 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2010-07-14 23:53
Although Ive been playing clarinet for a number of years, I 'm what you might call the clarinetist who plays softly or hide behind the other players and never play a solo. I get a severe case of anxiety when I have to play a solo part. can anyone suggest something I can do to get over this dilema and start playing with more confidence. I'm constantly told I play very well and have good tone but just cant be heard. I freak out when asked to play a duet with someone. where is the lack of confidence coming from and how can I overcome it. sincerely, constantlypondering
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Author: FDF
Date: 2010-07-15 00:30
You don't say what kind of music you play. No matter, as long as you are submissive and "hide your light under a basket," you will be treated the same.
Assert yourself.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2010-07-15 00:39
It's not that simple. Many people simply have a deathly fear of performing in public, or giving a speech, or any other type of public display. For them, it isn't an easy thing to get over.
You might want to take a shjort course on relaxation and stress reduction, and ask the instructor to give you a little guidance for your specific issue, if possible.
There;'s anold thread in the KEEPERS section of the BB about how some performers actually use Beta Blockers to aid with the problem of shakes while performing. I would not do this, but it is out there. Here is where to find the discussion:
http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/read.html?f=20&i=41&t=41
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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Author: andrewsong
Date: 2010-07-15 01:47
I really understand how you feel. I went through the same anxiety. Even now, when I have lots of solos and chamber music, I still have that slight rush of thinking, "What if I mess up? They'll think I'm bad...."
BUT, there is a natural remedy to this. If you've practiced the music enough and are comfortable with it, there is no need to be afraid or shy. In fact, if you are comfortable with the music, you should play out since others will not be abe lto judge you. In fact, after a long practice session, I often am very confident and excited to play out the next rehearsal. So the first thing is to be confident in your ABILITY to play.
Next, I, as well as most others, enjoy being praised or respected. I'm sure you can imagine the possibility of you playing a great solo in a piece and receiving lots of praise and congratulations afterwards. This is also something that you should look forward to instead of possible dejection. In order to be heard during solos though, one must be confident and look forward to these opportunities where you can shine.
In short, I guess I can truly recommend: 1. viewing solos as fun opportunites where you can individually shine 2. be confident in the music and yourself
I really have experienced where you're coming from and this the advice that has worked for me. Hope this helps
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Author: bmcgar ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 06:03
Performance anxiety and stage fright go much deeper than what is suggested here, and don't really respond well for more than a few minutes to relaxation exercises and guided visualizations unless the problem is very minor and occasional.
Practice ensures that you CAN perform well, not that you WILL perform well, and relaxation exercises are nice for temporary alleviation of symptoms, but the results rarely are long-lasting enough to deal with the pre-performance anxiety and then the stage fright of an entire performance.
Sad to say, but your problems may probably be related to several things that you have strongly reinforced internally over the years--low frustration tolerance, perfectionism, shame, to name a few.
The first thing to do is write down what you're telling yourself when these anxiety arousing situations occur: "If I fail to play perfectly, then...." "If the audience doesn't like what they hear, then...." "If I totally screw up, then...."
Chances are, you're telling yourself "..., then I'm a TOTAL failure." "..., then I deserve to be condemned." "..., then the world will end and I'll be FOREVER a failure." I'll NEVER be able to play well in public." And so on.
Once you've gotten all that written down, you must challenge those irrational and unreasonable conclusions, replacing them with rational ones:
"If I fail to play perfectly, then it's UNFORTUNATE, but it's not AWFUL. Nobody plays perfectly at all times. Nobody!"
"If the audience doesn't like what it hears, I still gave it a shot. Can't go back in time! Next time, I'll choose pieces [or play in such a way] that will be more suitable for my audience."
"Even if I totally screw up (which is very unlikely), that's too bad. But it's not AWFUL. My life won't end. The audience may think that I'm not a very good player, but they won't HATE me, and most of them will probably realize that I tried my best."
What you're thinking about, even if it's not evident to you on the surface, is probably how you're likely to TOTALLY fail, TOTALLY screw up, and so forth, and how AWFUL, and UNBEARABLE, and SHAMEFUL it is to do so.
On top of all that, if you insist that you MUST (not WOULD LIKE to) play perfectly at all times (despite the evidence that neither you nor anyone else does), even the slightest glitch makes you think of yourself as a COMPLETE failure (not just a person who makes mistakes from time to time).
It's these "musts" and "shoulds" and the conclusions that usually have "always," "total," "unbearable," "intolerable," and "shameful" in them in your thinking as you rate yourself UNIVERSALLY on the basis of OCCASIONAL failures to reach your goals that contribute to your anxiety.
As I wrote at the beginning, though, these aren't problems that are going to go away overnight. You have to work on challenging irrational, unreasonable thinking EVERY single waking hour, ANYTIME when they rear their ugly heads! If you're persistent, not only will your music performance improve, but many other areas of your life will also.
This is called "Cognitive Behavior Therapy," if you want to look into it further. It's something you can do yourself, if you're determined enough.
If you're interested in learning more, get a copy of "New Guide to Rational Living" by Albert Ellis. (The edition doesn't make much difference. The basics have been the same for the last forty years.)
B.
(Qualified practicing psychotherapist)
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Author: kimber
Date: 2010-07-15 15:07
I have a 'shy' personality and that carries over into my playing. I still prefer playing a second or third part for that reason. To help get past that feeling when I need to I've tried:
1) practicing in the loudest room of the house so the sound can boom and resonant and I can get used to hearing myself that way; 2) practicing out in the backyard...I know the neighbors can hear it but since I can't see them watching, I don't mind as much; 3) practicing along with a recording of the piece...again roleplaying being the soloist.
Yes I still get nervous and psych myself out about it before the piece starts (even just when I see it on listed in the practice order), but I seem to relax once the piece gets started and the sounds/music is familiar and reassuring.
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 15:37
Assuming that your problem is that you want to play louder, and you can play louder, but you cannot make yourself do it around other people, my suggestion is: just do it.
Start off when other people are playing loud. Notice the reaction to your playing loud. (Hint: there will not be one.) Why will there not be a reaction? Because it is normal in that situation to be loud. As you have already noticed, you draw more attention to yourself by not trying to draw attention to yourself.
Then start playing louder when you have an exposed part. Notice the reaction. There may be a comment or two the first time you do it (I can hear you!), but other than that, no reaction. Why? Same reason; it is normal for exposed parts to be heard.
When someone says "softer, please", consider yourself cured.
Alternatively; switch to tenor sax for a while. You will be heard. You will be told you are too loud. You will be too loud; it's the nature of the beast.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-07-15 16:26
I'm with George. Try it! Comfort with being looked at is a hugely awesome trait, and one that can be learned. I'd start by playing a random really loud note in an atmosphere where it's not expected and people may notice, but also has no negative consequences and is not an out-of-place thing to do. Maybe when an ensemble is warming up before a rehearsal. Everyone's just noodling around, whatever. Play an altissimo D at the top of your lungs. Try to make the note shriek and squeak and crack. Maybe people will look at you, and if they do, smile and give a friendly wave, as if to say "hecks yeah, I just did that! And I'll probably do it again"
Maybe you'd find that embarrassing, but you can then look at the situation and think "why is this embarrassing? I didn't do anything wrong, it was just unexpected." You might even get some thumbs up or applause. Whatever happens, do it for the pure joy of making an awesome sound. Maybe even do it with the person next to you, and see who can play louder.
You can approach music from a couple different angles... you can try to minimize the things you're doing wrong, or you can try to maximize the things you're doing right. As long as you're concerned about someone hearing you do something wrong, you're playing catchup, and beating yourself up for anything you miss, doubly for so for anything *SOMEONE HEARS YOU MISS*. However, if playing is always a challenge to see how much you can do right, you leave yourself a lot of room to experiment. Is this too loud? Too soft? I won't know for sure until I've tried it both ways, and maybe something a bit louder than I thought actually sounds even better.
What that REALLY helps with, though, is to avoid spiraling "I screwed up" jitters and embarrassment, where you miss one note and therefore you're already docking points off your "perfect show" scorecard, then you start keeping a tally in your head of everything that's gone wrong, until you're convinced that your whole performance is a disaster and THEY'RE ALL GONNA LAUGH AT YOU and the room turns dark and everyone dies.
Worse yet, you play everything right for a while, and you're so happy because it's like you got an awesome combo in Guitar Hero and you're aiming at a legendary perfect score, and you get so excited that you refuse to let even the slightest thing go wrong, and the pressure and nerves build up so much that you freeze and get into a weird out-of-body mode and go so out of control that really bizarre things go wrong and you feel helpless to stop them and you get scared and start playing really soft.
OR
If missing a note or someone hearing you botch a passage because you actually played it loud is simply one thing that did NOT go right, you're fine, because you can immediately move on and focus on how well you'll play the next passage, and look forward to all the cool things you can do with the passage, and constantly strive to see how cool you can make the next part and the part after that. You can realize that loud will be called for and soft will be called for, and you might even feel that, today, maybe the next passage would sound great played even louder than usual. So you try it. Maybe you're right, maybe you're not, but you did something to try to make the music come alive, and you have instant feedback on how it went (you'll hear it, other players might respond by changing what they're doing either to match or to let you be heard, the conductor may ask for more or less or give you a glance of just right), and can incorporate that into the rest of the performance.
Don't think about it as "showing them what YOU can do." This isn't about you. You're helping to make music happen. Instead, look at it as "what can I do with the MUSIC." This creates a meaningful contribution, a sense of ensemble, and very importantly, makes it about the music, and not about you. If something goes wrong, the music is the victim, and you can apologize to the music and try to make it up to the music. If something goes right, the music is great, and you're ALL rewarded with good music.
As an aside, the absolute worst, I'd say criminal consequence of judging your performance by how much went wrong is that you've given yourself a theoretical maximum for the best it could possibly go. Unfortunately, your definition of best might be different from someone else's, and your definition today may be different from your definition next year. So you've effectively set an artificial limit to how well you can play something, and it especially sucks if your limit is lower than others' in the group because you prevent them from bringing you up with them. If instead, you leave yourself open with a toolkit of how to make music awesome, with no limits, you may just find yourself exceeding your expectations and creating a truly spectacular performance.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 16:31
my apologies I currently play with a concert band, jazz band and marching band. the problem arises in my concert band and jazz bands
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Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 16:36
thx. have a psych degree myself just dont use it. your info hit right on in some areas like being a perfectionalist, shy I guest i have my work cut out for me
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 18:58
You've gotten good justifications for playing out. Now, practice doing it.
Begin with the swab-up-the-bell bugle call exercise:
Stuff a cotton swab up the bell, finger middle B (with the register key open), take plenty of mouthpiece, loosen your embouchure and blow like the wind. You'll get a weak 4th space Eb. Blow harder and harder until you get a decent volume.
Then find the Bb above. You do this by raising the back of your tongue and lowering the tip, lowering your jaw slightly and raising your soft palate. It's easier to do than to describe.
Then find the Eb, G and Bb and play bugle calls.
When you get these going well, take out the swab and blow the same way. You'll get volume like a hurricane.
You won't play like that all the time, of course, but it really does open things up and reveal new possibilities.
Practice being the person who plays out. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and watch yourself as if you were someone else. Do it with a clown nose on. Give a Tarzan yell before and after. Do it naked. Do it as a professional wrestler. Show off. Surprise and amaze everyone who didn't know you had this in you.
Ken Shaw
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2010-07-15 18:59
In music, being a perfectionist and having any illusion that you'll reach said perfection is a recipe for failure. If you see something in your playing that isn't perfect, you beat yourself up. If you think you've perfected something, your standards aren't high enough and you just don't know it, and you'll stagnate.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-07-15 19:41
To be blunt, maybe you don't have the music down solid. Perhaps you make too many mistakes when playing. Remember, this is just in theory, you may be a very good player that makes few or no mistakes.
When auditioning for a college, a professional symphony or one of those great military bands, you have to play really well, in some cases the best of the group. Nerves are a big issue for most, if not all of the musicians auditioning.
It's actually part of the joy of playing. Nailing the part, walking off and feeling great, or missing a note and still walking off feeling great, knowing you did your very best, by practicing a lot and knowing the part really well.
The key to dealing with nervousness is to practice your solo parts a lot. For example, when practicing try to play that solo 20 times without a mistake. This will cool down your tension, train your muscles and your mind to work as one instrument. I've heard of teachers, college level make the students play some of the peices they are working on 100 times without a mistake. I don't agree with this, but thats another subject.
So if you can play the music, your solo's many times over, you should do fine and your nerves will settle down a bit.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: Bob Bernardo
Date: 2010-07-15 19:48
To be blunt, maybe you don't have the music down solid. Perhaps you make too many mistakes when playing. Remember, this is just in theory, you may be a very good player that makes few or no mistakes.
When auditioning for a college, a professional symphony or one of those great military bands, you have to play really well, in some cases the best of the group. Nerves are a big issue for most, if not all of the musicians auditioning.
It's actually part of the joy of playing. Nailing the part, walking off and feeling great, or missing a note and still walking off feeling great, knowing you did your very best, by practicing a lot and knowing the part really well.
The key to dealing with nervousness is to practice your solo parts a lot. For example, when practicing try to play that solo 10 times without a mistake. This will cool down your tension, train your muscles and your mind to work as one instrument. I've heard of teachers, college level make the students play some of the pieces they are working on 100 times without a mistake. I don't agree with this, but thats another subject.
So if you can play the music, your solo's many times over, you should do fine and your nerves will settle down a bit.
Lastly remember to start slowly, perhaps at 1/2 speed and work your way up to the posted speed and even faster.
Designer of - Vintage 1940 Cicero Mouthpieces and the La Vecchia mouthpieces
Yamaha Artist 2015
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2010-07-15 20:16
When my best friend and I were in high school and playing (respectively) the contra-alto and bass clarinets in our concert band, we decided to found a 'school' of playing to counter the then-prevalent "French", "German", and "English" schools of clarinet playing. [Recall this was before everyone switched to Buffet R-13s and sound exactly alike as they do today.] We called our style the "Riverdale (Maryland) School of Low Clarinet Playing".
This is just background to our motto, which (facetious as may have been at the time) I have found to be a useful approach throughout my modest playing career:
"Every note's a solo."
Think of this when you play, and don't be shy!
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Author: 2cekce ★2017
Date: 2010-07-18 19:27
I painfully agree that it is the lack of practice on my part but thats only with the more difficult and tricky fingering passages. as for the other stuff I just dont play out even when i know i am playing it correctly. one other problem i failed to mention is that the person i sit beside ( i'm second chair)
hes the section leader, does not listen across or looks at the director to see whether hes playing in time, so he is constantly playing behind or ahead of everyone else, and apparently does not seem to realize it, that puts me in a position to either play the part softer or not at all so as not to be heard, so it doesnt sound like we are playing tug or war with our part.
we both play first part most of the time. its not a problem if he decides to play 2nd or 3rd part and i play any part other that whats he is playing.
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Author: GeorgeL ★2017
Date: 2010-07-18 20:40
If the other player the only one playing the part, and the director doesn't correct him, it is possible, even probable, that he is playing the part correctly.
There is an easy way to find out. If you play out so the director can hear you both, and you are not together with the other player, both of you should find out which one of you is off. (If the director does not notice two people who are not together while playing the same part, we have been discussing the wrong problem.)
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2010-07-18 21:04
Simple solution to the problem of the two conflicting interpretations of the time:
raise your hand and ask your director for a clarification. Explain that there are at least two people in your section playing the part differently, and for the sake of getting it right (admit you might be the one making the mistake) could the director please demonstrate to you how it is supposed to sound. I do this in our adult concert band when there is a question on counting, interpretation, or even regarding accidental markings that just do not sound right. Granted, with some modern pieces, they are supposed to sound like two cats fighting on a windowsill at 3 am, but that's beside the point. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
Nicely for me, it usually turns out that I am correct in my guesses.
Jeff
“Everyone discovers their own way of destroying themselves, and some people choose the clarinet.” Kalman Opperman, 1919-2010
"A drummer is a musician's best friend."
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