It’s the season for seasonal allergies, along with viral infections and subsequent hoarseness and voice loss - never welcome guests for singers. I am not a medical professional, but as a regular sufferer of allergies and other bronchial complaints I have learned a few tricks of the trade to alleviate symptoms.
Nervousness in performance isn’t a bad thing; it’s a way of collecting your energy, like a loaded spring. But anxiety, especially to the point of what some call stagefright, is clearly detrimental.
Below are some of the key suggestions of experts who deal with stagefright anxiety. How do you think teachers can encourage the enjoyment of performing, so that this terrible anxiety doesn’t have a chance to develop? I’ve made my own comments on the experts’ suggestions; please add your comments, too!
1. Practice, be prepared. Feeling prepared is clearly an important way to feel comfortable, and to direct energy into producing good music rather than into fearing mistakes or criticism. And yet there are many angles to practicing. If someone practices so as to play a piece perfectly every time, what happens if there’s a distraction in the performance or an unexpected mistake? Many experts recommend not only practicing the music, but practicing performing, to get a chance to adjust to one’s own thoughts and build confidence while playing for various people. We can give students opportunities to perform in enjoyable surroundings, as discussed in my earlier post. We can also give students confidence that they are prepared even if in small sections at a time. We can help them start small and successfully, with easier pieces done well (though this has to be balanced with giving them music that inspires and challenges them).
2. Relax. Some experts recommend meditation, stretching, breathing. I remember a teacher of mine listening to me play a difficult passage and (more…)
Encouraging the enjoyment of performance gives students of every level a lifetime of rewarding musical experiences, not only in their own playing, but also in a better appreciation of performances by others. This may seem obvious, but it’s sometimes hard to keep in mind when the realities of learning music intervene.
For example, if learning music becomes too much about whether the student can avoid mistakes, or if it becomes a test of whether the student can follow through on a commitment, or is built around whether they can win a competition or succeed at an audition, performance isn’t so enjoyable even if the student succeeds in all these tests.
In this post, I’ll take a look at the benefits of mixing performance with participation. (more…)
Building confident musicians who enjoy performing their music is as important as, if not more important than, building good technique. What purpose does it serve if students can play well, but don’t enjoy doing it in performance, or get stagefright and other kinds of stress about music?
This is a big topic, so I’m going to address one aspect of it in this post, and continue in other posts. I look forward to your insightful comments; please add them at the bottom. Thanks to those who added such interesting comments to my earlier post, Parental Expectations.
The idea is to identify some key elements for teachers to think about in order to encourage students to enjoy performing. I will also mix in some of the experts’ ideas about how to avoid stagefright. After all, stagefright is, in a way, the flip side of the same question. (See my earlier post, Is Stagefright Taught?)
First of all, we need to think about how to instill confidence and pleasure in the playing of music. (more…)
This is the third and final installment of the “Essentials for the Classical Vocal Library” series. This seems to be a catch all of topics, moving from style and reference resources to performance preparation and finally career development. This installment is particularly useful for the teacher who has budding students interested in doing more serious auditioning and making a go of the music world. Some resources are not books, in particular the career resources, which are online databases for audition searches. If you have used any of these references and have found them helpful, please blog about your experience with them. If you have found another reference equally if not more helpful in any one arena, please list the title below. Thanks for following the series- if you are interested in a series of other singing topics, please list that below as well.
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Amplified music can be hazardous to your hearing, but what most people don’t realize is that acoustic music can be damaging to your hearing as well. According to the ASHA (American Speech-Language Hearing Association) website sounds louder than 80 decibels are potentially hazardous to your hearing. Here is a list of sounds from their website and their approximate decibel levels. As you can see, it doesn’t take much to get to that 80
With the multitude of songs and arias in an array of languages, it is so important to execute accurate pronunciation and research a precise word for word/ poetic translation. I have pulled together a list of general diction and poetic translation books, as well as books more focused on one particular language and genre. This list is only the tip of the iceberg- please make comments if you have found a particular resource helpful that is not listed here.
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Have you ever noticed the difference in how musicians feel about performing compared with how listeners feel about it? Most people are very appreciative of performances, but sometimes people view things very differently. There are those who presume that anyone who gets on stage is in it for the applause, or is egotistical, or a narcissist. You might be interested in a survey about this (see below).
More to the point for teachers, perhaps, is that sometimes parents or others seem to think performances only look like fun if everyone’s smiling!
To me, music is fun because it engages each person at his or her own level. It’s hard work but rewarding, and in doing that work, we learn that having fun isn’t all about smiling, relaxing or playing games. As a musician, this is probably obvious, but it’s good once in a while to think about it, and if you have an angle of your own on this, or a story to share, by all means add a comment at the end of this post.
So, to what degree is music about showing off, self-expression, self-esteem, or just plain self? Are musicians narcissists?
Drew Pinsky, a physician who cohosts Loveline, managed to get 200 celebrities to fill out a “Narcissism Personality Inventory” survey, and found that the least narcissistic celebrities were…guess who? Musicians.
The study suggests that (more…)
While a performance student in my bachelor’s and master’s degree, I had access to so many wonderful books, recordings, videos, and music. As a student, I spent considerable time in the music library just listening to my favorite recordings, translating all of my repertoire, and looking for ever challenging music that I would some day sing.
Now as a private teacher, I want my students to have access to the same resources I had, and I want to keep an eye out for the latest in technique and performance preparation writings to keep my teaching fresh and on pointe. I have compiled a list of books that include some of the classic standbys, along with some new literature. In my first article, I will focus on studio management, and technique development. If you are currently teaching voice, and have found a resource that you think is particularly valuable that is not listed here, please post it in the comment box below. The art of singing and the teaching of singing are ever evolving, and so should this list!
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Practicing and performing music is a very physical activity. In spite of all the mental and emotional exertion that goes into it, we must always remember how physical it is.
Below are some thoughts about physical injury from music, and here’s a website link that can give you lots of information about this subject, including practical tips, anatomical information, and a list of excellent books. (more…)
