Dealing With Performance Anxiety
1. What Are You Afraid Of? 😬
Performance anxiety is something that most musicians are very well acquainted with. It can be a feeling of slight nervousness that can heighten awareness and improve your performance, or it can be a feeling of complete dread that is debilitating and prevents you from achieving your full potential. However, performing doesn’t need to be an activity filled with fear and there are many ways to temper and harness performance anxiety so that it becomes a benefit to you, rather than a hindrance.
Ultimately that feeling of nervousness is a physiological response to a psychological problem. This means that if we change the way we think then we can reduce our anxiety. In order to do that, first we need to work out what exactly causes performance anxiety and what it is that we might be anxious about!
Performance anxiety is, in essence, a fight or flight response that can be caused by a number of predominantly social factors:
1. Looking stupid/being embarrassed/making a fool of yourself
A common concern prior to a performance is that we might embarrass ourselves if we make a mistake or if it doesn’t go that way that we want it to. This type of catastrophising is perhaps more common amongst introverts that find that they have some level of social anxiety anyway (like myself!).
However, a simple question to ask yourself is…what’s the worse thing that can happen? It all goes wrong and you can’t play? Even if that actually happened, it doesn’t really matter! It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and even if the absolute worse situation happened…life goes on, there’s always next time and a piece of music is always a work in progress. Think about showing the audience what you like about the piece, not showing them perfection. The win is the fact that you are putting yourself in a new situations and challenging yourself, not that it all goes perfectly. So you’ve already won!
2. Not showing what you know you are capable of doing
Often when we perform, we are performing a piece that is at the edge of what we would consider to be comfortable and we want to really show how much we have improved and what we are capable of. This can add a lot of pressure and can make it feel like there is a small margin for error.
However, in a performance, the only aim is to make an audience feel something...and if this becomes your aim then there is a much bigger margin for error and a lot less pressure! Even if you make up half the notes, that’s ok…you never know, you might even improve the piece!
So instead of worrying about your own performance, shift your focus to one that is more akin to a “show and tell”. This one performance or piece of music is not a reflection of your ability, but it is a reflection of meaning and you have an opportunity to let others experience it too!
3. Wasting the time you have spent practicing
When we have spent a lot of time breaking a piece of music down and practicing each bar, it can be easy to worry that all of that effort will be a waste if the performance doesn’t go well. However, the performance itself means nothing in comparison to what you will have learnt about music, yourself and your ability to commit to something along the way.
A performance is always just something to aim towards and a reason to practice, but in itself it isn’t important. When the performance is done, we set our sights on a new target and continue onwards! So what you have learnt through practice is never a waste, it is the accumulation of skills over time that make you great…not the performance.
2. Handling Performance Anxiety Over Time 🕰️
Performance anxiety can often be combatted with reframing and thinking about it differently. There are lots of ways you can think about performances more generally that you can reinforce over time to make performing a much more comfortable and (dare I say) enjoyable experience!
1. A performance doesn’t matter to anyone as much as you!
Learning an instrument is a personal experience and something that will bring you enjoyment and a performance is all about sharing this enjoyment. However, the reality is that in 5 or 10 years time, no one will remember it (including you!). So while right now it might feel like the most important thing in the world, it’s important to remember that although an audience will enjoy your music in the moment, if anything goes wrong…it will soon be forgotten!
2. A performance is an opportunity to build trust with yourself
I always love the thought; you either succeed or you learn, learning is succeeding, so you always succeed. The more positive experiences you gain from performing the more you will trust your ability to do a great job and your nerves will become less and less. If you can leave every performance having succeeded or learnt something, then you will always have a positive experience and over time you will start to trust yourself.
3. The worse thing that can happen isn’t that bad
As I mentioned before, the worse thing that can happen is that it doesn’t go to plan…and that isn’t that bad. - You have learnt something, challenged yourself, put yourself in a position that many others wouldn’t and there is always next time!
4. This is the middle of your journey
A lot of anxiety comes from thinking that this specific performance is super important, but it isn’t. A piece of music is never the final, polished product and that is what makes it great! You are just sharing what you have learnt about the music so far…and in the next performance, you will have learnt more!
3. Practical, Actionable Tips For Your Next Performance 🎹
Having said this, performing will still conjure a feeling of nervousness and you want to be able to keep these in check before a performance so that they help you, rather than hinder you. So…how do we actually control the nerves when they arrive? What can we physically do when it comes to the performance to lock in?
1. Breathe slowly!
When our heart rate increases, the tempo usually increases with it. This is for several reasons, most notably, our fight or flight mechanism kicks in and we want to get to the end of the piece so we can get out of there! So we want to slow our sense of time down and be in the moment and we can do this by taking some slow deep breaths and focussing on how that feels in the moment (much like meditation).
2. Think about the meaning
To block out any negative thoughts, it’s a good idea to focus on what a joy it is to be able to share a piece with others!
3. Take Time!
Before you actually start playing, take a lot of time (more than you think is normal) and picture yourself playing at home - it’s just another practice.
4. Pick someone to play to
Playing to an audience can often feel somewhat impersonal, but if you have someone in the audience to play to then focus on that one person (if you don’t, pick a person and play the piece of music for them).
5. Once you have finished - immediately remind yourself of a positive thing you’ve learnt from the experience
No matter how big or small the performance and no matter how it went, it is an opportunity to learn a lot about music, ourselves and what we are capable of….so it’s important to take note of these things rather than immediately picking apart your performance.
Remember: No matter what, you are the type of person who has gone through the process of learning, you committed to something and you have put yourself out there - that is an incredible achievement in itself!
Matthew Cawood
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