Beating Music Performance Anxiety Before it Beats You
We’ve probably all faced it at one time or another—waiting to go on stage or to perform in front of an audience, and suddenly, performance anxiety sets in. While performance comes naturally for some, it’s not so easy for others. However, there are ways to beat your music performance anxiety to make performing both easier and less stressful.
It’s the moment that many musicians, amateur and professional alike, grow to dread: the seconds that seem to pass like hours when you’re waiting to perform your music in front of an audience. While on the one hand there may be a rush of adrenaline, the same feeling in the pit of your stomach that you might get before boarding a roller coaster; on the other hand, you feel quite sick. It’s called performance anxiety, and it is a real obstacle for many musicians who can’t quite shake the apprehension that sometimes goes along with playing for an audience.
The seconds seem to pass like hours when you’re waiting to perform your music
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The first thing to understand is that music performance is a product of several types of cognitive distortions that you are allowing yourself to feel and think. In those final moments before approaching the stage to perform, musicians can go through a variety of thoughts and emotions that make the process more difficult for them. Thought patterns such as “I should have practiced more” or “I missed that trill last time, and will probably miss it again” are not only illogical—they can become habits that often sabotage hours of practice and effort if left unchecked.
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Regardless of the time you have spent in practice, dwelling on the fact that you failed to do something will only impede your confidence.
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You’ve heard the adage that positive thinking is the key to success? Never is this truer than in the area of music performance. Regardless of the time you have spent in practice (and any performer knows that practice is important), dwelling on the fact that you failed to do something will only impede your confidence. During the moments before performance, when you are most likely to question your preparation, remind yourself that you put a lot of effort into preparing for this piece, and that regardless of the outcome, you are going to do your best in playing it. There is always room for practicing more later, if need be.
Along those same lines, a troublesome passage that you once failed to execute well in performance can become a self-created curse that will haunt you throughout the course of your playing. Your heart rate will speed up when you near that passage while playing, your head will cloud with doubt instead of focusing on the music, and biologically, you’ll make it harder on yourself to execute it correctly when you play it again. The best way to stop this vicious cycle from ever beginning is to accept a mistake as a one-time blunder, even if it happens more than once. Focus on that particular passage in your practice sessions, and if you don’t put a lot of negative attention on it, you’ll eventually perform it spot-on and beautifully every time.
It is difficult to remember sometimes—especially if you are a professional musician whose reputation and livelihood depends on a good performance—that music is art. Art is rarely exactly faultless. Also, a piece can be executed perfectly in a technical sense, but lack emotion, and therefore be completely unappealing to the audience. While there is something to be said for a musician who accomplishes a brilliant performance, musicians should always keep in mind that the audience is there to be moved by your music. There might be a critic or two in the audience seeking to point out your mistakes, but for the most part, your audience will pay more attention to what you do right than what you do wrong. If you keep that in mind, your music performance anxiety will lessen, and you’ll have much more fun on stage!
