art because you feel compelled to not because it is some kind of competition – that’s madness!! The only reason for this thinking I can think of is being in the competitive, comparing, environment I was in (Computer Science Co-Op) developed this terrible world view. I think a lot of people are held back by this excuse when it comes to sitting down and doing their art. I want to hug them, let them know I know how they feel and then give them a shake and say that this idea is totally artificial and has been instilled in them from our competitive society (it works for capitalism but it does not work for your soul!).

For the other point of not being able to survive well… I ended up basically cutting my creativity off as I convinced myself it was a waste of time and would take me down a path of pain. What really ended up happening is that I did not have any outlet for all my creative energy so it manifested itself in self destructive behavior – for me that was binge drinking. I also felt like I was denying my soul nourishment it needed. I would not admit it but a feelings of self-loathing developed for not respecting my soul and for engaging in stupid behavior. It has been incredibly hard to get out of this rut too because just like a winning momentum this negative momentum and bad habits built up. So basically, yeah, art is NECESSARY for my survival and happiness.

It took something big in my life to really shake me up and get out of that rut. Something super important I have had to accept and love truly knowing is that LIFE IS IN THE PROCESS NOT THE GOAL! If you live your life for the process, or journey, and not whether you succeed in the goal (something totally subjective anyway – think about it) then there is never any failure and you are always winning. It does not mean you should shoot for the big goals you want to but in the end those ‘goal points’ do not define your life. YOUR LIVING DEFINES YOUR LIFE!!! Since I realized this completely I know that I am always learning and always experiencing life – so, I win. That feels good…

My whole life is changing like you would not believe now that I have gotten back in touch with my creative energy. My friends tell me I look ten years younger. I get up early in the morning totally excited to see what the day will bring. And I feel happy like I did like I was when I was a little kid doing battle drawing on 10 sheets of dot matrix computer paper (do you remember? the stuff that was all attached and had perforated edges you had to rip off). I hope I feel like a happy kid the rest of my life!

Thanks so much for this article.

I, my Self, have been writing on and off for over 12 years, lately though it gets harder because of everything and “writer’s block” that I use an excuse. But when I do write something it really excites me because of how incredible I think it is. I hope it’s like that for all artists or part-time, that’s what it should be about, it should make you feel something, happiness, joy, love, courage or even anger if it suits you. I try to encourage friends to keep at it, most of us think it’s not good enough or too weird but a lot of people can relate in one way or another because we are all the same in some way. We are all made of the same basic elements, water, carbon, etc. Different tangent there, heh.

I remember back to high school watching you play, standing up to do your solos and how everyone applauded and was in a good mood because of how amazing you were at it, and still are!

Getting back to being an artist, it can get stagnant if it is your profession and you go through the motions of forcing yourself to create. A lot of how art turns out has to do with the mood or mind state you are in before you begin. Art begins with preperation most importantly. If you are forcing yourself and putting negative doubt into it then it won’t be as good as you wanted it to be. But if you are excited about an idea you have and bring it to completion, it’s so much better! I have 3 or 4 books of poetry I wrote from Spring 2000 until Winter 2001. I wrote every day. I took it everywhere with me, all my friends knew I had a pen when they needed one. I even took it to bars, I didn’t drink and act stupid, I wrote, some people thought it was kind of odd that I would do that but when they read some of it they were shocked and amazed. I did force a lot of it just for the sake of filling the books. Most of it was free verse because I filled the lines from front to back, there was no structure. Rhymed whatever I could. But what I did think out and plan when I got excited about something it turned out better than I thought it would and those are the pieces that I remember the most as well as cherish.

Good on ya, James for encouraging others, we are all family and need a push sometimes!