15 simultaneous subcourses and requirements of adjusting their lives to their studies. Students at the music academy Musikhögskolan in Malmö are more stressed than other students.
“The stress that we experience here is different compared to that of other programs,” says music academy student Maria Carlsson.
Musikhögskolan in Malmö looks like a mix of secondary school and prison facility. Behind the double doors of the rehearsal rooms, future stars are playing scales and pop tunes. In the hallway, one person is strumming a contrabass, and another one a guitar. It doesn’t come across as being stressful. But everybody has invested a lot to get here.
“I don’t want to feed the artist myth, but this program is a lifestyle. It’s constantly a part of you. As a classical vocalist, my body is my instrument, and so I have to adjust my life around to that. I have to eat, sleep and exercise properly. I can’t study for an exam, put it behind me and go for drinks. I constantly have to be on the go,” says Maria Carlsson.
She is a third year music academy program student. Maria Carlsson claims that a musician, unlike an accountant in some respects, has to be in a certain way to make it in the music sector.
“We have to be social, organize concerts and promote ourselves all the time. Contact networks being as crucial as they are can be stressful as well,” she says.
Women worst off
Training for an artistic profession is not always a walk in the park, according to a survey carried out last year among the students at the Faculty of Fine and Performing arts. Even though the response ratio was low at times, which means this study has to be taken with a pinch of salt, it indicates clear signs of stress and pressure among the students.
The ones experiencing the hardest times are the women. More than half of all the women experience a high degree of stress, while the stats corresponding to their male peers are considerably lower.
15 simultaneous subcourses
Even though not everybody at Musikhögskolan dreams of becoming world famous, it seems most of them have consistent opinions about the pressure being a part of the profession.
“Having the ambition to make it as a musician is lots of pressure alone,” says music academy student John Andersson.
Especially the future music teachers are the ones who like it the least at Musikhögskolan.
There have been periods in which they have been taking 15 subcourses simultaneously with the expectations of being as brilliant academically as musically.
“I have periods where I don’t sleep well and miss out on things. If you have 10 things to do in one week, you’ll block out the eleventh one,” says John Andersson.
No awarness of this problem
The students aren’t certain of why the women are the ones who are worst off.
“My take on it is that my female peers more commonly doubt their own abilities. Maybe guys just don’t talk about it,” says John Andersson.
He believes it is a social problem slowly entering through the academy doors. Perhaps things would be better if their teachers received gender pedagogics training. John Andersson claims that certain lecturers are very knowledgeable about these problems, whereas others don’t know anything.
“But we definitely need raised awareness of gender equality at this academy,” says Andrea Hatanmaa, Student Union President at the Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts.
Text: Nina Lind
Photo: Jens Hunt
Translation: Maximilian Aleman Tennell
