Combatting Musical Performance Anxiety

COMBATTING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

Combatting musical performance anxiety Karen O'Connor in conversation with Daniel Moult Imagine the scene; you're a professional organist with manv years' experience of performing at the highest level. You're pacing around in a cramped vestry two minutes before vour recital performance is due to begin. You're dressed in the suit which only comes out for very special occasions, and a few moments from now you will walk out into the nave where an expectant audience will greet you witb warm and enthusiastic applause - you hope. They ^^^^™™^^^^ have come to listen to YOU especiallv because you are respected in your field And ha\f a reputation built up over years of radio and TV appearances and award-winning recordings. At this crucial preperformance ,

feeling rather more clammy than is helpful for total control of the flourish in the first bar {'Why did I cboose this piece to open my programme?'), you force

a smile on your face and walk out to meet your executioner, also known as the audience! Does this scenario sound far-fetched? Not to Karen O'Connor, an oboist in the City of Birmingham Symphonv Orchestra (CBSO) who has listened to

puzzled, wasn't her playing a reflection of all the hard work she'd put in? Put another way, she felt she'd left her best performance at home. Soon after this, Karen heard a radio programme during which a sports psychologist, then working with OHmpic athletes and a Premiership football club, described the importance of mental preparation and how getting the best out of the mind increases the chances of getting the best out ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ of tbe body. He went on to describe that whilst there is little

You take a few breaths and try to think deep, relaxing thoughts to counteract your gremlin's insistence that your performance will selfdestruct any time soon and then suddenly the moment arrives.. .[you] walk out to meet your executioner, also known as the audience!

moment, however, you become aware of that familiar gremlin which has put in its usual imptxcablv timed appearance somewbere between your ears and is whispering: 'Bet that tricky bit at the top of page 3 goes wrong again', followed bv: 'And when it does, "x"(?c\\ow

professional in the audience) will notice and talk about me behind my hack'; and then:' iVhy am I doing this? There must he an easier and more eniovable way of earning d living. In fact why don't I go and do •something else right now?' You take a few

breaths and try to think deep, relaxing thoughts to counteract vour gremlin's insistence that your performance will self-destruct any time soon and then suddenly thr moment arrives. With this nieiitai chatter by now in full voice, your heart pounding and your hands

numerous performers recalling similar performance experiences, because when she's not playing the oboe, she works as a Performance Coach with professional and student instrumentalists and singers from around the UK and beyond. Organists are a part of her client group, or as she calls them, her 'performers'. Her role as a Performance Coach is one that has evolved over many years and dates back to a disappointment during 'takes' of the CBSO recording of Ravel's C major Piano Concerto, when she

found herself struggling to plav technically demanding passages flawlessly time after time (such are the demands of recording sessions) yet she had been able to achieve exactly this whilst practising in her music room. Why, she

t«P^>^' ^^i'>or technically separate

the fine specimens of humanitv on the start line of an Olympic fmal, the diOerence between a g(jld and silver medal performance, i.e. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ - those vital centimetres or seconds which can transform an ordinary performance into an extraordinary one, can generally be traced back to the strength contained \\ ithin the top six inches of the head. With a lifetime's interest and participation in sport, and recalling her recording session frustration, Karen was intrigued by wbat musicians might be able to learn from decades of sport science research, so she contacted tbe psychologist vsho, sharing her enthusiasm, recommended that she study for a degree in psychology. Several years followed with Karen juggling a busy professional performing life with Open Universitv assignments, summer schools and exams, often using coach journeys and long flights to catch up on her reading. Her CBSO colleagues were similarly Organists' Review February 200S

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COMBATTING MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ANXIETY

Karen is.. .a University Fellow for Teaching and Learning with her performance workshops and individuallytailored coaching sessions playing an increasingly important part in the lives of the students, including organ students, as they all strive to get the best out of themselves in the testing, competitive environment ofa music conservatoire. curious and enthusiastic about where her studies were leading and would often volunteer either themselves or their children as participants in her research. George Caird, Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire, also became aware that Karen was studying psychology and having long been interested in providing physical and mental support systems for young performers, he invited Karen to work with one of his own oboe students. The student in question didn t have specific playing problems but admitted to rarely feeling satisfied with performances she had yiven. Within a few weeks, however, not only bad she jjone on to win several major scholarships, but she also bad an increased level of satisfaction in that when it mattered, she had performed more consistently and closer to her poti'ntial. From these small beginnings, Birniinabam Conservatoire's innovative (_ oachinq in Performing Skills programme was born and six years later Karen is now a University Fellow for Teaching and Learning with her perlormancf workshops and indiNiduallvtailored coaching sessions playing an increasingly important part in the lives of the students, including organ students, as they all strive to get the best out of themselves in the testing, competitive environment of a music conservatoire. 66

Organists' Review February 2008

An important stipulation of her Coaching programme, and one of the main reasons that Staff and students have so readily 'bought into' it, is that Karen will never work with a student without the written consent of the Head of tbe relevant Department and most importantly, the student's first study tutor. Having been through the music conservatoire system berself, she appreciates the significance of these pre existing relationships and believes her specialist input should enhance, not impede, the team cfjort. Within this collaborative framework, students are normally allocated up to five one hour sessions with Karen, sufficient time for her to introduce them to wavs of managing the mental element of the performing etjuation. Her immediate task is to find out wbat the student has been exf>eriendng during lessons, recitals, exams, au