“Performance anxiety doesn’t yield to band-aid solutions, nor does it abate on its own.”
–The Musician’s Way, p. 146
Camille was a 19-year-old amateur pianist who excelled in school but was petrified to play in public.*
Her anxiety had surfaced in childhood, when she was compelled to play at her teacher’s annual recital.
At her first performance, when she was eight years old, she had two harrowing false starts but somehow got through her piece.
In subsequent years, her hands, cold and shaking, would be too unruly to control. She would forget her music and occasionally couldn’t finish a piece without breaking down.
After each concert, her tears would be met with cheering words, but by the time she turned 13, performing had become intolerable. She quit the piano until she was 16, when she began playing informally on her own.
At university, she majored in English, and, coincidentally, I was teaching at her school. She attended one of my weekend performance seminars and then signed up for lessons.
The Causes of Her Performance Anxiety
How could a straight-A student like Camille fall victim to debilitating stage fright?
As it turned out, the anxiety that had welled up at that initial recital was seeded by her unqualified instructor. Think about it: Camille performed once a year. Such a dearth of exposure to performance situations almost guarantees anxiety.
Worse yet, she hadn’t developed the rich preparation skills that underpin secure performance. She just repeated music mindlessly in practice until it came out by reflex.
In light of Camille’s inadequate mastery of her material, her inexperience with performance situations, and her high-achieving personality, her anxiety wasn’t surprising. One could even call it appropriate.
That is, everyone expected her to perform admirably, yet she didn’t have the requisite abilities to do so. Any performer in her shoes would be skittish.
Sadly, like so many students with her history, Camille mistakenly thought that something was wrong with her and that it couldn’t be fixed.
“Like so many students with her history, Camille mistakenly thought that something was wrong with her and that it couldn’t be fixed.”
The Solutions to Her Performance Anxiety
As a university student, Camille finally had access to the information that she needed. Under my guidance, and using the techniques articulated in The Musician’s Way, she began to practice deeply and memorize securely.
Then, by playing simple pieces in my weekly performance class, she acquired on-stage skills.
She learned to direct her mind and open her heart.
She cultivated techniques to rein in fight-or-flight responses and tame a nagging perfectionism.
Progressively, her hands stopped trembling, and her memory became reliable. She grew into an expressive performer who could handle any remaining nerves.
With her love of music rekindled, she enrolled in lessons with a celebrated piano professor and later graduated with a minor in piano performance.
“She grew into an expressive performer who could handle any remaining nerves.”
* * *
Stage Fright Solutions for All Musicians
No performers should resign themselves to debilitating anxiety.
If you suffer from nerves, whether moderate or severe, don’t surrender to any folklore about it being an incurable burden.
You can triumph over its limiting effects and be the performer that you aspire to be. But it won’t happen overnight.
Performance anxiety doesn’t yield to band-aid solutions, nor does it abate on its own. It takes patient effort to reverse anxious habits, especially long-held ones, and replace them with secure knowledge and skill.
Some music students have the good fortune to study with teachers who supply them with essential know-how. Many don’t.
Other musicians need more than skills. They have unconscious anxieties that are best figured out with the support of a therapist.
Whatever the case, all musicians can sift through their performance issues and come out the better for it, if they choose to do the work.
* * *
The Musician’s Way provides research-backed information that empowers all musicians to gain the skills of expert performers. Read reviews.
“All musicians can sift through their performance issues and come out the better for it – if they choose to do the work.”
*For confidentiality reasons, the name of the student in this account and some of the details have been altered; the pianist in the photo is an anonymous model.
Related Posts are categorized Performance Anxiety
© 2024 Gerald Klickstein
Adapted from The Musician’s Way, p. 144-146
Photo via Pixabay