Peak Performance for Musicians
Overcome Music Performance Anxiety with Mental Game Strategies
Setting good goals and working those goals will help performers feel more confident and assured that what they practice will be accessible on the stage. Goals give performers direction, help motivate them toward success, and increase confidence. Setting goals will also help performers keep their attention on what’s important by identifying strengths and challenges. Good goals can improve … [Read more...]
Alternate Title: Positive & Engaged Performing A couple of weeks ago we looked at Carol Dweck's view of Mindset and how having a fixed or growth mindset can affect your performing. Today I want to look at a similar comparison of mindsets—performers with an optimistic view of their performing and those with a pessimistic view. Now of course, none of us want to admit to being a … [Read more...]
In Resilience—Bouncing Back from Setbacks we discussed what makes performers able to recover quickly from mistakes, setbacks, auditions that don't go well, or performances that are considered unsatisfactory or as failures. In your effort to be the best performer you can be, you may often lose sight of the fact that the mistakes and setbacks you have are something every performer … [Read more...]
Being back in Joplin, my hometown and site of the deadliest tornado in recent American memory that hit last May 22, 2011, is both heartbreaking and uplifting. When we were in Joplin one year ago, only days after the EF-5 twister hit, it was a scene of devastation that one only sees in movies or in your worst nightmares. When in Joplin helping my family and when reading about the efforts to … [Read more...]
I have recently read a book that has rocked my world and I want to turn you onto it as well because I think it has HUGE implications for musicians. I am talking about Dr. Carol S. Dweck's book, Mindset. Run— don't walk—to the nearest bookstore and purchase it or log onto Amazon and order it today! What if it wasn't our abilities or talent that bring us success, but whether we approach … [Read more...]
Last time in What Is Your Greatest Fear?, we discussed the common fears that performers face. These fears cause you to doubt your abilities and skills and feed your anxiety level as you prepare for performance. What's more, when you get used to these anxious feelings and fearful thought and behavior patterns, you tend to settle into a place we commonly call a comfort zone. It seems odd, … [Read more...]
In our recent discussions of performance anxiety we have talked about how to identify your fears in Performance Fear—Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire and how to understand our fears in The Key To Understanding Your Performance Anxiety. The final step in dealing with your anxiety or fear is to take action and neutralize its ill effects. It’s interesting how when many performers are confronted … [Read more...]
Last time in Performance Fear—Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire!, we called fear out for the destructive and deceiving force it can be to our preparation and our performances. As anyone who has experienced it, performance-related fear is a powerful emotion that all of us have felt. In order to neutralize its ill-effects, it is important that you understand that it tricks you into believing things … [Read more...]
Several years ago, Meryl Streep and Albert Brooks starred in a movie called Defending Your Life. Both Streep and Brooks die in the first minutes of the film. The rest of the movie is set in heaven as they attempt to defend the way they lived as a heavenly tribunal reviews footage of scenes from their lives. The novel thesis of the movie is that the purpose of the ‘trial’ is not to … [Read more...]
Mental rehearsal, or vividly visualizing yourself practicing or performing difficult passages, preparing yourself to be confident, or reviewing a memorized section or a past performance are all effective supplements to the physical practice you or your students engage in prior to performance. Some may also call this type of practice imagery. Whatever you call it, vividly seeing, hearing, and … [Read more...]