Posted on May 17, 2008 by Abigail McHugh in - Dealing with Performance Anxiety

I find it helpful if I know in advance exactly what it is that I am hoping to achieve in a performance, especially if this goal is something that I can easily attain if I simply remain focused on it. I decide ahead of time that if I accomplish this one task, that I will be satisfied with my performance. Knowing that I only have one thing to think about helps me to avoid losing my concentration to nervous jitters. Choosing an appropriate goal is of course very important, as it must be attainable. Surprisingly, I find it most helpful when the goal is not directly related to the piece that I am playing, but rather is something that I have been working on in my technique in general or is related to muscle relaxation.

Some examples of appropriate, achievable goals:

To keep my head up

To relax my feet

To feel the bow moving from my back

To continually sing the piece in my head as I play

To feel the pulse in my hips throughout

Some examples of unreasonable goals that will add stress to the performance:

To play everything in tune

To win the audition

To nail the difficult section on page 2

To not have any memory slips

To not make mistakes