Psychology Today is usually crap, but I actually know about the research in question. My source is a book with the delightful title The Musical Temperament, which reviews personality studies into musicians. On of the things it talks about is personality traits found in successful musicians as opposed to dilettants (most work, btw, done in the classical tradition), and why those traits might be necessary.
What has been found is that there's a pretty uncontroversial set one needs to make it through a childhood and youth of musical study and then to successfully transition to professional work as an adult. You need determination and dedication, you need attentiveness to detail, you need sensitivity and attentiveness to emotion, affect, and aesthetic, you need assertion and competitiveness and a willingness to put yourself right out there in public, etc. But -- and this is the fascinating part -- many of the requisite traits are gendered in our culture, and not all in the same direction. So they found just about nobody gets to be a pro musician in our society who is unwilling to be, and to be seen as, at least somewhat gender transgressive, especially as a child. Little boys studying music have to tolerate being seen as unmasculine for focusing on artistic pursuits and reject the socialization which says males should not be concerned with feelings; little girls have to be willing to compete in auditions and reject the socialization to be self-effacing. Music students who fail to do this drop out of music or wash out due to discomfort with what is necessary for improvement, advancement and success in music.
ETA: Or put another way, musicians need the paradoxical set of traits of being very attuned to and capable articulators of their culture, and very independent-minded non-conformists.
(no subject)
What has been found is that there's a pretty uncontroversial set one needs to make it through a childhood and youth of musical study and then to successfully transition to professional work as an adult. You need determination and dedication, you need attentiveness to detail, you need sensitivity and attentiveness to emotion, affect, and aesthetic, you need assertion and competitiveness and a willingness to put yourself right out there in public, etc. But -- and this is the fascinating part -- many of the requisite traits are gendered in our culture, and not all in the same direction. So they found just about nobody gets to be a pro musician in our society who is unwilling to be, and to be seen as, at least somewhat gender transgressive, especially as a child. Little boys studying music have to tolerate being seen as unmasculine for focusing on artistic pursuits and reject the socialization which says males should not be concerned with feelings; little girls have to be willing to compete in auditions and reject the socialization to be self-effacing. Music students who fail to do this drop out of music or wash out due to discomfort with what is necessary for improvement, advancement and success in music.
ETA: Or put another way, musicians need the paradoxical set of traits of being very attuned to and capable articulators of their culture, and very independent-minded non-conformists.