Performance Anxiety

dracul · Veteran Member Joined: 17 Oct 2004 Posts: 154

It's life's big mystery. I struggle with it anytime I play classical music. Anything else and I do not get it at all. So my cure is to limit classical playing and play everything else. Alcohol helps too. I have quite a million groups over this issue and it is depressing. Best of luck to you.
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shofarguy · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:25 pm Post subject:

I really think we get nervous when we think someone out there is going to think we should have done better.

BS, I say! If they want to think that, let THEM come up and blow on this thing. Come on up, I dare you!

The fact is that the only one that thinks I should have done better (before I even have played a note) is the guy sitting between my own two ears.

So, I do a few things to steer him right.

I prepare well. Not just practicing the pieces I'm going to play, but playing around with them, improvising and changing keys, that sort of thing. I practice scales and arpeggios. I do this stuff without written music, so that I can play the song, instead of the page. Then, if I need to, I use the page as a map reference.

I get used to the room. As much as I can, I play in the space where I'm going to perform. In Glendora, that was easy. Not so much, yet, in AZ.

I decide that I like the people in my audience and want to play something for them. If the dude between the ears is concentrating on giving, he won't concentrate on imminent screw-ups. Then, when those do come, it's a small pothole in the "giving road", not a cliff.

Brian
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Larry Jess · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 2:47 pm Post subject:

Read the "Inner Game of Tennis" by Timothy Gallwey. There are several books by him (and Barry Green) including "The Inner Game of Music" Good places to start on learning how to calm down and focus. There are others, but these I would recommend to start! Preparation of the music is important but also understanding how we defeat ourselves in performance will help!

Good Luck!

Larry Jess
Principal Trumpet
Spokane Symphony Orchestra

cjl · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:38 pm Post subject:

cjl · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:50 pm Post subject:

Roberts-K · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:53 pm Post subject: Performance Anxiety

Thanks Nate! Effortless Mastery is by Pianist Kenny Werner; Kenny Wheeler is a great Jazz guitarist out of Texas! Just got confused!

Now if I had to play classical music in front of living people or pets, you haven't ever seen that kind of sheer panic!
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jhatpro · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:15 pm Post subject:

And, of course, there's Kenny Wheeler, the Canadian post-bop player who recorded with Anthony Braxton, John Dankworth, and others.
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JRoyal · Heavyweight Member Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 770

EdMann · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:32 am Post subject:

I read a great quote that Tony Bennett paraphrased of Sinatra. Bennett was to fill in as host of the Perry Como Show back in the 60's, a whole hour of variety television he had to fill with more than simply singing, and he was a wreck. Frank told him that the audience will sense your nervousness and will pull for you. They are there with the high hopes you have of a great performance, not sitting on a dais waiting to judge every element. Tony claimed it as one of the great lessons of his life.

I'll add that this has meant a lot to me as well. If anyone of us, as musicians, attends the performance of fellow musicians in that manner of Simon Cowell, picking apart every element, or worse, a blanket judgment on what they're hearing, it's a grand misfortune to the performer. Sadly, this happens all the time among trumpeters, and the fact remains that an audience is not a jury. And if I catch one of you doing this again, so help me, I'll toss you out on your can!

Have a nice day

ed

ed

jtpowell · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 4:49 pm Post subject:

Watch "The King's Speach".
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trombino · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 5:48 pm Post subject:

Let the flames begin. I have fought this problem my entire career. I've read every book ever written on the subject, worked with psychologists who specialize on the topic, tried hypnosis...you name it, I've tried it. 15 years ago I finally resorted to occasional use of propanol and have no regrets. The problem, at least for me, is physical not mental. The body senses stress and releases adrenalin which causes the debilitating physical incapacitation. When I take the medication, I feel the same stress of having to execute exacting musical demands. The only difference is that I don't have the same physical reaction to the stress. Without the adrenalin rush I am able to stay in the moment and play what needs to be played. Many more people use this drug than will ever admit it. Trumpet players think they're Superman (woman) Me, I'm just trying to be competent.

s4ftyfi1257 · New Member Joined: 11 Sep 2011 Posts: 4

plunkett · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 7:18 pm Post subject:

s4ftyfi1257 · New Member Joined: 11 Sep 2011 Posts: 4

it's not 100% physical. The reaction is physical, but the reaction is caused by perception of a dangerous situation. If you perceive danger, you get a rush. If you can change your perception, you limit the physical reaction!

trombino · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 8:01 pm Post subject:

s4ftyfi1257 · New Member Joined: 11 Sep 2011 Posts: 4

Simple sure. Not easy.

JoseLindE4 · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 791

The problem is when the mental fear is focused on the physical symptoms. There's a terribly vicious cycle where you're not afraid of the audience, or even of messing up. You become afraid of the symptoms. Fear of the symptoms leads to increased symptoms, which leads to increased fear, ect. At that point you might as well be playing in a lion cage.

At that point all the standard rules (more preparation, more experience performing, ect) no longer apply. In fact, depending on the performance atmosphere, more negative experiences can make things worse. Something has to short circuit this cycle or you'll get eaten.

You can't change the perception until the cycle is broken. Otherwise, the lion remains very real and is stalking only you.

I have never feared making a mistake in a performance. I've never feared how the audience perceives my playing. I have been at times terrified of shaking. The subconscious does not understand the word "No." Afraid that you'll shake? You will shake. Fear breeds fear and even though no one else in the room can see it, the lion is there. Deep down, you intuit that this shaking reveals some fundamental flaw in your character and predicts your eventual failure as a performer. This is the very real lion that stalks those who struggle with this problem.

This is a terrifying and miserable way to live and perform. Beta blockers saved my performing life.

Al Innella · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 6:54 am Post subject:

I used to get nervous when I first started performing. As I got older and more confident in my abilities, I started to feel less and less nervous. Even when I first started, I realized it wasn't a life and death situation. If I did make a mistake I still lived and life went on.

RandyTX · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:57 am Post subject:

I once crashed and burned horribly on an opening solo to a band piece in "jr. high" school when I was about 13. I was upset immediately afterward, but the world didn't come to an end or anything, and I didn't stop playing solos to avoid it recurring.

After that, I figured it was almost impossible for me to ever mess up that badly again, apart from maybe getting hit by an asteroid while playing.

As others have said, the more you do it, the less nerves factor in. The main cause (imo) of messing up is the actual fear of it in the first place. If you can avoid being afraid, that's 99% of the battle won right there.
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s4ftyfi1257 · New Member Joined: 11 Sep 2011 Posts: 4

Nervousness is caused by a sense of danger. Danger is felt when the body, mind, or emotional well being of a person feels unprepared to deal with the situation at hand. Like climbing trees. The more you do it successfully at greater heights, the less nervous you are about climbing.

The real solution is to perform as much as possible.