combatting musical performance anxiety

8/12/2019 Combatting Musical Performance Anxiety

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COMBATTING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

Combatting musical

performance anxietyKaren O Co nno r in conversation with Daniel Mo ult

Imagine the scene; you're aprofessional organist with manv years'experience of performing at the highestlevel. You re pacing around in a cramped

vestry two minutes before vour recitalperformanc e is due to begin. You'redressed in the suit which only comesout for very special occasions, and afew moments from now you will walkout into the nave where an expectantaudience will greet you witb warm andenthusiastic applause- you hope. They ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^have come to listento YOU especiallvbecause you are

respected in yourfield And ha\f areputation built upover years of radioand TV appearancesand award-winningrecordings. At thiscrucial pre-performance ,

moment, however,you become awareof that familiar gremlin which has putin its usual imptxcablv timedappearance somewbere between yourears and is whispering: Bet that tricky bitat the top of page 3 goes wrong again',followed bv: 'And when it does, x (?c\\owprofessional in the audience) will noticeand talk about me behind my hack'; a ndt h e n : ' iVhy am I doing this? There m ust hean easier an d more eniovable way of earningd living. In fact why d on't I go and dosomething else right now?' You take a fewbreaths and try to think deep, relaxingthoughts to counteract vour gremlin'sinsistence that your performance will

feeling rather more clammy than ishelpful for total control of the flourishin the first bar {'Why did I cboose thispiece to op en my programm e?'), you force

a smile on your face and walk out tomeet your executioner, also known asthe audience

Does this scenario sound far-fetched?Not to Karen O'Connor, an oboist inthe City of Birmingham SymphonvOrchestra (CBSO) who has listened to

puzzled, wasn't her playing a reflectionof all the hard work she'd put in? Putanother way, she felt she'd left her bestperformance at home.

Soon after this, Karen heard a radioprogramme during which a sportspsychologist, then working with OHmpicathletes and a Premiership football clubdescribed the importance of mentalpreparation and how getting the bestout of the mind increases the chances o

getting the best out^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ of tbe body. He w en

on to describe thatwhilst there is littleou take a few breaths and try to think deep,

re laxing th oughts to counte ra ct your grem lin 's tP > ' i'>orinsistence that your performance will self

de stru ct any time soon and then suddenly them om ent arrive s. . . [you] walk out to me et your

executioner, also known as the audience

numerous performers recalling similarperformance experiences, because whenshe's not playing the oboe, she works asa Performance Coach with professionaland student instrumentalists and singersfrom around the UK and beyond.Organists are a part of her client group ,or as she calls them, her 'p erfo rm ers'.

Her role as a Performance Coach isone that has evolved over many years anddates back to a disappointment during'takes' of the CBSO recording of

Ravel's C major Piano Concerto, when shefound herself struggling to plavtechnically demanding passages flawlessly

technically separatethe fine specimensof humanitv on thestart line of anOlympic fmal, thediOerence between ag(jld and silver medalperformance, i.e.

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ - those vitalcentimetres orseconds which can

transform an ordinary performance intoan extraordinary one, can generally betraced back to the strength contained\\ ithin the to p six inches of the head .

With a lifetime's interest andparticipation in sport, and recalling herrecording session frustration, Karen wasintrigued by wbat musicians might beable to learn from decades of sportscience research, so she contacted tbepsychologist vsho, sharing her enthusiasmrecommended that she study for a degree

in psychology. Several years followedwith Karen juggling a busy professionalperforming life with Open Universitv


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COM B TTIN G MUSIC L PERFORM NCE NXIETY

Karen i s .. .a University Fellow for

Teaching and Learning with herperformance workshops and individually-

tailored coaching sessions playing an

increasingly important part in the lives of

the students, including organ students, as

they all strive to get the best out ofthemselves in the testing, competitive

environment ofa music conservatoire.

curious and enthusiastic about whereher studies were leading and wouldoften volunteer either themselves or theirchildren as participants in her research.

George Caird, Principal ofBirmingham Conservatoire, alsobecame aware that Karen was studyingpsychology and having long beeninterested in providing physical andmental support systems for youngperformers, he invited Karen to workwith one of his own oboe students. Thestudent in question didn t have specificplaying problems but admitted to rarelyfeeling satisfied with performances she

had yiven. Within a few weeks, however,not only bad she jjone on to win severalmajor scholarships, but she also bad anincreased level of satisfaction in thatwhen it mattered, she had performedmore consistently and closer to herpoti'ntial. From these small beginnings,Birniinabam Conservatoire's innovative _ oachinq in Performing Skillsprogramme was born and six years laterKaren is now a University Fellow forTeaching and Learning with her

perlormancf workshops and indiNiduallv-tailored coaching sessions playing anincreasingly importan t part in the lives of

An important stipulation of herCoaching programme, and one of themain reasons that Staff and studentshave so readily 'bought into' it, is that

Karen will never work with a studentwithout the written consent of theHead of tbe relevant Department andmost importantly, the student's firststudy tutor. Having been through themusic conservatoire system berself, sheappreciates the significance of thesepre existing relationships and believesher specialist input should enhance, notimpede, the team cfjort. Within thiscollaborative framework, students arenormally allocated up to five one hoursessions with Karen, sufficient time forher to introduce them to wavs ofmanaging the mental element of theperforming etjuation. Her immediatetask is to find out wbat the student hasbeen exf>eriendng during lessons, recitals,exam s, au


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COM B TTIN G MUSIC L PERFORM NCE NXIET Y

such as: thrilling , dram atic , emo tional , colourful , stylish .. .the list is endless,and by making the choice to think in thisway AND by finding ways of integratingtbis new thinking into daily practiceregimes, particularlv in those vitalmomi'nts before putting fingers on tbekeys and feet on the pedals, the focusshifts and performers often report thatthey played well after all and withincreased performance satisfaction.

Are you well-practised at stopping?Karen finds that many performers areunwittingly excellent stoppers Youknow the kind of thing - as soon as a

mistake is made in practice, vou goback and repeat tbat tricky passage overand over until it feels more secure. Ofcourse, it's an important part ofperformance preparation to go throughihe hard graft of note-learning butoften it can mean that the first truerun-through ofa piece is at the publice\e nt Many of you migbt respond with that doesn t apply to me becau.se I always

run my pieces before the day and wear my

organ shoes . Excellent, but did you also|)ractise the performance day? Or tbepre-performance half-hour? As part ofperformance simulation training, Karenencourages her per torme rs to take a(li-E,iik-d look at narrowing the gapbetwfi-n practice and the 'real thing',including playing tlirough tbe recitalprogramme at the performance time,planning the hours before performance,the two minutes before, walking in,what to do between pieces or

in(vements, planning for memorylapses, expecting tbe unex pected - sothat when it comes to the performanceday, many aspects about it have alamiliar feeling.

In a recent performance workshop,Karen asked several of her performerswhat their 'message in a bottle ' m ight beior others who had no idea about whatmental skills training entailed. These aresome ol ihe rcspon.ses she received: The\malle}it mental changes can make the biggest

perjormance Jifjerenccs ; learn how to get

the best out of yourself in order to produce a

Understandably, Karen is wary ofgiving general advice to combatdestructive performance anxictv, as eachindividual will benefit from differenttechniques and strategies. She doesemphasise, however, that these techniquesneed building into regular instrumentalpractice if they are to become effective.A 'top ten' of strategies (some of whichyou may wish to adopt) might include:

Be musically preparedThere's no substitute for 100%

secure preparation This will probablyinclude fingering and pedalling markingsand an inner sense that, all things beingequal, we could deliver a totally secureand musically sensitive performance.

Healthy body - healthy mindMany scientific studies show that

exercise really does calm performersGood sleep and some moderate intensityexercise leading up to a potentiallystressful situation is excellent preparation.

Be physically preparedBuild in I'.M.R. (progressive

muscle relaxation) and Deep Breathinginto your pre-performance ritual -even if you think vou won't need it

Rehearse the occasionwhat potentially scares you Tbe

first few bars of a concertPThe ofTertory

hymn? Going from the final hymn into avoluntary? Ensure that VOU'XL' alreadyvisited the occasion in vour mind:practise as if you're really in thatsituation. You should feel the adrenalineif you're practising this successfully, antlyou should be in the same room and


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COM B TT ING MUSIC L PERFORM NCE NXIETY

maybe wearing the same outfit too, sothat you are really runn ing theperformance situation in advance

Visualise the occasionSit somewhere quiet and undisturbed

and picture the occasion in exact detail.You're the cameraman If you revert to[)anic or lose control w hen you watchyour performance, stop, rewind and re-record You want an imaginary video ofvou in 100% control, on top form. Ithelps if you can experience the roomwhen you practise this could you dothis undisturbed in your venue?

Record yourself- regularlyThis is excellent for musical, as well

as for psychological, feedback particularlyif vou leave at least 24 hours betweenrecording and playback Do n't stop wbenvou record yourself on minidisc orcassette etc . Repeat, repeat, repeat tbeprocess. Are you starting to enjoy tbemusic and worry less about your ego ifthere is a small slip or inconsistencyPThisneeds to be done routinely to take eflect

Use points an d/ or cardsGive yourself a 95 or 90% score to

achieve. Whenev er anything is not perfectand frustrates you, say 'minus l%'...you

stop point scoring and end up focussingon the music. This should stop the'vicious circle' eflect of making m oremistakes after an initial slip and refocusyou on the music and not on your ego

Challenge your thinkingerrors

It's vitally importan t that we practise'good psychology ' feeling confidentwben we practise, letting go of negativethoughts immediately, replacing themwith positive thoughts. If you feel negative

often when you practise, do you needto change your practice habits?

Experiment. . .with these suggestions some m

work for vou, some not but neve

accept defeat

Practise. . .whichever ideas work for you

mental training can become an integpart of your routine along with pedexercises or learning Sundav's hymn

For further reading on tbisfascinating top ic, try:ed. Aaron W illiamon, Musical ExcelOUP, 2004; Dr Bob Rotella, Goljis a Game of Perfect, Pocket Books, 2Kate Jones , Keeping your Nerve. FabeMusic, 2000 .

D an te l Mo u l t

Daniel Moult bas an active care er as a concert organist and ortutor. He performs throughout tbe UK and teaches at the RoyCollege of usic Junior D epartment, St Giles' international OSchool and Birmingham Conservatoire. Educated in ManchesOxford and Amsterdam and a prizewinner at FR CO, Daniel bapreviously beld posts at Chetham's School of Music, Coventry

Cathedra and the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. In addition tworkshops and masterclasses tor various ortjan courses, he oxairunes for the RCO and thABRSM. His articles on perlormance practice and performance related topics haappeared in various organ journals and be broadcasts frequently on the BBC. He is also Artistic Director of tbe London Ortjan Day. His 2008 itinerary takes bim acToss the UK,Australia and Germany as an organ soloist, accompanist and liroadcaster, as well as dirand tutoring on various national courses and recording a DVD of Mozart's organ mu si

IllLINCOLNCAT HE DRAL

2 March9 March

16 March29 June

24 March21 April

5 May26 May

9 June23 June14 July25 August

ORGAN

ORGAN MUSIC 2 8SUNDAYS AT 5.15 PJVI.Admission Tree retiring collectionKeith Hearnshaw {Droitwich)Colin Walsh (Lincoln)Charles Harrison (Lincoln)Nicholas Grigsby and Max KenworthyOrgan duet (New Zealand)

MONDAYS AT 7 00 P.M . Admission 6Philip Rushforth (Chester)fTederic Bianc (Paris)Martin Neary (London)Robertn M arini (Tcram o. Italy)John Wells (Aiiclcland. New Zealand)Hans Hiclscher (Wiesbaden, Oennany)Stephen Tharp (New York. USA)Colin Walsh (Lincoln)

EXTRAVAGANZA WITH CARLO CURLEY

lifton athedral

Organ Recitals 2 8May 10 James O'Donnell

Ori;anist & Mastt:r ol tin- Clioristers,Westminster Abbi'y

May 17 Stephen BryantOrganist, Clilton Cathedral

May 24 John GibbonsChoral Uin-itor, Clitlon Cathedral

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combatting musical performance anxiety

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