Performance Anxiety Resources
It’s no secret that anxiety of any kind can rear its ugly head at any moment. We have certainly observed students struggle with performance anxiety and we would like to help! We hope you find the following resources and personal stories insightful and helpful.
Personal Story:
When I asked my first college piano teacher 'Will this ever go away?' when I asked her about performance anxiety, I was hoping I would hear yes and everything would be fixed. She flatly said 'No. It will just become easier to manage.' I am glad she did not lie but I was frustrated myself as a young keyboardist, wondering why after hours of intense preparation I would shake, tremble, jitter, and think everything went wrong while holding on for dear life. Even my best performances I could not shake the jitters no matter what. They came and I was a mess even if things kept sounding good. Was I cursed? Would this change?
In graduate school, my organ teacher noticed the ways I was practicing and preparing for performances and sensed my physical anxiety in ways I could not really have a hold on. He changed my approaches so I could learn faster, work diligently without overworking, and allowed for the technique to shine through careful and honest preparation. He would say 'Practice this way, and you will never be wrong.' This is the same person whose hands I saw tremble during the Dupre' Esquisses, some organ pieces few in the world attempt due to their difficulty. When I played my recital, I felt the freest I ever played. Because he and I knew I prepared with full control over everything I could make happen with as much preparation as I could with the best effort I had. I still am amazed to this day how much repertoire I am always having to go through and yet still be able in the midst of wherever my jitters go that are there, that the preparation and time of doing this for so long has helped immensely. Performing and sharing in front of people as often as I could, getting feedback and coaching, and continuing to struggle in the joy of accomplishing a good piece.
If I could make it go away for good I absolutely would! Has it changed over time? Yes! Do I have strategies? Yes! The best one? Prepare yourself as much as you can mentally and physically for the performance. You are a musical athlete. This includes how you practice and making sure you are less hard on yourself, more intentional about the goals you set, and more conscious of relaxing the body in the places you need to to perform at your best. When that central nervous system goes into the fight or flight, you must learn to ride the wave of the intensity into everything you have prepared and trust what you have done above all else. To conquer (mitigate) it, you must trust yourself and what you have prepared most of all. It is about how we ride the wave of the adrenaline and perform with it and through it that really shows the strength of our musicianship and there is a great relief in finishing a performance you have worked hard on.
Resources:
Blog post with citations related specifically to musician performance anxiety
Personal Story:
I have struggled with performance anxiety my whole life. The music studio where I took lessons growing up unfortunately didn’t offer any performance opportunities or recitals. Upon arriving at college, I learned I would have to complete a certain amount of solo performances in TCNJ’s concert hall. Although I was used to strumming and singing in front of an audience, I was not used to performing intricate classical guitar music in large spaces in front of sizable crowds. During one of my early performances, my hands were shaking so bad that I couldn’t play and had to walk off stage. Over time, my performances got better and better and although I still get nervous while performing, I’ve had enough positive performance experiences to know that I will make it through.
My advice to other people struggling with performance anxiety is to perform as often as you can in front of whoever you can. It can be as simple as performing a song for a friend or family member in your living room or going to a foreign space and performing your songs for nobody.
Adequate and efficient practice is also essential to controlling nerves. The more prepared you are, the more comfortable you will feel. I find that with difficult guitar solos, I don’t truly know them until I can visualize myself playing all of the notes without actually having my guitar in my hands.
Accepting the fact that perfection does not exist also helps with my nerves. There have been very few performances where I didn’t hit any wrong notes. I usually have better, more expressive performances when I don’t care if I hit wrong notes. Many times the audience won’t notice wrong notes if you don’t make it obvious that you just hit a wrong note.
If you have tried all of these things and still cannot perform in front of people successfully, a last resort is to see a therapist or doctor to temporarily prescribe you medication until you have had enough successful performances and gained enough confidence to know you can perform successfully even without medication.
I haven’t actually read any books about performance anxiety, but one book that has helped me with way of thinking and anxiety in general is The Way of Non-Attachment: The Practice of Insight Meditation by Dhiravamsa.
Resources:
The Way of Non-Attachment: The Practice of Insight Meditation by Dhiravamsa
Personal Story:
I LOVE square breathing. The first thing to get deregulated for me when I'm experiencing anxiety is my breathing and square breathing has helped me so much.
I’m also a big fan of the 5-4-3-2-1 method (Identify five things you can see, four things you can feel, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, one thing you can taste) for those backstage/before going up to perform moments.
Another tip I have is changing the narrative in your head about performing. At the end of the day, every performance is just practice. The audience is there not to be your judge and jury, but to take part in the experience and also practice being an audience (think of how hard it can be to sit still and pay attention for long amounts of time!).
Resources:
Personal Story:
When I was younger, when I was performing a piece or even just playing in front of my teacher, I'd make it known when I made a mistake. If I accidentally played the wrong notes or forgot a section, I'd let out a little sigh or grunt of frustration, or even sometimes saying "wait" and repeating the line I just played. While it is good to correct yourself, it's also very important to keep your head high and move forward! My teachers taught me to go to the next note if I played one wrong, or to go to the next passage of the song I know if I forgot the previous one. This did take a long time to get in the habit of. One performance I had at a concert hall in NYC when I was 14, I completely forgot a section of my piece, and I gave up easily, because I didn't trust myself to play the rest of the piece well, and my teacher helped me overcome that situation. We started practicing our songs in segments, dividing up my songs in 5-10 parts. When I practiced I always varied the sections I started with , so that if I make a mistake, I can quickly jump to the next section. The most important part of facing potential performance anxiety or mistakes, is to know that you will be okay, and to trust your skills and memory! Start seeing mistakes as challenges to become better and find areas to keep building your amazing musical abilities! I guarantee that sometimes if you make a mistake, the audience won't even know , and you'll be able to keep your head up and finish your great performances.
Personal Story:
When I'm singing a song (from a musical or opera), I try to actually be that character, not me singing as that character but actually be that character. It helps me to not feel like I'm on display, but that the character is. In a way, I wear their mask instead of mine.
For any other songs, I just try to be as prepared as possible and remind myself that it's going to be what it's going to be and if I make a mistake, I don't dwell on it, I in fact move on as quickly as possible to make sure I'm giving the best performance that I can.
I also try to concentrate on what I can control. Focusing on my breath is the one thing that keeps me calm and grounded. I also say to myself out loud "I can do this".
Personal Story:
I’ve always had performance anxiety, and I’ve never quite figured out how to get around it. The only real advice I have to offer is to take advantage of every opportunity to perform. There is no substitute for performing in front of people – you simply cannot simulate what a live situation feels like behind closed doors in the practice room. I’m pretty sure that the only way to develop some level of comfort with performing is to just do it; and then do it some more; and then do it some more after that.
Resources:
I have found that the following tools (meditation, breathwork, tapping, etc.) work well for my students (and me) when trying to de-escalate performance anxiety or any type of stress/anxiety:
Michelle Chalfant podcast - Helping children/teens with anxiety
Sharon Salzburg - breathwork meditation
Hannah Brown - anxiety meditation
Healthline article - EFT Tapping
Julie Schiffman - EFT Tapping video
I hope these resources are of some help to our students and others!
Resources:
Keep performing until it’s comfortable.
Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing
