The Musician's Way Blog

“When you project a centered presence from the stage,
your audience becomes attentive and relaxed.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 180

To make our best music, we performers need to be mentally, physically, and emotionally in sync. In a word: centered.

Then, assuming that we’ve learned our material deeply and have built up performance skills, we can trust in our preparation and truly connect with our audiences.

In fact, centered musicians often captivate their listeners from the moment they step on stage because their powerful demeanor generates an expectant energy. Continue Reading

Branford Marsalis

“We have something that is unique. We have our craft. We have our art. We have our desire.”
–Branford Marsalis, saxophonist

Craft, art, desire. Add persistent hard work, and what do you get? Artistic and professional success.

Why is it, then, that some students who are passionate about making music and have opportunities to refine their skills will practice intently yet others won’t?

There can be many reasons, but Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, offers one compelling explanation.  Continue Reading

“Masterful performers exhibit ease in all that they do on stage.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 21

There’s no better way for us musicians to make our audiences receptive than to project ease and enjoyment from the stage.

What’s more, by embodying ease, we help dispel any nerves.

To transmit ease, though, we have to not only master our material and be fluent with stage deportment but also draw on the following inner skills.

Continue Reading

“To rely on muscular habit, which so many do in technique, is indeed fatal.
A little nervousness, a muscle bewildered and unable to direct itself, and where are you? For technique is truly a matter of the brain.”
–Fritz Kreisler, violinist

When Kreisler said that technique was ‘of the brain,’ I assume that he was referring to the diverse mental processes through which we musicians direct our execution.

And I think that he wasn’t merely speaking about mechanics but rather pointing to the inclusive artistic and physical aspects of music making. Continue Reading

“Confident performance isn’t an elusive feat but involves knowledge and skills that any musician can learn.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 133

When I talk to musicians who wrestle with stage nerves, I find that many hold a common belief.

They think that they lack a trait that confident performers possess. So they worry that they might never break free from their anxieties.

Fortunately, their dilemmas don’t stem from a lack of talent but from a correctable deficit of skill. Continue Reading

Mstislav Rostropovich

“You must play for the love of music. Perfect technique is not as important as making music from the heart.”
–Mstislav Rostropovich, cellist/conductor (The Musician’s Way, p. 133)

To practice music is to pursue perfection – or so we often hear.

What nonsense.

Rather, we musicians practice to grow as artists, to achieve excellence, and to share heartfelt music with our listeners.

Sure, public performance obliges us to be accurate. But there’s a big difference between precision and perfection. Continue Reading

“2-to-1 breathing helps reduce, coordinate, and stabilize the activity of the brain and the nervous system.”
–John Clarke, M.D., former Chairman of the Himalayan Institute

If we feel unsettled prior to playing or singing, 2-to-1 breathing is a powerful tool that helps us restore inner balance and kindle creativity.

Repeated for a number of cycles, this exercise triggers an innate calming response that also tempers the fight-or-flight activation brought on by performance nerves.

Here’s how it’s done. Continue Reading

“Performance anxiety is the kind of problem that rears its ugly head in both straightforward and subtle ways.”
–Eric Maisel, author and psychologist

If you’re an active performer, then I expect that you or a musician you know has taken a beta-blocker to alleviate stage jitters.

This article probes whether beta-blockers are safe, effective, and appropriate for performers to use.

Continue Reading

Many dedicated music students believe that if they can get through a piece in practice, they should necessarily be able to perform the piece on stage.

Then, when they become undermined by nervousness at a concert or an audition, they conclude that their performance problems must be caused by psychological issues unrelated to their practice.

Often, however, that’s a questionable conclusion. Continue Reading

We professional musicians love to share music with others. Whether we perform in concert halls, nightclubs, informal gatherings, or recording studios, our hard work is most rewarded when we connect with listeners.

The majority of students, though, spend little time in performance situations. By and large, they make music in practice rooms.

So, are music students typically acquiring the skills of expert performers? Continue Reading

Suppose that you’re preparing to play or sing in public. How do you bridge the gulf between personal practice and public performance?

I’ve observed that many musicians underperform because they omit a crucial element from their preparatory routines: practice performances.

Here are three ways that both instrumentalists and singers can practice performing and thereby become masterful on stage.

All of these concepts are expanded on in my book The Musician’s Way. Continue Reading

Envision yourself standing at a stage door, seconds before your entrance at a solo or small-group concert. The hall darkens; the audience hushes. A stagehand whispers, “Ready?”

Let’s stop here and give this scenario a closer look. The backstage scene probably resembles a cramped basement.

Glancing around, you see ductwork, circuit breakers, and music stands in racks. Your pupils are dilated in the murky light; a cooling system drones in the background. It’s decidedly unglamorous.

On the other side of that door, however, is an altogether different sort of space. Continue Reading

When I present my Fearless Performance workshop for music students, I typically begin with an exercise that I dub, “How To Be a Really Nervous Performer.”

I ask the workshop participants to tell me what sorts of things they’d recommend that musicians do prior to a performance, if, for some reason, they want to be exceptionally nervous on stage.

The students call out whatever thoughts pop up, and I either write down their responses on a board or display them on a screen.

Here’s a sampling of some favorites: Continue Reading

At a recent national conference of the American String Teachers Association, I gave a talk titled “Fearless Performance” (which is also the name of part II of my book The Musician’s Way).

The session attracted a large audience, mostly comprised of music teachers, along with a smattering of students.

Some editors from Strings magazine attended as well, and, in the following weeks, they enlisted writer James Reel to conduct this interview.

© 2009 Gerald Klickstein