5. Rebecca Toal and Hattie Butterworth

The Essay

Kate Kennedy meets musicians who, like her, had to stop playing after injury and reconsider their relationship with their instruments.

We all know that listening to music can have a positive impact on wellbeing and mental health. But what about the performer? The truth is, for anyone wanting to turn professional, this is a highly competitive and pressurised environment often driven in part by fear and anxiety. It's a problem that can have a disproportionate effect on young people - which is why trumpeter Rebecca Toal and cellist Hattie Butterworth started their podcast, Things Musicians Don't Talk About, to try to break the taboo of not acknowledging the difficulties with mental illness that many musicians face. They talk to Kate about their personal experience of 'the system' for training musicians that can so easily break down, often resulting in crippling anxiety and burn-out. Obsessive behaviour and eating disorders are not uncommon as people try to gain some control over the endless cycle of practice and performance. By creating the podcast, Rebecca and Hattie have found a creative way to use their experiences to forge a new and less damaging path for themselves, but also to help others by sharing musicians' experiences honestly.

Presenter: Kate Kennedy Producer: Erika Wright Production Coordinator: Elisabeth Tuohy Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar Healing Musicians is a TellTale Industries production for BBC Radio 3