Klarinet Archive - Posting 000841.txt from 2003/04

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Performance Anxiety techniques/remedies
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:42:57 -0400

Stacy-Michelle wrote:
> Also, have you
> looked into Creative Visualization?? I just started practicing that
> and it is definitely helping also. I first learned of it from a well-
> known basketball player. Its a type of meditation where you go
> through specific exercises to visualize your performance beginning to
> end; visualize your confidence, visualize the audience's reaction,
> etc.
>
> Its good to know all of your suggestions, because what may work in
> front of a Senior Citizen home, may not work in a hall full of
> musicians... :) Very enlightening.

I think that I found auditions the most terrifying of all, followed by
playing for frightening conductors - in and out of the military music
program.

Visualization is one technique that I never had all that much patience
with. As some folks on this list already know, I also have ADHD, which
contributes not only to the anxiety, but also to my inability to stay
put! Anything that is calming and relaxing tends to help me more than
anything else.

Some other possibilities - and again, not everything is going to work
for everyone!

1) Therapy - I have gone this route time and again. Some therapists are
better at working with musicians than others. Choose your poison
wisely! ;-) (To any therapists on this list, that was a joke. I've had
some great therapists)

2) Guided meditation - in general, this is a combination of meditation
and guided visualization which addresses a more general area of the
performer's life, not just the performance aspect.

3) Another thing I would do, more to get the "bizzys" and the
"nervvies" out of my sweaty fingers than anything else - play running
scales up and down the length of the horn, paying full attention to
breathing and embouchure. This, again was more to settle me down, than
to practice licks in any of the pieces I was performing.

Obviously, I wouldn't do all of these things all at the same time. But
I have found that practicing certain things overall have a calming
effect on my personality. Which is a good thing.

Patricia Smith

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