Performance Anxiety
Hello fellow guitarists.
I, in an earlier time of my life, played sport at an elite level sometimes playing in front of hundreds of people. I decided to take up classical guitar at the tender age of 66 and I have found that unlike in my younger years when I would look forward with excitement to performing, I now suffer massively with performance anxiety. And it is getting worse. Playing for friends, family and even my guitar teacher has become something that I would much sooner run and hide than put myself through. I play by myself and record some of my playing and am, for the most part, happy with my playing. But what I do in private I struggle to reproduce in public. In golf I think they call what I suffer from, THE YIPS. Whatever the term I certainly know that my confidence is virtually non existed.
I have never taken any form on medication for performance anxiety, however I have heard that a natural supplement called PERFORMZEN is suppose to be very good and is taken by musicians. Has anyone heard of this supplement or have use this supplement?
I have been trying all the non medicated ways like deep breathing positive thinking etc etc etc with zero success. I am sure I'm not new with this problem and would appreciate any advice given.
Cheers
Michelle
110 replies
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Some wonderful comments, suggestions and advice here. It's been such a lively discussion and it's great to hear people sharing their experiences.
I have already mentioned about my own performance anxiety issues in an earlier reply. While PA might be unique to each person's experience, perhaps there are some common threads that are uniquely related to the classical guitar and it's history and tradition.
Traditionally, the classical guitar has carried with a perfectionist, academic tradition, atleast in the contemporary era. Unlike results based activity like certain sports where winning is the ultimate goal, classical guitar is often judged on process and nuances of not just rigorous technical prowess but also musical parameters like articulation, phrasing, dynamics that are often set to very high standards. I have often felt the burden of meeting such expectations even when I'm just playing to myself. If it has to be some kind of performance, slips in detail might feel like walking a tightrope.
Secondly, classical guitar is mostly a solo pursuit, unless you're lucky enough to be in the company of others as fellow enthusiasts, classmates in a conservatory, or parts of an ensemble. Unfortunately for me, I'm like an island at a place where I haven't met anyone in person who's interested in classical guitar.
This is unlike in other settings like playing acoustic or electric guitars casually in jam sessions with friends at home or in stage where responsibility might be diffused among the band members
Finally, there's online culture of 'perfection' where everyone and everything is a slice of perfection. Be it tik tok, YouTube, Facebook and classical guitar accounts like SIccas or Guitar Salon International where everything looks like perfection. We can easily fall into the trap of thinking that that's the standard we must reach or at least aspire to, thereby distorting expectations, creating undue comparisons and putting more pressure on ourselves.
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said:
Guitarists seem to be a pretty self-critical bunchMusicians are a self-critical bunch. Being self-critical comes with the job description, I think. I am son of a pianist and a violinist and I don't believe we are an island.
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Fascinating thread here. Just an observation from my side: Indeed, many musicians, especially guitarists, often late learners, or devoted amateurs with high level education and career, tend to have unrealistically high expectations and demands regarding their own playing, mainly focusing on ‘perfection’. This creates excessive stress levels.
Playing an instrument is a unique art. It cannot (should not) be judged along the same criteria as a math or science test. (Maybe at competitions, but even then…)
Music is not about playing all the notes right, having perfect technique., and following all the style rules. It’s art, it’s about telling a story and taking people, your audience, along in that story. The thing that impresses us so much is all those great composers who invented the story first and we are ‘only the medium’., and, so, must be the ‘flawless, perfect messengers’.
I refer to a beautiful and insightful lesson that Borbara Seles gave here at TB on how to make your own story and let that guide you when you play your music for an audience. It takes time and energy working on your pieces with that in mind, but it helps so much when you are with your audience (be it friends, family, your cat, or a concert hall filled with guitar freaks), just ‘creating your story‘ and focus on the continuity and the intensity of your tone, dynamics and rhythm.
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I sent a reply but do not see it. What happened.
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I have enjoyed reading through this discussion started by Michelle Roper, such interesting comments and excellent advice. My favourite audience is four empty walls and a door.
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I have just posted an article I published a while ago, that I feel may be of interest to all of you. It's not directly about Performance Anxiety but it is related to it in many ways and, forgive the presumption, but I feel it can be a good read to make things move in a maybe different direction.
https://guitar-community.tonebase.co/t/q6y1tf4/the-space-between-sounds
I hope you'll enjoy it.