A common phenomenon that many performers, including musicians, athletes, and models, face is performance anxiety, more commonly known as “stage fright.” This anxiety can often lead the performer to either back away from the performance or deliver a below-par performance.
Performance anxiety also impacts the pianists’ overall confidence, restricting them from participating in future performances.
Studies have shown that performance anxiety causes a fight or flight reaction in the body, like facing danger. Therefore, this comprehensive guide is going to explore the cause behind performance anxiety and provide you with tips to overcome it while playing piano in public.
What is Performance Anxiety?
Performance anxiety, commonly called “stage fright,” is a state of arousal coupled with common symptoms like elevated heartbeat, shortness of breath, and sweating. While modest amounts of stress might improve your performance, excessive stress can derail it.
Professional pianists are as prone to performance anxiety as novice pianists who have recently learned how to play the piano.
Symptoms of Performance Anxiety When Playing Piano in Public
There are different symptoms that can accompany performance anxiety, and understanding these symptoms might help in anxiety relief.
- Musicians suffering from performance anxiety can exhibit various emotional symptoms, such as dread, concern, uncertainty, humiliation, and self-doubt. They cause substantial anguish and impair an individual’s ability to concentrate on tasks.
- Performance anxiety can result in negative thought patterns such as excessive self-criticism, high expectations, and a preoccupation with failure. Such thinking leads to the fear cycle and lowers a person’s self-confidence.
- Physical symptoms can include elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, shaking, perspiration, dry mouth, gastrointestinal difficulties, and muscular tension. All these factors might aggravate emotional and cognitive difficulties.
- Pianists can demonstrate behavioral changes in reaction to emotional, cognitive, and physical symptoms, such as avoiding circumstances that cause anxiety, retreating from social engagements, and demonstrating reduced performance.
- Performance anxiety can also affect social equation by hindering relationships with coworkers, acquaintances, and family members. The afflicted person may appear aloof and uncooperative, resulting in greater social isolation and pressure.
Overcoming Performance Anxiety
There are some simple steps and techniques that you can utilize to ease your performance anxiety.
1. Do Not Promote Comparison
Every musician goes through their own musical path and passes various phases. Comparing yourself to someone else or anybody else can lead to increased stress.
Your situation and learning route can be different from others, and this is especially true for novice pianists. There are several elements that might alter the trajectory of your musical career.
These factors include the quantity of practice time you have, the level and quality of coaching you receive, and the support and encouragement you receive at home. Since these variables vary in everyone’s life, it is hard to compare your growth to your colleagues or friends.
2. Find Your Inner Musical Voice
Finding your inner musical voice includes figuring out what you enjoy and dislike about music. It is fine to like an artist even if your buddy or partner does not.
Do not indulge in criticism posed by music authorities. Recognize that music is frequently a question of taste, not ‘complexity,’ as some would have you think.
Once you’ve determined what you enjoy and dislike, you can focus on what makes that song so meaningful to you. You can then use what you’ve learned in your own playing and practice.
By giving your music individuality, you learn what you enjoy and don’t like by learning to comprehend how you connect to music; this exercise is going to enable you to take ownership of your music.
3. Foster a Growth Mentality
In the great wide world, there is a faulty attitude that associates musical competence with talent. The truth is that most amazing people begin their lives as ordinary people. Their enthusiasm, dedication, and devotion are what set them apart.
That should be reassuring since it suggests that we can all strive for high levels of proficiency with hard work, practice, and devotion. The key to adopting a development mindset is to abandon the antiquated notion that innate talent exists.
Your perspective shifts when you realize the person you respect did not just happen to be fortunate; rather, they had to work hard to get their position.
4. Healthy Lifestyle
Preparing prior to a performance is an often overlooked yet simple strategy to maintain a good mental state. Stick to early bedtimes that allow for more than 7 hours of sleep in the weeks leading up to a performance.
Moreover, caffeine and alcohol should be avoided as these might aggravate anxiety. Adopting healthy living habits increases resistance to anxiety-inducing cortisol and adrenaline surges during performance.
5. Control Your Breathing
This technique entails exhaling twice as long as you inhale. According to Montello’s research, 2:1 breathing is the most effective approach for overcoming stage anxiety.
The research suggests performing it for 2 to 4 minutes every day and 5 minutes before a performance to ground and center oneself. This exercise reduces nerve activity in the Sympathetic Nervous System and activates the relaxation response.
Moreover, it calms the neurological system, stabilizes the mind, and promotes a sensation of calm.
6. Warm Up
Arrive early to the venue to ease into the performance mood. Stretch lightly, shake your hands, and rotate your wrists and ankles.
Deeply inhale and look for areas of tension. Positive priming can be achieved by reading uplifting and motivational literature.
Conclusion
Performance anxiety is a common phenomenon that affects novice as well as seasoned pianists. This stage fright often stems from the fear of failure and can cause performers to unconsciously deliver below-par performances.
However, there are few breathing techniques, diet restrictions, and mental exercises that can allow the performers to overcome this anxiety and have fun during a musical presentation.
Therefore, it is essential to follow these techniques and implement a warmup and breathing routine prior to your performance; more importantly, it is essential that you learn to enjoy your performance.
