10 things you can do to manage music performance anxiety (Part 1)

Music performance anxiety is a common issue amongst performing musicians and can have a range of negative consequences. Despite its prevalence and damaging effects, it’s rarely talked about or addressed in music education.

There is actually quite a lot of existing research on performance anxiety – but sadly, this knowledge is rarely passed on to musicians. One of the aims of Psyc for Musos is to do exactly that.

I have decided to split up the performance anxiety management articles into two parts. This first article will deal with strategies which you can use during or right before a performance, while Part 2 will look at broader strategies.

1. Focus on the music, instead of focusing on the audience or basic technical issues

What you focus on during performance can have a big impact on your performance experience. Below are aspects which musicians commonly focus on during: 1) a pleasant, successful performance; and 2) an unpleasant, less successful performance:^1,2

Pleasant, successful performance	Unpleasant, less successful performance
– Feels like you’re ‘in the moment’ – Focus on own sound (and sound of others in ensemble performances) – Focus on interpretative aspects of piece, the character of the piece	– Focus on mistakes – Focus on the audience – Worrying about potential mistakes and memory lapses – Focus on basic technical aspects of the piece

It is important that you try to focus on the music and the performance rather than the audience, mistakes, or technical issues.

Of course, that is easier done than said – but like anything, this is something which gets easier with practice. Here are a few tips:

• Pre-plan what you are going to focus on during a performance and practise focusing on these things while you do practice run-throughs or practice performances
• Do the above but mentally – imagine performing the piece, while paying attention to these things.
• If you find yourself thinking about mistakes or what the audience is thinking during a performance, suppressing it (telling yourself “Stop thinking about that”) is unlikely to work (see the white bear effect). Instead, it is more effective to redirect your focus (e.g. telling yourself “listen to the shape of the melody”).

2. Take your time

Physiological arousal, such as increased heart rate, can alter your perception of time.

One way in which researchers measure people’s perception of time is through ‘internal tempo’.³ This refers to a person’s preferred motor tempo, and is most commonly measured by asking people to tap at a speed which feels the most comfortable to them. One study³ found that inducing stress increased people’s internal tempo, and these people were also more likely to misremember the duration of a given sound.

Distortion in your perception of time caused by physiological arousal can have negative consequences in stressful performance situations. Musicians are likely to play faster when they are nervous, which can impair performance quality.^4,5 Amongst athletes, those who ‘choke’ under pressure have been found to have faster preparation times. On the other hand, using pre-performance routines with a consistent time duration has been found to be linked to better performance.⁶

It is therefore important to recognise this and take your time because when you are feeling nervous, you have more time than you think you do.

3. Frame it as ‘excitement’ not ‘anxiety’

A major part of performance anxiety (and anxiety disorders) is cognitive appraisal, which refers to how you interpret things, or how you perceive things.

Let’s say that you’re about to perform and that you notice that your heart is racing (a physiological symptom). Here are two interpretations of the same sensation:

1. “My heart is racing because I’m nervous. I’m nervous so I’m going to play badly.”
2. “My heart is racing because I’m about to perform – and it’s giving me energy and excitement.”

Viewing performance anxiety in a positive way is an important step in managing it.⁷ Feeling nervous before a performance is normal and helpful – imagine being tired and sleepy before a performance!

One author⁸ proposes that reframing performance anxiety as excitement is actually more effective than trying to calm down. This paper found that simple self-talk (saying to yourself “I am excited”) was able to make people feel excited and improve performance in the domains of singing, public speaking, and mathematics. This strategy (saying “I am excited”) was also found to be more effective than trying to calm down (saying “I am calm”). This is because it is hard for your brain to believe that you are calm when you are experiencing physiological arousal. On the other hand, it is very plausible to believe that you are excited since it matches your current physiological state.

4. Recognise and challenge your unrealistic thoughts

Negative cognition (e.g. thoughts) is the most fundamental part of debilitating performance anxiety.^2,9 Below are some common cognitions of people who experience high levels of performance anxiety:

• Expecting to perform badly¹⁰
• Expecting their performance to be evaluated negatively by judges/peers/audience¹⁰
• Overestimating the probability and magnitude of potential negative consequences¹⁰
• Catastrophising (irrational thoughts and beliefs that the absolute worst will happen) e.g. “I’m going to play really badly and I’ll lose my post in the orchestra” ^2,11

In contrast, musicians who experience mild levels of performance anxiety are more likely to have realistic thoughts (e.g. “I might make a few small mistakes but that’s normal and the audience probably won’t really notice”).^2,11

Look at these hypothetical scenarios of two musician who are in the exact same situation and are experiencing the exact same physiological arousal:

Even though they were in the same situation, you can imagine that their performance experience would have been very different.

To combat unrealistic negative thoughts, you need to recognise and challenge them. Here are some questions which you can ask yourself to challenge your thoughts:

• “How realistic is that?”
• “What is the actual likelihood of that happening?”
• “Is it really that black and white (all-or-nothing)?”
• “What is the worst that can really happen?”⁷

For example, let’s challenge some thoughts that Musician 1 had:

• “I’m going to totally stuff up”
  • Isn’t that a little black and white? Ok maybe you’ll make a few mistakes – but that doesn’t mean that the whole performance is going to be ruined.
• “My quartet might kick me out of the group”
  • How realistic is that? How likely is that to happen? It might not be impossible, but it’s extremely unlikely.

5. Establish pre-performance routines

A pre-performance routine (PPR) refers to a sequence of cognitive and behavioural elements which one systematically uses before a performance.¹² Cognitive elements can include things like imagery and self-talk, while behavioural elements may include relaxation exercises.¹³

In sport psychology, PPRs have been found to be effective in improving performance, especially in high-pressure conditions, and is used widely by athletes.^6,12 It is believed that PPRs improve performance by improving concentration.¹²

Specifically, PPR is believed to:¹²

• Redirect attention away from task-irrelevant thoughts to task-relevant thoughts
• Reduce negative self-talk
• Prevent performers from over-focusing on automatic motor movements

As a result, PPR can reduce anxiety and increase one’s feelings of control before performances.¹³

PPR has not been investigated as thoroughly in music, but a few studies have been conducted. These found that PPR increased self-efficacy¹³ and musical expressivity.¹⁴

PPR can be used both on and off-stage. Things which you may incorporate into your pre-performance routine include:^7,13

• Warm-up
• Positive self-talk
• Focus on goals
• Relaxation techniques (e.g. deep breathing, releasing muscle tension)
• Focus your attention on a specific cue

Like everything, PPR is something which you need to practise. In order to use PPR effectively, you will need to first establish your PPR and write it down, then practise it as often as possible.