# 'Musician's block'



## Sid James

We've all heard of _writer's block_, when a writer simply cannot write for whatever reason. I think same goes for musicians, whether they be composers or musicians playing an instrument (& I'm talking of all music, not just classical).

Some examples are *Bruckner* stopping composing for a while in the 1860's due to a nervous breakdown and *Sibelius* stopping composing, or at least publishing, any major works after the mid 1920's. Same with *Elgar*, who after a flood of works following World War I, did not produce any major works in the 15 or so remaining years of his life. Of course, many factors are at play here, for example, Sibelius' alcoholism and depression, and also the feeling these composers had of being left behind by then current trends in music.

As far as pianists are concerned, a kind of _musician's block _happened with *Vladimir Horowitz*, again related to depression. Horowitz battled depression throughout his life, combining psychiatric medications with alcohol (he had a total memory lapse at concerts on occasion), and his daughter also died, possibly from a drug overdose.

But in the case of Horowitz, he recovered from the blockage and did a spectacular comeback from the mid 1980's until his death in 1989.

Of course, there are related things like musicians on purpose withdrawing from the world of music to find their inner voice, so to speak. Such things occured with Australian composer *Ross Edwards*, retreating to the bush and also *Arvo Part,* who withdrew and immersed himself in early church music. In both these cases, these composers came out stronger than before, they where able to forge their own musical voices from their periods of reflection and _time out_.

*So I'm interested what people think about these kinds of issues, when musicians can't or don't do music, when they don't create for extended periods. In all musical genres, with all musical styles and eras. With composers or musicians whose music you like, or even telling us your own similar experiences if you are a musician.*


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde

I suppose I got some kind of _Composer's block_ in late 2009 when I found it difficult to compose music that imitates 18th century style. I switched to atonality the next year and I was fine.


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