I really enjoyed reading a Guardian article this week entitled “It’ll be alright on the night:  how musicians cope with performance stress”  - not least of all because it highlighted a number of points that I’m constantly reiterating, and it’s always nice to hear someone agreeing with you!  

One thing that didn’t excite me so much was the title but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that “It’ll be alright on the night” is an example of a maladaptive way musicians deal with performance stress; the article certainly doesn't purport this as a successful technique but it does highlight an underlying cultural issue with our approach to performance anxiety: the ‘just get on with it and it will all work out’ approach. (hint: it doesn’t work!)

Overall I think the article highlights the genesis of my message - you don't have to put up with performance anxiety wreaking havoc on your performances! 

Here are some of the key messages from the article: 

If I had a penny for every time I heard someone complain that their performance was great in the rehearsal room, but then fell apart when they got on stage…  It is usually uttered with an incredulous look that says ‘I don’t understand what went wrong!?’, but unfortunately, the answer is pretty simple!

So many people train the part of their brain responsible for playing their instrument, but forget to train the part that is controlling their performance.  We assume that our fingers, lips, tongue or vocal chords won’t work with the speed and accuracy required unless we train intently, and yet we expect to handle the pressures and adversities of performance situations with little to no training at all.  This wouldn’t be such a big deal if we were naturally equipped to handle the pressures of performance - but we aren’t!  Let me explain…

Well, ok, not exactly nothing, but very little... you still don't have to get off the couch!  It's called Mindfulness Meditation...

Learning to meditate was one of my new years' resolutions for at least ten years!  I always thought it was probably a good idea, but I never thought I had enough time, wasn’t completely convinced it would make any difference, and feared (from the few attempts that I’d made) that I wasn't really any good at it!  (Sound familiar?!) That was, until I was introduced to Mindfulness Meditation.

We all know that exercise provides extensive physical benefits - this is far from groundbreaking news - but as much as I knew the statistics, and even enjoyed exercise, it was too often the thing on my to-do-list that got pushed to tomorrow… or perhaps the next day.  I always seemed to have far too much practice to do to have time for a walk, or would feel guilty if I was to take time out to do a yoga class.  Until I discovered the impact that exercise has on our brains…

Throughout this blog, I will be sharing my thoughts and insights, based on the latest performance psychology research, to inspire and enable your peak performance.  Whether you are a singer, instrumentalist, actor, dancer or public speaker a life in performance is both thrilling and rewarding, but it can also be a great challenge, marred with regular rejection, scrutiny, crippling challenges to self esteem, self-doubt and gruelling schedules. In this modern, competitive world, where there is always someone else to take your place and where bottom lines regularly trump the nurturing of talent, we need to address the limiting beliefs and thoughts that hold us back, and recognise the capacity of our brains to empower rather than derail us.  If we don't, we are likely to be left behind.