Whilst we were developing the Music & Me quiz, we spent a long time validating it, which means that we tested it with a wide variety of musicians, to check that it was measuring what we thought it was measuring. Whilst working with both students and professionals, we heard the same thing time and again:
“What if the way I answer this today is different to tomorrow?”
This was especially true of certain statements, such as “Music gives me emotional stability,” or “I feel good about my abilities in comparison to other people I know.” This makes sense – it’s totally normal to feel different from one day to the next about all sorts of things, and our relationship with music is no different.
If you found yourself struggling to settle on an answer for certain statements, it could be that your relationship with music is really fluid. However, could there be external factors that are influencing your attitudes as well? There’s no question that being a musician brings with it a lot of change, whether that’s through instability or just a dynamic portfolio of work. Why not do some research on yourself? You could check in with the quiz alongside your diary, or keep a short reflective journal. Here are some things you could record:
- Hours worked/practised
- “Big” performances
- Any lessons
- Who you rehearsed with
- Diet
- Exercise levels
- Alcohol consumed
- Hours of sleep
- Menstrual cycle
- Work location and commute time
- …the list goes on!
Perhaps don’t try these all at once! Instead pick something that you think varies a lot week to week as a starting point, and go from there. You might not want to do the entire quiz either: instead choose just a section or the particular questions you find yourself agonising over, and track how your answers change week to week.
Remember that the end goal isn’t necessarily to ‘improve’ any particular score, as that may not be ideal for everyone – read about the negatives of a strong growth mindset here. The impact of knowing yourself and what external factors affect you might help you make more informed decisions about what work to say yes and no to, or simply allow you to arrange your diary in a way that is productive for you.
What did you learn about yourself? You can share it in the padlet here.