“ What if …?”
Five Questions to Ask If You Want to Get “ Music Fit ”
By Mike Schwartz
Mike Schwartz is a musician-first fitness professional , educator , author , and speaker . He is also the founder of the Music Fit Collective .
Time for some real talk . In 2020 , the Unison Benevolent Fund saw an astronomical 3,021 % increase in emergency financial assistance applications . They shelled out over $ 2.3 million in financial assistance alone . That ’ s double the amount dispersed in all the previous years combined ! They also saw a 208 % increase in crisis intervention cases and 142 % increase in general counselling cases . Here ’ s the most radical part of it all – all of this is reactionary care . But also , all of this is preventative . Sit with that for a minute . What if we had a way to solve the problems in our lives so we could be happy and continue to share our gift of music with the world ?
Aside from the loss of jobs ( one in four arts , entertainment , and recreation workers lost their jobs in 2020 ), the uncertainty has brought on a much deeper , darker personal hell for many artists . And then there are the outliers .
How are some artists thriving ? That ’ s what I ’ m interested in uncovering . What if we all moved more , breathed well , and used better words ? What if the word “ fitness ” meant more than how many squats and push-ups we can do ? What if we could build strength through our music ? What if we had a community to collaborate and connect with and create more awesomeness in ? And again , what if we had a way to solve the problems in our lives so we could be happy and continue to share our gift with the world ?
As you can see by now , I like asking questions .
So , question number one : What if we moved more and breathed more fresh air ?
The Carbons
Groove-rock – Kelowna , BC
The Carbons have been on a “ quaran-tunes ” tear since October 2020 , so I wanted to tap into their world and see what ’ s worked for them to maintain that ambition despite the lockdowns . Here are Tomy Thisdale ( guitar and vocals ), Conroy Ross ( bass ), and Paul Minor ( drums ) of The Carbons .
CM : I ’ d like to touch on the effects of lockdown and that sense of “ cabin fever .” Does it trickle into things like substance abuse and your guys ’ sanity ?
Tomy Thisdale : I feel like we were pretty lucky in a sense . As a band , we don ’ t really have much to lose . Some bands are flourishing . A lot of people have thrown the towel in . I think I speak for everybody here : every day is different . Like today , I don ’ t want to throw the towel in and who knows what tomorrow will be like .
CM : Sounds tough . You guys have done well to stay positive . Individually , what have you done to keep that positivity ?
Paul Minor : For myself , working with you , fitness wise . I ’ d never really taken the time to work out and I definitely appreciated that . It helps with mental health and physically to get me through the hard times .
CM : Cool , man . What has exercise done for you outside of just the workout ?
Thisdale : [ To Paul ] Do you mind if I chime in ? - I ’ ve definitely noticed he ’ s more of an animal on the kit and he ’ s more fun to watch just hammering on the cymbals ! [ laughs ]
Minor : [ Still laughing ] Actually balancing out my lifestyle . My work life and personal life and really learning how to balance and how to take time for myself . Whether it ’ s just like “ go for a walk and breathe ”, you know ? So yeah , and then like also when we get to go play live shows , now I know how to [ we can ] maintain ourselves so we ’ re not sore for the next show . How we can keep healthy . I ’ ve got a whole backpack of knowledge .
CM : How about you , Conroy ?
Ross : I tried to learn drums over the pandemic . So like , picking up new skills . And actually , I signed up for a free Berklee College wellness course ! I ’ m trying to level up , Mike . Trying to do things that are knowledgeable … make me more wordy … [ laughs ]
CM : [ laughs ] Tomy , what ’ s been your thing ?
38 CANADIAN MUSICIAN