 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2012-03-23 15:33
Yesterday I had a clarinet exam. I took a beta blocker about an hour before (40mg) and felt fairly calm beforehand. I warmed up with my teacher for ten minutes - all went well. However, as soon as I started to play, I had the sensation that something hard was compressing the top of my skull - an intense head ache but from the top down. It didn't affect my performance (I think I performed to the best of my ability) and it went away as soon as I got out of the exam room. I did have also discomfort in my shoulders and upper arms. Was this a panic attack? A reaction to extreme stress? Anything to do with the beta blockers? I have taken them before but under much less stressful conditions and had no adverse effects whatever. I'd be interested to hear people's views...
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Author: Campana
Date: 2012-03-23 23:55
I once was top of my year, highest exam marks" when studying Engineering. I got little pleasure from it because I and everybody else knew that there was a guy who outshone us all. He got too stressed out and went to pieces. Came about 20th if I recall...
Whereas you, despite getting stressed/tense went on to play up to your ability. You should take heart from this because you have learnt that having exam nerves does not affect your playing...with this knowledge you will eventually lose your fear of exams. A little nervousness is normal.
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Author: bethmhil
Date: 2012-03-24 03:03
It's hard to tell if your symptoms had to do with the beta blockers. I have never experienced symptoms like what you described and have never heard of anyone having those kinds of side effects, but beta blockers can affect everyone differently.
If you had a panic attack, you would know it-- panic attacks can feel similar to heart attacks in terms of chest discomfort. Beta blockers block the release of adrenaline-- in people with heart problems, the release of adrenaline can be dangerous and can lead to serious heart complications. Beta blockers are also prescribed to people who get migraines or have chronic daily headaches-- one of my clarinet teachers has this condition, and it was from her that I first heard about beta blockers. But, I remember a warning that she gave me when I was considering trying them: She would feel like her heart was "weak" when she used to take them when she had to perform. For people who get extremely debilitating performance anxiety that is impossible to overcome, beta blockers can certainly be helpful in low doses. But, so much energy comes from the natural adrenaline from performing, and it can often enhance the performance if one knows how to focus all that energy in a positive way.
BMH
Illinois State University, BME and BM Performance
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Author: ttay1122
Date: 2012-03-24 03:32
Can someone tell me what beta blockers are? Are they assist in calming of nerves? I get very nervous to the point of panic when I am about to perform and usually remain nervous while performing. I find my best time to perform is when I have woken up very early, and still being tired stops me from over analyzing, which leads me to nervousness.
Taylor.
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Author: bethmhil
Date: 2012-03-24 04:27
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_blocker
As I said in my previous post, beta blockers are most commonly prescribed to people with heart problems, migraines, & headaches.
They are also prescribed for performance anxiety in order to combat the physical effects of adrenaline. The release of adrenaline in the body induces the "fight or flight response"-- body temperature increase, faster heart beat, increase in bronchial tube dilation in the lungs, shaking, sweating, etc. For some, these physical effects can be debilitating and can severely interfere with performing. In low doses (20-80mg), beta blockers can help block the release of adrenaline and reduce these symptoms. I myself use them in the lowest dosage possible. Though the effect is minimal, it helps just enough to combat the physical issues caused by adrenaline while still maintaining plenty of energy to convey through performing.
There are several different kinds of beta blockers, but I believe the most common kind prescribed is Propranolol-- a non-selective beta blocker. If you have asthma, DO NOT take propranolol. Propranolol can induce bronchospasms (asthma attacks).
Though I am being a hypocrite when I say this, unless you get unmanageable anxiety symptoms, do not use beta blockers. The release of adrenaline is a natural process in the body, and interfering with that is not the best idea. Do yourself and your body justice and find natural ways to deal with performance anxiety.
My one piece of advice for battling all that anxiety while performing is to always practice and rehearse like you are performing. Play for others as much as possible. I have even done jumping jacks in a practice room before a run through to get that feeling of all the adrenaline rushing in order to find ways to control it. The only thing that will help you get over it is to keep performing over and over, again and again and again...
BMH
Illinois State University, BME and BM Performance
Post Edited (2012-03-24 04:41)
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Author: trish24
Date: 2012-03-25 05:43
Hello,
I first posted in August last year about a not-so-good exam experience (mostly because of scales).
You answered with some similar experiences and good advice. There was lots from other contributors as well. I gather we are at about the same level of playing experience. My next exam is in July...I do exams because it keeps me motivated to practice.
If you would like to compare notes about the whole learning clarinet thing...and what an amazing experience it is as a late beginner, I would be happy to communicate off the board.
Thanks
Trish
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2012-03-26 11:58
hallo Trish
Yes, that would be great. To put you in the picture - I am 66 (young though!) and took up playing about 3 years ago. I am not particularly musical but always loved the sound of the clarinet. Unfortunately, I am rather a slow learner! What I hadn't realised was, it is not just about notes - for me, there are rhythm issues, band issues, and above all - panic issues. I am just now about to go on the board to see whether shoulder strain is another latent problem with playing. I had my exam on Thursday then went to a whole day clarinetfest - lovely, but involved playing above my level and a rather stressful journey there and back. I now have a really quite severe pain in shoulders and neck and shooting up into the side of the head. Stress? Overuse of certain muscles?
My friends (and doctor) asked why I do these exams if it causes so much anxiety. Well, like you, it gives me a focus and something to aim for.
I must also say that my teacher (who I don't want to change because she lives close to me and I can walk through the woods to her - plus she is a very professional person and good teacher) is over meticulous and scary. I sort of feel that I wouldn't be so bad if she weren't my accompanyist but she is...
Look forward to hearing from you. I don't usually moan about health issues - so don't be put off!
Erm - I had hoped this would be private - seems not to be the case. Can you send me your email address Trish?
Sandra
Post Edited (2012-03-26 12:00)
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2012-03-27 12:26
"I first posted in August last year about a not-so-good exam experience (mostly because of scales)."
- Trish, can you post the link to the thread about exam stress?
Thanks
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The older I get, the better I was
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Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2012-03-27 14:02
As anyone who has been around a person that was being supplied beta blockers for a heart condition knows, this medication is nothing to take lightly. Doctors will put patients on a heart monitor for a few days to review just how that medication performs in that patient.
When I went back to college after my retirement from the Army, kids were popping those things like they were tic tacs. I'm my opinion there is a serious disconnect with music programs that choose not to inform students about causes of and remedies for performance linked stress.
While I was in the U.S. Army Field Band I was a frequent soloist, I never had any performance anxiety problems, so people (other soloists) were constantly approaching me and asking me how I was able to deal with the stress. I soon found that other soloists were taking beta blockers, Xanex and other meds so they could perform. What was the reason for this? We were essentially performing in the same situations i.e. Large concerts with an audience 3-5 thousand people. Being the curious fellow that I am, I found out one very important component of the PA (performance anxiety) matrix. While we were in reality were performing in the same Physical environment ( standing in front of a major service band, packed concert hall or gymnatorium).
How we evaluated that situation in our minds was very different. While I was standing there playing the clarinet, having fun and sharing something with an audience that I've loved doing since age 9, others were standing in front of 3000 judges, and 65 highly critical band members that were just waiting for you to mess up. Add to that some stupid crap a teacher said to them 8 years ago about being perfect or hanging it up, needles to say they were not having "fun". So, which experience was "real"? The answer: Both and neither. We actively choose a "reality" every moment of our lives. And since it is a scientific fact that the human body can't really tell the difference between "real" and "imagined" situations, why not choose a reality that enhances your performance rather than distracting from it?
Stress while performing is a LEARNED series of thoughts. You must actively work to un-learn and then relearn another strategy. There are various techniques to do this and all of them are vastly better than beta blockers. I've done some programs of performance anxiety and trust me, it's "beatable and treatable". But getting past it means practicing the techniques in the practice room as if it was scales in thirds.
Tom Puwalski, Owner of Clarinet Gourmet, author of "Clarinetists Guide to Klezmer" Backun Artist, and former Clarinet Soloist and Principal clarinetist with US. Army Field Band and clarinetist the "The Atonement"
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Author: trish24
Date: 2012-03-27 22:20
Hello, Sandra,
If you put your cursor over trish24 in my last post, it takes you to my profile where you will see the email address. If you just send me a brief email, I will email you back a comprehensive reply.
Alternately, (or both) go to My Profile at the bottom of the posts. Click on that and at the top of the page that opens there is "Edit Profile". Click on that then uncheck "Hide my email" then at the bottomof that click Update profile. That will then highlight 'maruja' in any of your posts and anyone who wanted to contact you off the board could do so.
Hope to hear from you
Trish
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2012-03-28 14:57
Tom, believe me, if it was as easy as you say, just to choose which 'reality' you want to live in, I am sure we would all be there now. I think some of the answer to why you feel quite relaxed when you play is when you say you have been playing since you were 9 years old! I have been speaking French and Spanish since I was 9 years old and don't have any 'performance' anxiety either, when having to speak them in front of others. These are all skills which need automaticity - and I don't have them in music, unfortunately. And others are judgemental - as is the person involved. I can't believe that a 40 gram beta blocker taken once in 6 months is any worse than the paracetamol I am knocking back to block out this shoulder and neck pain....
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2012-03-28 16:11
Maruja:
The difference between speaking French and Spanish, and playing an instrument, is that there's no impression, real or imagined, that you've besmirched a piece of art if you say "una" instead of "un" in the process of ordering a cafe con leche.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Maruja
Date: 2012-03-28 17:20
Ah - well that's where I differ! I would feel humiliated if I got the gender wrong (just as I do when I get the note wrong). Language beautifully articulated and grammatically correct is superior to a lot of the stuff that my band is called upon to play...
Perhaps I just have an anal personality.
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Author: Tom Puwalski
Date: 2012-03-28 19:02
I seriously doubt that the cause of most performance anxiety is in offending the sensibilities of a dead composer. I find in generally comes from a feeling of inadequacy either real or imagined. If it's real, a good solid practice routine (which i have to say most players don't have) will go a long way into getting you really prepared for what every situation you're performing in. If the feeling of inadequacy is imagined ( which I have found to be the one that occurs the most) that's where a teacher needs to deconstruct what the player's F.E.A.R (false evidence that appears real) is.
And as far as a player "choosing" their reality, being easy. It's not, it's as hard as changing the sound you play with. But for most players change is harder than the same way of thinking, No matter how ineffective the thought pattern is.
As far as taking "paracetamol" being worse than a Beta blocker, I don't know. But anything that can be considered a Pain killer should be thought of as a "sensation" killer. In playing a clarinet that means you might be using more embouchure pressure that you might with out it be cause you might be less sensitive to it. As the great sage and Jedi master Yogi Berra once said "everything changes everything", and I totally agree with that.
During my career I knew a few really great clarinet players that abused alcohol. I never could understand how they could drink like that and play (god knows I can't). But then I figured it out. They could play like that (intoxicated) because they Practiced like that (intoxicated). Maybe the people that have trouble with beta blockers need to practice with them so as to better understand how it effects their bodies.
or course that's just my opinion!
Tom Puwalski, Owner of Clarinet Gourmet, author of "Clarinetists Guide to Klezmer" Backun Artist, and former Clarinet Soloist and Principal clarinetist with US. Army Field Band and clarinetist the "The Atonement"
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Author: Kaeren
Date: 2012-03-28 19:22
I've had both clarinet and violin exam meltdowns, forgetting or fumbling over scales that I know very well. (This didn't cause me to fail the exams, but if the stress level had been lower I'm sure I would have done better.)
A few days after my last exam, though, I started to investigate community concert bands as my teacher had suggested joining one. At the outset I was anxious because I didn't know any of the repertoire or any of the people, and the first time I performed with the band it was even scarier.
That changed about 3-4 months later, after playing more gigs and even going on a couple of out-of-town trips. It suddenly became --familiar-- and fun, and from that point onward the stress has been going steadily downwards.
I think it's partially the intermittent and "don't know what to expect" nature of exams that causes the stress. Perhaps rehearsing occasionally in a mock examination setting would be useful.
Post Edited (2012-03-28 19:23)
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Author: Campana
Date: 2012-03-28 20:00
I think there has been a lot of over analyzing on this thread. Exams usually mean there is a downside to failing, something is at stake. Sometimes an awful lot is at stake. Some people handle this better than others.
Put a scaffold board on the ground. We could all walk along it, no problema.
Put the scaffold board up 50ft in the air...same scaffold board, same width, any takers. The only thing that has changed is that there is something at stake (your wellbeing). It affects most people and is a fairly normal reaction, just the intensity varies.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2012-03-28 20:21
I think there's also a lot of over analyzing in clarinet playing. Comes with the territory. It's something I've been struggling a lot with lately myself.
Essentially, for me, when I care a lot about the music, investing myself thoroughly in it, the stakes are very high because the quality of what I'm doing is important to me.
When I decide it's not important what happens, I'm more relaxed, but it's also a tendency in this situation to become very detached, uninvolved in music making.
Neither situation, on its own, is acceptable to me, the former getting me too wound up with perfectionism and the latter putting me in a flippant, dismissive place.
It's a terrible paradox that I've had a lot of trouble lately trying to resolve, to the point of taking a complete hiatus from classical music. Finding peace with both worlds simultaneously is one of the great challenges, and lately I've found myself in a very self-destructive place trying to get there, so I'm stepping back to regroup.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: annev
Date: 2012-03-29 03:09
Tim Gallwey, of the "inner game" series has a fairly new book called, "The Inner Game of Stress". Although I know he has written a book, in conjunction with Barry Green, that directly adresses music performance (The Inner Game of Music), this book looks at stress in general, because stressful situations are a part of life no matter where we "perform". The book is written in conjunction with two medical practitioners, both of whom run workshops on stress management. There are so many things in it that I'm not sure where to begin, but I do know that it's been tremendously helpful for me in my learning with music performance. One concept that I'll mention is what Gallwey calls the PLE triangle - performance, learning and enjoyment. He says that in no matter what we do, all three things need to be present, for the experience to be fulfilling. Thinking of each performance as just a learning experience, regardless of outcome, and in the enjoyment of the music while I'm there, has been really helpful for me at this point.
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Author: JonTheReeds
Date: 2012-03-29 08:57
Having just taken my first clarinet exam it's been interesting reading all the comments here
Played guitar in pub bands for 20 years on and off before taking up the clarinet. Always fairly calm before a gig, but as soon as I got on stage I'd get a massive adrenaline rush and for the first song my leg would jump up and down. After the first song everything would be fine. I got used to this, so never worried about it and tried to make sure the first song wasn't too difficult to play. It's difficult to describe what happened - not really nerves or stage fright as such, as I didn't feel in a panic, but obviously some sort of fight-or-flight response
Having now taken up clarinet I play in a local community band and play regular concerts. I'm calm before a concert but also I don't get that adrenaline rush. I just sit down, play and enjoy it. I'm not sure if I feel less exposed playing in a group of 70 musicians, or whether it's because I'm concentrating so much
In my exam however I got the old adrenaline rush as soon as I started playing, with this time my hands joining in with my leg! The difference between a gig and an exam though is that the exam is over so quickly
What I find interesting is that this is obviously all in the mind, otherwise I would get the same reaction playing in the community band!
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The older I get, the better I was
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