Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety affects nearly every one of us, from beginning students to players in the top orchestras of the world. Millions of words have been written about musicians’ performance anxiety. Here, I’ll add a few more of my own!
I have found that many students set a goal to “get over” performance anxiety. They look at successful professional performers and think these players just don’t get nervous anymore. But this is generally not the case. Most players learn gradually, over time, how to live with their performance anxiety and how to perform well despite being nervous. (Don’t be fooled by the books that have “overcoming performance anxiety” as part of their title!)
I experienced a great deal of performance anxiety as a young player, and I have dealt with it consciously throughout my career. I hope these tips from my own experience will prove helpful:
Accept your performance anxiety
Being nervous is a part of performing; it means you care about what you are doing
Performance anxiety is a physiological response - it’s the “fight or flight” reflex that is hard-wired in us humans when we are faced with something we sense is dangerous. Our body can’t tell the difference between an attacking lion and a horn recital!
Nervousness manifests itself in different ways for different people.
Allow yourself to recognize these feelings without trying to subdue them.
As you become more aware of your particular physiological responses, you can work on ways to counter them.
Find practical ways to minimize the symptoms
Examples:
If you get dry mouth when you are nervous, consciously drink 48-64 ounces of water every day for a week before your performance. Brush your teeth shortly before your performance, or place a tiny amount of toothpaste on your tongue and let it dissolve. The sodium in most toothpastes will increase saliva production.
If you feel weaker as a player when you are nervous, add extra strength-building exercises to your daily practice routine.
If you shake when you are nervous, get more exercise. Your body needs practice in dealing with an increased heart rate. Being in good physical shape will also lower your resting heart rate (pulse).
Practice being nervous
Arrange to play for people in order to simulate the nervousness you feel in performance. Accept the feelings, don’t try to force them away. The more you are used to feeling this way, the less disturbing it will be in the actual performance.
Choose at least one time per practice session where you consciously put yourself in a performance frame of mind. Imagine each aspect of your performance: how you will be dressed, what the stage will look like, who will be in the audience, and so on. Vividly imagining something causes the same physiological responses in your body as actually being in that situation.