Nerves and Performance

_Don Herman · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2001 11:31 am Post subject:

FYI (for your information), the ABC News site has a story describing an experiment to determine the reasons for "choking" in performance (paraphrased slightly). The article is about golf, but quite appropos, imo (in my opinion). The conclusion is that the reason for "choking" isn't nerves per se; rather, it's because under pressure we "overthink" everything that normally comes naturally and blow it by trying to consciously control all those little things we do regularly without conscious thought.

The article is "Why People Choke Under Pressure" and the link (appropriately enough) is:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DyeHard/dyehard.html

Worthy of a coupla' minutes... - Don
_________________
Don Herman/Monument, CO
"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music." - Aldous Huxley

4Him · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2001 11:59 am Post subject:

Interesting study.... I tend to choke sometimes-- and it is entirely unpredictable. Sometimes I have all the confidence I can hope for and other times not so.

Recently, I had a performance to do. About 2 hours before the performance I chipped my front tooth. I was totally convinced I could not do it (I had a very exposed solo in one to the pieces) and I really thought I would choke. I decided to make it work-- so my head took over rather than my fear of choking! I got very focused, thought carefully about my breathing, and rehearsed in my head the sounds/notes I expected to hear. I got through the performance with no problems-- in fact did better than I had in previous performance. If I have learned anything about increasing my success as a player in recent months, it is that playing well is a lot about what is in your head. The technical stuff is important, but none of it works well when you are not focused and not working from a higher level of consciousness. That is where I am at, anyway....
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The man that has no music in himself,nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, strategems and spoils; the motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections are dark as Erebus: let no such man be trusted. Shakespeare

Yoinks · Veteran Member Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 258

As i said in another post on this subject, the best way to get over this is to get out there and do it a lot. Play in church, play for your family, play for your friends, play in a little dive bar somewhere in a blues band or somewhere else where no one cares. Eventually it starts to just become part of your normal playing environment to be in front of people.

_Japle · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2002 6:39 pm Post subject:

Yoinks is correct, but don't stop there. Any kind of performance from music to acting to public speaking to competetive sports will help.
I had trouble with nerves in H.S. and college, but years of briefing senior officers in the USAF, MCing awards ceremonies and especially competitive pistol shooting cured me.
You want the shakes? Try the last stage of the shootoffs in an international match. Let's see..... Gotta hit 5 ten-inch targets from the standing position with an open-sighted pistol. And the targets are 150 meters away. And 2,000 people are watching. And the other guys are the best in the world. Don't choke!!
You just have to get out there and do it.

John

Quadruple C · Heavyweight Member Joined: 28 Nov 2001 Posts: 1448

[ This Message was edited by: Quadruple C on 2003-09-24 13:57 ]

kjb · Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2002 9:23 pm Post subject:

Quad C has hit the nail square on the head. If you think about it, doing something fun rarely has nerve-wracking qualities. A day at the beach, watching a hockey game, going shopping - all fun activities. Oh, and performing a full-length recital infront of accomplished musicians, peers, and teachers. And playing principal on "Pictures" infront of a sell-out crowd. . . If we didn't love performing, we wouldn't spend so much time honing our skills. Ahh, for the love of the trumpet. . .

Cheers,

kjb

[ This Message was edited by: kjb on 2002-01-05 00:25 ]

mcstock · Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2002 2:40 pm Post subject:

On my webiste I've done a page compiling different approaches to these issues. The URL is:http://www.geocities.com/vienna/strasse/7826/mental.html .

Best Wishes,
Matt Stock

Yoinks · Veteran Member Joined: 10 Nov 2001 Posts: 258

Mr. Adam has a good story about this too, which I forgot to mention. It was told to me by my trumpet teacher.

At one point, some big shot guy in L.A.(I can't remember who anymore, anyone know???), who was an Adam student, came back to Mr. Adam with a big problem. He had chipped his tooth, when he was young, and played like that for many many years. However, he finally had it repaired. He came to Mr. Adam saying that he could no longer play nearly as well,(loss of range big time, endurance, flex., etc.) because it had changed his lip. Mr. Adam tried a few things with him, and nothing seemed to work, at least not as fast as it need to for him to go back and continue his career. So finally, Mr. Adam told him to go knock out the fixed part, and intentionally chip his tooth again the way it was. He did, and his playing instantly returned. Apparently Mr. Adam laughed in commenting to others later, that really, he didn't need to knock out the tooth, the playing loss was all a mental block. this guy was just so convinced that this would cause problems, he let it, and therefore needed to knock the tooth back out because this is the only thing that would convince him he could play well again.

OCTA-C · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2002 10:32 pm Post subject:

Just remember, if there was no nervousness, chocking-up, or mistakes in this world then we would not be human and you would never hear the phrase "take two" or even "take three"..........."TAKE TEN!"
_________________
Jay S.

"May the good sound be yours!"

"Always remember to blow into the proper end of the horn!"-circa. 1900 (Harry Gardoon)

Blue Devil · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2002 11:55 pm Post subject:

Has anyone read the book "The Inner Game Of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey? After reading the book, I think the author is dead-on in describing performance issues and how to deal with them, whether it be in tennis, music, or anything in life where we have to "perform".

Emb_Enh · Veteran Member Joined: 29 Oct 2002 Posts: 455

Blue devil wrote....
Has anyone read the book "The Inner Game Of Tennis" by W. Timothy Gallwey?

....no but the source book for that one is the classic....Zen and the art of archery!! quite an old book I believe.

I think Bill Adam recommends it ti his pupils...anyhow I got it off Mark Minasians' site...a bill adam expert!!!

regards!!
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"E M B O U C H U R E___E N H A N C E M E N T"
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[Self Analysis and Diagnostic Trumpet Method]

gappingr · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2002 12:07 pm Post subject:

I posted this once a long time ago on the old site. A horn player from the Portland Symphony did a master class a few years ago at Univ of Arizona. When asked how he prepared for performance anxiety he said the following:

1) Play the solo/excerpt/etc.
2) Put down your horn and do 20 pushups.
3) Pick up the horn and play the solo again.

Doing the pushups will cause your heart rate to accelerate, your palms to sweat a little, your arms to get shaky, and make you be out of breath. All of these are similar to the effects of nervousness and anxiety. If you practice the music under similar circumstances to those you'll face when performing, you will be better prepared and more comfortable when the time comes to play the show.
_________________
Rob Gappinger

One needs only two tools: WD40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and should, use WD40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape.

PH · Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2002 3:40 pm Post subject:

Check this out. I think there is some great stuff here.

<http://www.trumpetguild.org/itgyouth/scott.html>

trptmaster · Veteran Member Joined: 20 Jan 2002 Posts: 146

Take a 10 mg beta blocker. if you don't know what that is shame on you for having the shakes. 10mg's on performance day keeps the fold DR away!

Take Care

trptmaster

brnt99 · Regular Member Joined: 17 Nov 2001 Posts: 82

So do you need a prescription for beta-blockers. Are there any side effects that could adversly affect your playing?

vivace · Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2002 12:00 pm Post subject:

Has anyone looked at the good side of having the shakes??

On my first solo, my grandmother said I had a nice vibrato (she was being nice.)

_________________
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing no song." - Louis Armstrong

wildebrook · Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 9:24 am Post subject:

It was asked if there are side effects to beta blockers. Answer: YES! They are not magic pills that help trumpet players without any risk.
If you study the possible side effects (talk to pharmacist) and still want to use beta blockers then it is your call, along with your physician. But don't get hyped into thinking there are no side effects.

dwm1129 · Posted: Tue May 14, 2002 9:48 am Post subject:

The side affects depend on the person but there are usually none, I have been taking beta-blockers for performance for years and have had no side affects and they are used by many, many people. Everyone is different some can play in front of thousands of people, where perfection is expected and do it without any help, me on the other hand need 20mg of proprananol, were all different and some need a little help.

Sycil · New Member Joined: 18 Sep 2014 Posts: 6

I'd suggest replacing push-ups with jumping jacks in the previous post.