Some personal thoughts on how to handle performance nerves!
Coping with Music Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety is caused both by the ways we think and feel. This short article will try to give you new thoughts on ways to lower your level of performance anxiety. One very practical way to feel less anxious is to discover and change thinking patterns that put too much pressure on you. Look at the list of cognitive distortions below and pick one or two that you use often, then try to "brainstorm" realistic and acheivable alternative thoughts, that you could use instead.
Definition of Cognitive Distortions
Cognitive distortions are logical, but they are not rational. They can create real difficulty and belief systems with your thinking. See if you are doing any of the ten common distortions that people use. Rate yourself from one to ten with one being low and ten being high. Once identified, ask yourself if you can stop using the distortions and approach the situation in a different way. Talking through your misconceptions and usually quite firmly held beliefs with a trusted friend can work miracles. "We need to know how others see us, as well as how we see ourselves" - (google Johari Windows for further explanation)
ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-and-white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see your self as a total failure.
OVERGENERALISATION: You see a single negative performance event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
THOUGHT FILTERING: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively, so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolours the entire glass of water.
JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You make a negative interpretation about your playing even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion.
MIND READING: You arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you and your performance, and you don't bother to check this out.
THE FORTUNETELLER ERROR: You can anticipate that you will play badly, and you feel convinced that your prediction is an already-established fact.
MAGNIFICATION, CATASTROPHISING OR MINIMISATION: You exaggerate the important things, or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny. This is also called the binocular trick. Music making is not brain surgery, nobody gets hurt if things go wrong.
EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are: "I feel it, therefore it must be true."
LABELING AND MISLABELING: This is an extreme form of overgeneralisation. Instead of putting in context your error, you attach a negative label to yourself. "I'm a failure" "I can't play"
PERSONALISATION: You see your self as the cause of some negative performance event, which in fact you were not primarily responsible for.
I hope these suggestions give cause for thought and I will add more advice as time allows.
Compiled and adapted by Simon St John Locke
MMus, BA (Hons), Dip HE, RN (Mental Health)