Stoic concepts as they relate to Music Practice: Euthymia

Those closest to me know that I’ve been journaling daily for a little over a year now and that journaling lead me to the study of Stoic philosophy. This study for me is comprised of deep reading Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Regularly, concepts come up that strongly correlate with the lives of performing musicians and music educators. This will be the first in a series of blog posts touching on these principles.

Euthymia as defined by Democritus:

“is a state in which one is satisfied with what is present and available, taking little heed of people who are envied and admired and observing the lives of those who suffer and yet endure.”

Seneca, in his collection Moral Letters, has this to say:

“Tranquility can’t be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment — the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rejecting and accepting things. What is the cause of this back and forth? It’s because nothing is clear and they rely on the most uncertain guide : common opinion.”

And defines it:

“believing in yourself and trusting that you are on the right path, and not being in doubt by following the myriad footpaths of those wandering in every direction.”

I read these quotes and meditate on our lives as aspiring and professional musicians, all scrambling to keep up with what’s new and hip: the gear, grooves, licks, terminology, social media status, fashion, aesthetics…all of it…all of the time. Chasing after other people’s ideas, ideals, and opinions as if we haven’t some of our own. Looking for the newest thing. The trend. To what end?

I’d argue that this is entirely a fools errand. We are all here with something to offer. Something to say. Of course we need to try to absorb what the masters who came before us did, but we need to find our own voices and let them loose, as well. If, like a dog on the neighborhood prowl, we chase every little scent that comes our way, we will have missed the journey completely and end up lost far from home, from our center, from us.

We need to trust that our chosen path is leading us where we intend, desire, and need to be. In the practice room, that might mean that working on pocket and groove is our personal focus even though our peers are spending hours on that new sick lick or stick trick. It might mean working on our tone, our sonic finger print, when others are working to be the fastest hands in town. It might mean working on the skills that will get us the gig instead of the ones that might just lose the gig. No judgement here. If your personal journey and path are to be an internet video hero with millions of followers, great! Do the work. If you derive pure joy playing for and by yourself in your practice studio, awesome! Follow your bliss. My point is that we all have that inner drive that seems to be sending us on our own journey. Why waste time trying to figure out where everyone else is going? Enjoy your trip!

Eu-thymia means well-soul or well-emotion. It means that you are happy and at peace. Hard to exist in that space when you are chasing after someone else’s dreams… Forget about following those who might be envied and admired. Remind yourself daily that you are so damn fortunate to be here now and making music!