Abstract
Popular media likes to attribute conservatories as boiling pots for mental disorder, but is there any accuracy to this statement? Do conservatories really cause mental breakdowns? I propose that there are aspects of conservatories that contribute to mental distress, but that there is not enough research to conclude that conservatories cause higher levels of mental distress when compared to a tradition school setting. Even observing different conservatories provides unique stories that make it difficult to create a consensus. However, there are aspects of numerous institutions that contribute to mental health. Roughly 3% of students at the Music School in the Boston area focus primarily on the brass instrument, and a class of these advanced students are the subject of this ethnographic research on the relationship between mental health and conservatories. Once a week for two months I observed their six-person class, the building it was taught in, and annotated relevant information. It was found that even if the data is still inconclusive on whether conservatories cause higher levels of mental health issues than a more traditional university, there are still many mechanisms found in this specific conservatory that do impact mental health. “A social mechanism, as defined here, is a constellation of entities and activities that are linked to one another in such a way that they regularly bring about a particular type of outcome. (kl 181)”. Although I cannot provide a health comparison, I can unveil possible mechanisms that could explain the relationship between conservatory education and the incidence of mental illness among their students. These results call into question the stereotype of the “tortured artist” as unfounded, and provide solutions to improve the format of conservatories, which will allow for a more welcoming environment. The purpose of this research is to look into the mechanics that could potentially link conservatory education with mental health, and provide an avenue for future research on this possible connection. In tandem, using this research to implement methods to improve the mental health of students in conservatories.