It's natural to feel nervous about a performance, whether it's for an exam or a recital. In fact a little bit of adrenaline can be used to your advantage during a performance by adding an element of excitement and energy to your playing, bringing the music to life. It's when the nerves and anxiety are excessive that they can be detrimental to your playing: shaking fingers, mind going blank, forgetting things, making more mistakes than usual, freezing ...
The anxiety about a performance tends to be based on the fear that it will go wrong. Ironically, excessive anxiety of this kind can actually be the cause of things going wrong. The body's fight or flight response kicks in and suddenly your fingers are shaking too much for you to have the control and coordination necessary for demanding technical passages of music. Your attention may become scattered and unfocused as you're being distracted by anxious thoughts and you can find yourself forgetting whole sections of music that you thought you had memorised, then you freeze. Suddenly everything seems so much more difficult and the more you try to pull yourself together, the more tense you get leading to more mistakes and less fluidity. Unfortunately this is very common. Luckily there are things you can do to reduce this effect and gradually become more confident about performing.
One of the first and most obvious things you can do to reduce your performance nerves is to make sure you are as well prepared as possible. Imagine if you were performing something that was so easy you could do it backwards with your eyes closed. You probably wouldn't feel quite so anxious about performing that as you would about something more challenging where you're more likely to make obvious errors. So make sure you know your piece extremely well - inside out and back to front. Nerves tend to reveal problem areas in the piece that you weren't aware of when you were just practising in your ideal, comfortable, relaxed home environment with no one listening. Often you can find you don't know the music as well as you think you did. So make sure you keep working on it, even after you have got it sounding fluent. Practise starting anywhere in the piece so that you know that if you stumble during the performance you will be able to pick it up again or keep going. Practise fast pieces extra slowly - this helps to cement the notes in your conscious awareness much more than constant fast practice which mainly develops the muscle memory. Practise the piece backwards (not literally). Eg. practise the last 2 bars a few times, then the last 4 bars, then the last 6 bars etc. This way you end up practising the ending more than the beginning. The last sections of a piece are often less well known than the first sections, which can make a performance feel more and more difficult as you go along. By practising it backwards it can start to feel easier and easier as you go along, helping you to relax into the playing a bit more, and reducing that tense anticipation of difficult bits.
Another way to make sure you're well prepared is to mentally rehearse the performance. Imagine you're actually sitting at the piano and think through the music: hearing it in your head, visualising the score or the finger patterns on the keyboard, and feeling the finger muscles moving as if they are actually on the keys. See if you can mentally label sequences and sections as you go through the music in your head. It doesn't matter what names you give these labels as long as they make sense to you and give you a good idea of where you are in the music. It could be as technical as calling it "the section with ascending diminished seventh arpeggios" or as non technical as "the bit with lots of clashes going up the keyboard".
Aside from being well prepared, it helps if you can dampen down your fight or flight response a bit if it is excessive and causing problems. The excessive physical tension caused by high anxiety is not conducive to fluid playing, clear thinking and creative artistic expression. You need to relax in order to reduce the physical tension that is hindering your dexterity. I know, it's easier said than done, but there are lots of relaxation exercises that are designed to calm down the fight or flight response, and some can be done for a few minutes just before a nerve wracking situation.
One to try is a focused breathing exercise. Breathing can become shallow and fast when we are anxious. Consciously slowing it down and breathing deeply enough that your belly expands with each inhale helps to promote a feeling of calm. Aim for a longer exhale than inhale. Breathe in for a count of 4, pause briefly, then breathe out for a count of 8. Pause briefly again before the next inhale. Do this breathing pattern for at least a minute or two all the while focusing on the feeling of your belly rising and falling with each breath, or the feeling of the air passing through your nose. If you find your mind wandering off to anxious thoughts about the upcoming performance just gently bring your attention back to your breath. It doesn't matter if your mind is wandering all over the place, just be aware that it is and keep returning to focusing on your breathing. You can vary the counts I gave above if you are not comfortable, the important thing is to slow down your breathing, and aim to make the exhale longer than the inhale. You should find yourself feeling at least a bit more tranquil and grounded afterwards.
The anxiety about a performance tends to be based on the fear that it will go wrong. Ironically, excessive anxiety of this kind can actually be the cause of things going wrong. The body's fight or flight response kicks in and suddenly your fingers are shaking too much for you to have the control and coordination necessary for demanding technical passages of music. Your attention may become scattered and unfocused as you're being distracted by anxious thoughts and you can find yourself forgetting whole sections of music that you thought you had memorised, then you freeze. Suddenly everything seems so much more difficult and the more you try to pull yourself together, the more tense you get leading to more mistakes and less fluidity. Unfortunately this is very common. Luckily there are things you can do to reduce this effect and gradually become more confident about performing.
One of the first and most obvious things you can do to reduce your performance nerves is to make sure you are as well prepared as possible. Imagine if you were performing something that was so easy you could do it backwards with your eyes closed. You probably wouldn't feel quite so anxious about performing that as you would about something more challenging where you're more likely to make obvious errors. So make sure you know your piece extremely well - inside out and back to front. Nerves tend to reveal problem areas in the piece that you weren't aware of when you were just practising in your ideal, comfortable, relaxed home environment with no one listening. Often you can find you don't know the music as well as you think you did. So make sure you keep working on it, even after you have got it sounding fluent. Practise starting anywhere in the piece so that you know that if you stumble during the performance you will be able to pick it up again or keep going. Practise fast pieces extra slowly - this helps to cement the notes in your conscious awareness much more than constant fast practice which mainly develops the muscle memory. Practise the piece backwards (not literally). Eg. practise the last 2 bars a few times, then the last 4 bars, then the last 6 bars etc. This way you end up practising the ending more than the beginning. The last sections of a piece are often less well known than the first sections, which can make a performance feel more and more difficult as you go along. By practising it backwards it can start to feel easier and easier as you go along, helping you to relax into the playing a bit more, and reducing that tense anticipation of difficult bits.
Another way to make sure you're well prepared is to mentally rehearse the performance. Imagine you're actually sitting at the piano and think through the music: hearing it in your head, visualising the score or the finger patterns on the keyboard, and feeling the finger muscles moving as if they are actually on the keys. See if you can mentally label sequences and sections as you go through the music in your head. It doesn't matter what names you give these labels as long as they make sense to you and give you a good idea of where you are in the music. It could be as technical as calling it "the section with ascending diminished seventh arpeggios" or as non technical as "the bit with lots of clashes going up the keyboard".
Aside from being well prepared, it helps if you can dampen down your fight or flight response a bit if it is excessive and causing problems. The excessive physical tension caused by high anxiety is not conducive to fluid playing, clear thinking and creative artistic expression. You need to relax in order to reduce the physical tension that is hindering your dexterity. I know, it's easier said than done, but there are lots of relaxation exercises that are designed to calm down the fight or flight response, and some can be done for a few minutes just before a nerve wracking situation.
One to try is a focused breathing exercise. Breathing can become shallow and fast when we are anxious. Consciously slowing it down and breathing deeply enough that your belly expands with each inhale helps to promote a feeling of calm. Aim for a longer exhale than inhale. Breathe in for a count of 4, pause briefly, then breathe out for a count of 8. Pause briefly again before the next inhale. Do this breathing pattern for at least a minute or two all the while focusing on the feeling of your belly rising and falling with each breath, or the feeling of the air passing through your nose. If you find your mind wandering off to anxious thoughts about the upcoming performance just gently bring your attention back to your breath. It doesn't matter if your mind is wandering all over the place, just be aware that it is and keep returning to focusing on your breathing. You can vary the counts I gave above if you are not comfortable, the important thing is to slow down your breathing, and aim to make the exhale longer than the inhale. You should find yourself feeling at least a bit more tranquil and grounded afterwards.
Another exercise that can help you to feel more calm is a progressive muscular relaxation exercise. When we feel anxious we tend to hold a lot of tension in various parts of our bodies, often without being aware that we are doing so. As mentioned earlier, this extra physical tension can hinder coordination and dexterity. Ideally there should only be as much tension as is necessary in order for the muscles to perform their task, and everything else is relaxed - resulting in fluid, controlled playing.
It can be very difficult to just relax a tense muscle on demand, let alone be aware of where we are actually holding tension. This is where progressive muscle relaxation can come in useful. This is where you consciously contract and then relax each muscle group in your body, starting from your toes and working your way up through your legs, belly, chest, shoulders, arms to your fingertips. Once your body feels more relaxed, your mind is more likely to feel relaxed too.
Learn to let go of resistance. When you start feeling anxious and nervous, trying too hard to stop feeling that way causes more tension. Trying to hold too tightly onto control only results in loss of control. The feeling can grow and get harder and harder to keep squashed. The tension caused by trying too hard to control or squash the feeling makes the anxiety and nerves worse. You need to let go of the resistance to these feelings, allow yourself to feel these feelings then let them go, observe them and notice which parts of your body are affected and where you are holding the most tension. Observe the tension and anxiety but don't get swept up in it. Don't perpetuate it by dwelling on all the fears of what could go wrong. Focus on the parts of your body that are most affected by the tension and breathe deeply and slowly, imagining a gradual release of that tension with each exhale.
Be conscious of repetitive anxiety thoughts that could be affecting your confidence.
Start to become aware of all your negative self talk. Often when people are nervous about a piano performance they are saying all sorts of negative things in their head e.g. "I just know I'm going to mess up", "I can't do it", "I'm going to make loads of mistakes", "it's all going to go wrong now" etc. If you tell yourself these sorts of things enough times your subconscious mind is going to start to believe it and actually cause you to go wrong - a self fulfilling prophecy. It's a form of self hypnosis. If you think a certain thought enough times, it becomes a habit, i.e. automatic and unconscious. This unconscious thought pattern drives certain feelings and behaviours. If you have convinced yourself enough that you will go wrong, chances are you will probably go wrong.
You need to find a way to convince your subconscious mind that things are going to go well instead - reprogram the automatic thought patterns.
First of all it can be helpful to become fully aware of all these automatic negative thoughts. When you catch yourself thinking like that, turn it around. Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. They don't have to be unrealistic affirmations that you hope will come true if you say them enough times. Just remind yourself that you can do it, you know you can because you've done it enough times when you've been practising on your own. Hopefully you wouldn't be about to do an exam or performance without being well prepared first. This doesn't mean suppressing those thoughts though, it's more about being realistic and recognising the negative thoughts for what they are.
Writing down all the things you are worried about can help to get them out of your head. Sometimes we put so much energy into suppressing thoughts that they come back with twice as much force. Writing them down can help you to acknowledge and then let go of these thoughts.
You may even find it helpful to tear up the bit of paper afterwards. This symbolic act sends a message to your subconscious mind that those thoughts are rubbish.
Beware of dwelling on negative thoughts and worries. Don't just imagine all the things that could go wrong. Repeatedly thinking about all the mistakes you might make trains the brain to take on board these mistakes and actually make you do them. This is because you are mentally rehearsing the mistakes - you may as well be actually practising your mistakes and learning how to do it wrong. Instead, as I mentioned earlier, mentally rehearse the correct way of playing the piece, and imagine a positive outcome.
Don't be too hard on yourself. Be patient and keep trying the methods I have described above. It can take time and practise to overcome excessive nerves.
One of my performances
You may also be interested in my articles on the importance of memorisation, improvisation or classical training.
It can be very difficult to just relax a tense muscle on demand, let alone be aware of where we are actually holding tension. This is where progressive muscle relaxation can come in useful. This is where you consciously contract and then relax each muscle group in your body, starting from your toes and working your way up through your legs, belly, chest, shoulders, arms to your fingertips. Once your body feels more relaxed, your mind is more likely to feel relaxed too.
Learn to let go of resistance. When you start feeling anxious and nervous, trying too hard to stop feeling that way causes more tension. Trying to hold too tightly onto control only results in loss of control. The feeling can grow and get harder and harder to keep squashed. The tension caused by trying too hard to control or squash the feeling makes the anxiety and nerves worse. You need to let go of the resistance to these feelings, allow yourself to feel these feelings then let them go, observe them and notice which parts of your body are affected and where you are holding the most tension. Observe the tension and anxiety but don't get swept up in it. Don't perpetuate it by dwelling on all the fears of what could go wrong. Focus on the parts of your body that are most affected by the tension and breathe deeply and slowly, imagining a gradual release of that tension with each exhale.
Be conscious of repetitive anxiety thoughts that could be affecting your confidence.
Start to become aware of all your negative self talk. Often when people are nervous about a piano performance they are saying all sorts of negative things in their head e.g. "I just know I'm going to mess up", "I can't do it", "I'm going to make loads of mistakes", "it's all going to go wrong now" etc. If you tell yourself these sorts of things enough times your subconscious mind is going to start to believe it and actually cause you to go wrong - a self fulfilling prophecy. It's a form of self hypnosis. If you think a certain thought enough times, it becomes a habit, i.e. automatic and unconscious. This unconscious thought pattern drives certain feelings and behaviours. If you have convinced yourself enough that you will go wrong, chances are you will probably go wrong.
You need to find a way to convince your subconscious mind that things are going to go well instead - reprogram the automatic thought patterns.
First of all it can be helpful to become fully aware of all these automatic negative thoughts. When you catch yourself thinking like that, turn it around. Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. They don't have to be unrealistic affirmations that you hope will come true if you say them enough times. Just remind yourself that you can do it, you know you can because you've done it enough times when you've been practising on your own. Hopefully you wouldn't be about to do an exam or performance without being well prepared first. This doesn't mean suppressing those thoughts though, it's more about being realistic and recognising the negative thoughts for what they are.
Writing down all the things you are worried about can help to get them out of your head. Sometimes we put so much energy into suppressing thoughts that they come back with twice as much force. Writing them down can help you to acknowledge and then let go of these thoughts.
You may even find it helpful to tear up the bit of paper afterwards. This symbolic act sends a message to your subconscious mind that those thoughts are rubbish.
Beware of dwelling on negative thoughts and worries. Don't just imagine all the things that could go wrong. Repeatedly thinking about all the mistakes you might make trains the brain to take on board these mistakes and actually make you do them. This is because you are mentally rehearsing the mistakes - you may as well be actually practising your mistakes and learning how to do it wrong. Instead, as I mentioned earlier, mentally rehearse the correct way of playing the piece, and imagine a positive outcome.
Don't be too hard on yourself. Be patient and keep trying the methods I have described above. It can take time and practise to overcome excessive nerves.
One of my performances
You may also be interested in my articles on the importance of memorisation, improvisation or classical training.
