Performance anxiety: Fighting stage demons

’I hope I won’t mess up the semiquavers on the next page… my gosh. I can’t believe he’s here. I wonder what he’s thinking… oh man. I missed that shift. I’ve got to try harder on the next one…why is my bow shaking… hold it lighter… that kid on the front row is kicking his feet, he’s going to mess me up… did I count three or four bars rest?’

A little adrenalin can tilt a performance from good to extraordinary, but too much can cause the classic symptoms of blurred vision, upset stomach, racing heart, confused thoughts, the need to go to the toilet, trembling bow, tight muscles and general panic. As if all this were not bad enough, many players are not only afraid of performing but also worry about facing stage fright itself. These debilitating physical symptoms are caused by what psychologists term the ’fight or flight response, in other words, the body responding as if danger is present.

Carter Brey, newly appointed principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, was quoted in the New York Times (2 September 1996) concerning his recent audition: ‘The whole thing about being a performer is being able to master the psychological tricks that you play on yourself.’ In their excellent book Controlling Stagefright, Peter Desberg and George D. Marsh succinctly identify the cause of performers’ fears.