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no, i'm not in denial...but because i don't i don't!

So both answers? :P

Ex-CACTLY! ;) Perhaps there’s a notion we could call VUII: Violining Under the Influence of Intoxicants. Consider how the law provides that it is okay to drive after you’ve been drinking, you just can’t drive while under the influence of what you’ve consumed. Like driving, stringed instruments are complex pursuits. Stringed instruments recruit so many fine motor skills. Practicing strings requires a cheerful and open attitude, and dividing attention simultaneously between many small tasks. None of those components really succeed while playing/practicing “impaired.” If you’ve ever practiced after taking a glass of wine, for example, you have probably experienced some of this inhibiting effect.

If one is going to take up his or her violin, and has or will consume drugs or alcohol in conjunction with playing, the union of chemical and string is something to think about. Speaking only for myself, I believe the less necessary it is that a person ingests a substance during an endeavor as physically fickle as violin tone production, the more one might examine why one is employing the chemical in the first place.

If you do put the question to yourself and it’s just too hard to answer, or if you have some rather unique answers to the question, or if the mere inquiry makes you feel defensive . . . those do start sounding like denial/rationalization/avoidance components of a larger problem.

Music and addiction are strongly attached to emotional states. I wonder if anyone in science or academia has rigorously studied the interrelationships as pertains to chemically-dependent classical musicians; finding the themes to their adventures.

"What is considered a substance?"

If some half-wits can make a buck if something's a substance, then it's a substance.

Isn't playing the violin enough of a drug in itself that we don't need crack (unlike those violists needing a break from their misery)? I have nothing of substance to say, but I do have a chocolate abuse problem...

Seriously, beta blockers can hardly be put into a substance abuse category.

LOL Charles! I’m on cracklin and I’m not sure whether v.com is my cracklin support group or a substance itself (crackvicom?):-) Oh geez Anne, how could I forget chocolate? But seriously, you are right, it does not seem right to lump beta-blockers in with "substance abuse" stories. They seem like two separate issues. In my hood we have roving gangs of nervous classical musicians breaking into houses to buy beta-blockers. I'd call it a problem. If drinking 10 cups of very strong tea a day is substance abuse, then I'm guilty!
Otherwise I'm in denial ha ha. Bring on the Tequila!!!! I find I can no longer abuse caffeine. Now THAT's a problem.

Due to time and income constraints, my problem seems to be a massive drug deficiency. I hope to work on it in future.

Yes. From now on aspiring crackalinists must consume massive amounts of Kracktzer and Fleth and Sevcoke and Pagajuana and Auerin and Galamabis. I was recently directing a beginner ensemble while taking a narcotic for a chronic back problem that I have. While attempting to make a decision on the bowing of a passage I made the comment "Never make bowing decisions under the influence of narcotics", because I couldn't make up my mind.

One of my players made it her MySpace quote, and in less than 12 hours, v-commer and friend Emily found it and asked me about it.

Lesson learned: keep your mouth shut when trying to make bowing decisions under the influence of narcotics, especially when you live in a small town.

Never admit to a substance abuse problem in a small town...

:)

Actually Robert and I considered installing a Breathalyzer test for posting on V.com, along with a public-service "Don't drink and post!" campaign. Greetings,
since Laurie seems determined to include prunes among contraversial `substances` I tried some abuse. I sat a prune on a cold hard plate and shouted at it for three hours using the vilest language possible. Then I ate it.
Alas, it had the last word....
Cheers,
Buri Here in the US we waterboard our prunes. Better hurry before the new congress outlaws that sort of thing. yea steven why is it you have so many typing errors? you mean like writing myname wrong?;)