HeyJaredThe Mental Musician
Hey everyone, Welcome to The Mental Musician Podcast.My name is Brian Zhang. I'm a guitarist, music teacher, and writer from Sydney, Australia. I've been a professional musician for over a decade.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 3
- Latest publication
- Aug 27, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 31, 2026
Latest episodes
Asha Marinella burnt out teaching dance during COVID. Here's how defying expectations helped her become the artist she always wanted to be. (opens the original)
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If you're an artist, I'm sure you've experienced having an identity crisis. I certainly have. Because you're often told to niche down, stick to one thing, and can't do anything else. But like me, you're not going to be interested in just one thing, and when you try different genres or art forms, you often run the risk of being criticised and isolated by your peers because you're not a "true artist" in the traditional sense. That's exactly what we talk about in today's episode with my friend Asha
Esther Ling on Breaking Classical Music Rules, Walking Away From Toxic Ensembles, and Fighting Through Depression (opens the original)
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If you've ever worked somewhere with a toxic environment, you'll know just how draining it can be and the toll it takes on your mental health. But in the music world, even if the place you're working in is toxic, whether it's a school, a band, ensemble or studio, walking away from it comes with a price. Traditionally, you'll be called a quitter, weak, and the perception is that you never had what it took. In other words, you're not a real musician. Well that's an old, outdated and toxic mindset
Could AI Be the Thing That Finally Saves Musicians From Burnout? (opens the original)
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It feels inevitable that we were going to do an episode on AI in music. There's no escaping it; it's already a big part of our lives, let alone in the music industry. We are living in the AI invasion century! Today's episode is a little different. My friend Michael Wright, who has been a regular on this show at this point, he's basically a co-host, wrote the ideas for today's episode. When we were planning it together, we made a deliberate decision to leave the legal and logistical side of AI la
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