Post Performance anxiety

[starkadder]

People ask often about performance anxiety. Could anyone comment on how to deal with post-performance anxiety.

I seem to do ok getting up on my hind legs and playing. But afterwards I fell like I could die in a pile. I have little anxiety attacks the rest of the day because I suck so bad. Does this sound familiar to anyone else, and how do you cope?

[skootchy]

If the performance is over...it's miller time..or in my case tequila...
Seriousely, take the time to realistically critque your performance and take it back to the woodshed. Use your post performance anxiety to spur you on. Use it to your advantage.
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[thadjones1213]

critical and detrimental thinking are different. The first allows you to improve upon your current musical talents. The latter, if you allow it to thrive, can only harm your progress because you are playing a negative tape over and over again.

Psycho Cybernetics is a great book that deals with self image, as well as some of "The Inner Game of Tennis."

You can't change the past, and you can only prepare for the future in the "now."

You need to play the tapes in your mind of your desired outcome. This is very important. This is just as important as hearing the notes in your mind before you play them. I know this is not easy and we all have our issues with this. Start now.

All the best.

[stanton]

[starkadder]

The "because I suck so bad" is part of the anxiety attack; self accusation if you will . I realize that it is counter-productive to think that way. I don't routinely indulge in l self-flagellation.

My teacher says that playing the trumpet is like being in a bad relationship. You can pour in a lot of love and work and he/she won't give you much back, and instead asks for more after pointing out your shortcomings.

[Dale Proctor]

I don't generally put myself into positions where I don't have a pretty good chance of success. Still, sheepdip happens, and as one of my friends says, that's the beauty of live music - what happens, happens. Learn from the experience and don't repeat it...
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[robertgrier]

[starkadder]

[jiarby]

Well, after the performance is over there is nothing you can do about it.

It takes a shift in your mental attitude to not worry about things in the past that can no longer be changed. Accept that the performance is now part of your legacy.

To change your attitude about your playing try to find something in the performance that you did really well. Focus your brain power on something positive. There is always good things in any performance.

I record all of my community band's rehearsals... and it would be easy for me to get depressed about how bad I play... I am a 10 month comeback player and in over my head a bit. BUT, usually in every rehearsal... mixed in among the clams are a few pearls. I make sure I find them and use them to reinforce that I am on the right track. Those pearls of greatness are REALLY who I am, not the clams. Then I try to identify issues and passages that need attention in my practice sessions during the week. Patience is a must, especially for a comeback guy like me.

Then change how you think about parts of your playing that you describe as "sucked". There are hardly any perfect performances. Everyone makes mistakes. Instead of painting your WHOLE performance as "SUCKED", be more objective and realize that not EVERYTHING sucked.

Then start thinking of the parts you are not happy with as tools to improve your practice. Now you have something concrete that you can work on improving... was it flubbing attacks? intonation? endurance? interval/scale problems? Break it down... What specifically was bad? How can you fix it? What can you add to your daily practice to improve that aspect of your playing??

It's OK to suck, but not OK to just whine about it. Think of it as the trumpet gods in the sky telling you what you need to practice next.

[robertgrier]

[cheiden]

I think Garrison Keillor was quoted as saying "Ahh, the trumpet. Now there’s an instrument on which one can truly embarrass himself." You have to learn to love the white knuckle ride. It seems to me that most gigs worth playing demand as much as I have to give and then some. So it's always a thrill to get most of it right with some semblance of style.

I too battle with after-gig anxiety. I could do a 3 week run of a HARD musical and even if that vast majority of it was a resounding success I find it hard not to dwell on the few times I clammed.

It helps me to try and remember that for most of what I do, people don't come to see me. I'm not in the spotlight. My job is to contribute to the music as a whole and my little part can lift up or drag down the experience somewhat but it's rarely what people remember when they leave.

And because I'm only a part of the whole picture I do my best not to throw myself at things likely to miss. Kind of a musicians hypocratic oath of "doing no harm". If that means taking something down an octave or simplifying, even skipping a phrase that's what I do because it's not about me getting all the notes.

Claude Gordon was quoted as saying "hit it hard and wish it well".
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