BY JUSTINA LUI
Playing music can be an activity which engulfs all of your senses; a wonderful exercise of mindfulness, of being completely in the moment, your entire focus the art and the sounds you are creating.
It can also be the most stressful, frightening and nerve-wracking experience you can put yourself through.
Performance anxiety can be a crippling stumbling block for many musicians, and while your teacher may be wonderful for technique and musical ideas, they may be limited in their ability to help with the mental anxieties associated with performing.
A plethora of literature, podcasts, and performance coaching exists to help musicians navigate the rickety bridge between an enjoyable and successful performance and the stuff of nightmares. So, where to begin? Let’s examine some of the more popular approaches: Dr Don Greene’s book Performance Success, Barry Green’s The Inner Game of Music, and application of the Alexander Technique.
1. Dr Don Greene – Performance Success: Performing your best under pressure
Greene’s experience as a sport psychologist with the United States Olympic diving team colours much of his approach to performance anxiety. This workbook offers a generalised interactive program for all musicians to create a mental space where you are allowed to succeed.
Greene divides all performances into three categories: Suboptimal Performance, Optimal Performance and Peak Performance, with the aim being to achieve consistent Optimal Performance.
The role of stress and how it affects you in different circumstances is examined and “centering” (a method for releasing tension and redirecting nervous energy) is offered as a stress management tool. Greene provides self-reflection exercises to help clarify your individual goals, and manage the associated stresses. His personalised advice is offered based on your results to quizzes on each area of focus.
Mental rehearsal, using real-time visualisations away from the instrument to practice, is championed as it puts the imagination under your control – a vital skill in developing confidence on stage. The final chapter is a 21-day countdown utilising the skills developed alongside more holistic suggestions such as maintaining a fitness routine and ensuring adequate sleep.
2. Barry Green with Timothy Gallwey – The Inner Game of Music
First published in 1986 and modelled on The Inner Game of Tennis (a cult 1974 volume by Timothy Gallwey outlining a mental preparation program for tennis players), this book may now seem dated with its strong rhetoric and instructional tone.
Written predominantly by Green (at the time, the principal bassist of the Cincinnati Symphony), it is peppered with personal anecdotes from his teaching and performing practice. The book is a guided journey through the “inner game” technique specifically, rather than a personally tailored program in overcoming performance anxiety.
The aim of the book is to organise the thought process regarding performance “to reduce mental interferences that inhibit the full expression of human potential”. A step-by-step approach with short, self-contained exercises to develop awareness of the inner dialogue, set performance goals, control doubt and refocus nervous energies is offered. The aim is for self-confidence to be developed by building trust in your own abilities and learning to let go of destructive negative thought processes.
The later chapters focus on “unlearning” established habits in the practice room and also in the teaching and learning process through developing awareness and minimising unhelpful personal judgement.
3. The Alexander Technique
The Alexander Technique uses mindful awareness to reduce tension in all movements and is applied to repeated learned gestures such as those used while playing a musical instrument.
An Alexander Technique teacher should be able to guide you through process, as it is a personal experience. In order to identify tension or stiffness you may not have been aware of, and to allow the body to find a more efficient way of completing the task, a reprogramming of the associated mental cues is required. This is achieved via the method of “inhibition”. By inhibiting the usual mental instruction or reaction to an outside stimulus, autopilot can be switched off and replaced with a directed movement and being in control of the situation.
In a performance anxiety context, “inhibition” can prevent subconscious stress and tension by halting the usual response to the task of performing and replacing it with a choice as to how one proceeds, creating a space where you have control and can dictate exactly how your body is used.
Concluding thoughts…
There are considerable similarities between the three approaches examined: they all advocate developing awareness of your inner mental dialogue to find the source of the anxiety, and encourage the development of skills to better manage it. Perhaps you find a combination of these more effective than following just one approach cover-to-cover, or prefer to dip in to find exercises pertinent to a particular aspect as required.
Performance anxiety can seem like an insurmountable barrier. But luckily, there are many different approaches to learning ways of overcoming it.
Disclaimer: These views and opinions do not replace formal medical advice. To find out what’s best for you, contact your medical professional.
Image: Marcela Escandell via Flickr CC-BY-SA-2.0
