Festival of Hobbies - Mat Pronger
Mat Pronger is a psychotherapist/counsellor based in Sheffield with a unit at Harland Works.
As someone who knows a lot about mental health, I wondered if Mat thought having a hobby was important, and whether he had one. And yes, it turns out he does rate hobbies - and he has spent a lot of time on his own hobby of music. He kindly answered some questions I emailed him about his hobby.
What is your hobby Mat?
“My hobby is playing music, specifically trumpet and trombone. Like a lot of musicians, I started in school, playing the trumpet in a tiny, not even nearly soundproof room. It’s hard to remember why I got into this, it feels like an awfully long time ago, but with quite a lot of encouragement, I persevered, playing in orchestras, swing bands, and setting up the quintessential teenage garage band. I don’t care what you say, we were pretty good!
Moving to Sheffield I found horn players were in great demand, but specifically trombone players. My grandfather had played trombone, but decided at his age (he was in his 70’s) it might be time to stop. I inherited his instrument and, woefully unprepared, threw myself at Sheffield’s unsuspecting music scene”.
What is it about music specifically that really appeals to you as a hobby?
“Music is a brilliant leveler. There’s a real sense of mentorship in formal band structures, with people of all kinds of ages supporting one another. When you get out of those structures and start playing in your own bands, you can find it can also get you into a lot of places you wouldn’t expect; sometimes music has taken me places, other times it’s something you take with you. I lived in Japan for a couple of years; my trumpet was my hand-luggage, my trombone followed in the post. Playing with a junior high school orchestra out there was probably the strangest gig I’ve ever done, although there’s a lot of competition for that title.”
How do you feel your hobby has benefited you?
“Music has provided me with an awful lot of friends. I’m still in contact with people I played music with when I was 10, and continue to meet new people all the time. And it provides me with something that is an escape; a thing to do that is my own”.
Do you think hobbies are important generally; are they good for our mental health?
“My work is in mental health, and people’s hobbies and interests are hugely important when we work with someone; they form a big part of who we are, and as adults we forget that. If you ask a child “what do you do?” you’ll get any number of exciting and interesting answers, focused on their hobbies and interests. If you ask an adult, they’re far more likely to tell you what they do for work. What a shame it is that we forget we’re here to play!
Hobbies generally, are great for your mental health. We could talk about the social side; meeting people and being part of a community of hobbyists. We could talk about expression, and how our hobbies can give us an opportunity to knit a scarf for a friend as an expression of love, bake a cake for a celebration, or play as part of a team that says something about who we are and where we are from.
But one of the things we forget is that hobbies, on all levels, make us feeling skilled. I haven’t the first clue about how to make a model railway set; people who do have a whole skill set that is closed off to the rest of us! Feeling skilled, in psych-lingo is a huge boost to our self-esteem. It gives us a personal sense of value, which isn’t necessarily conditional on being perfect, and doesn’t need us to be amazing at it in order to pay the bills. It’s low pressure, and we set our own conditions of worth; the things we need to achieve in order to say we did a ‘good job’.
Music, specifically has huge psychological benefits. The only discernable and indisputable physical differences between Einstein’s brain and yours were the products of his violin playing; an enlarged section that controlled his left fingers (for fretting the violing) and a strengthened corpus colosum, which joins the two sides of the brain, and is enlarged in many musicians. Oliver Sach’s Musicology explores this better than I can explain here, but Sach’s argues that if we were to line up a row of brains, the only ones that would give clues as to their (former) owner’s profession, would be the musicians.
Csikszentmihalyi, an American-Hungarian psychologist, whose name I have almost certainly spelt wrong and definitely can’t pronounce, studied elite atheletes and jazz musicans. In doing so he named ‘flow states’. These are almost trance like states, often associated with meditation, that our brain enters into when doing something that absorbs our attention. He argues that those who spend time focused on hobbies are likely to spend more time in ‘flow states’. Consequently they develop “intrinsic motivation” (self-motivation), improved positive “affect” (good moods) and a sense of serenity. All of these things are gained from practicing and becoming involved in our hobbies.”
Do you have any advice for anyone thinking about taking up a hobby generally, or taking up music specifically?
“My advice to anyone taking up a hobby, is little and often. Change isn’t always that easy, and we have to understand that taking up new hobbies can feel de-skilling and a little intimidating at first. But with small, regular involvement, change gets easier, and before you know it, you’re bobbing along in a wonderful flow state trying to remember what it was you did before you played the bassoon/took up knitting/started writing poetry.
If someone wanted to take up an instrument, they are likely to find it quite intimidating. It requires some specialist tuition, equipment and regular practice. But, and some musicians might not forgive me for this, some instruments are easier to pick up than others. Ukulele’s have had a renaissance, as people realize they’re cheap, straight forward, and can be learned in groups or online.
And don’t forget, you always have your voice! Sheffield is blessed with all kinds of different choirs, ranging from the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus , to the outlandishly experimental Juxtavoices, who describe themselves as an ‘anti-choir’. Joining a choir is a great place to start and pick up the skills needed”.
What’s next for you and your hobby?
“This year my aim is to re-engage with music, but a little differently. I never really ‘got’ jazz until I found some of the more out there stuff, and I hope to do something that’s a little more experimental. If you’re reading this, let’s form a band, yeah?”
And finally, is there a hobby you’ve never tried, but would like to...?
“I’ve never really considered what hobby I would take up, but there are a few I am in awe of. Knitting, for example, I don’t get it. Turning a ball of wool into an item of clothing; surely that’s witchcraft.”
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If you’ve enjoyed reading about Mat’s hobby, you might also be interested in reading about Rob of Skeet + Coutie who also talks about music as his hobby - indeed, he says music is the best hobby to have ;)
And if you, like Mat, are fascinated by knitting, you might be interested to come to a knitting taster that we’ll be running later this month. Details will be here