Why do performances sometimes fall short of what musicians can achieve in the practice room? Joanna Latała explores how mental training – long embraced in elite sport – offers practical methods for transforming preparation into reliable, expressive performance
Read more Featured Stories like this in The Strad Playing Hub
As professional musicians, we spend years refining technique, developing interpretation, and building physical reliability at the instrument. From an early age, we are taught that progress comes through repetition, correction, and discipline. And it does – up to a point.
Yet many musicians eventually encounter a frustrating gap: despite solid preparation, performances do not always reflect what is possible in the practice room. Focus slips, confidence wavers, the body tightens, and expression becomes harder to access. This is often the moment when musicians begin to wonder whether something is ‘wrong’ with them. In reality, what is missing is rarely musical skill.
What is mental training?
Mental training refers to structured psychological methods that help performers manage attention, emotions, confidence, and behaviour under pressure. These methods originate largely in sports psychology, where mental preparation has long been recognised as essential to consistent high-level performance. Elite athletes train focus, emotional regulation, self-talk, and recovery from mistakes with the same seriousness as physical technique.
Mental training is not about eliminating nerves or controlling every thought. It is about creating the internal conditions that allow performance to happen freely and reliably. For musicians, this means learning how to access their skills when it matters most – on stage.
Lessons from tennis and elite sport
A large part of modern mental training comes from the professional tennis world. Tennis players perform alone, under constant evaluation, with no room to hide behind teammates. Each point requires a reset. Each match demands sustained focus, emotional balance, and trust in preparation.
This reality mirrors musical performance more closely than many musicians realise. Like tennis players, musicians must deliver precision and expression in real time, under pressure, while managing internal reactions to mistakes and external expectations. In elite sport, these challenges are trained deliberately. In music, they are often left to chance.
’You have the responsibility to shape your life. You are the person who pushes yourself forward or holds yourself back. The power to succeed or fail is yours alone’ -Mind Gym by Gary Mack
Practice mindset vs Performance mindset
One of the most important distinctions mental training brings into the musical world is the difference between practice mindset and performance mindset. Practice mindset is analytical. It focuses on correction, control, and improvement. It is essential for learning and refining repertoire.
Performance mindset, however, operates very differently. It requires trust, presence, adaptability, and responsiveness. On stage, excessive control often interferes with flow. What helped in the practice room can become an obstacle in performance.
Many musicians are never taught how to transition between these two mental states. As a result, they step on stage still operating in practice mode – monitoring, judging, and correcting – instead of allowing the performance to unfold.
Mental training helps bridge this gap. It teaches musicians how to shift mental gears intentionally, so that preparation supports performance rather than undermining it.
’Something must be wrong with me’
Musicians often internalise performance struggles as personal failure. If nerves appear, focus fades, or confidence drops, the conclusion is frequently: I’m not built for this. This belief is one of the most damaging myths in performance culture. Struggling on stage is not a character flaw, a lack of talent, or a sign of weakness. It is usually a training gap.
Most musicians were never taught how the mind and nervous system behave under pressure – let alone how to work with them. Mental training normalises these experiences and reframes them as skills that can be developed, not problems that define you.
’Whatever is going on inside your head has everything to do with how well you end up performing’ - The Art of Mental Training: A Guide to Performance Excellence by D.C. Gonzalez
Why the musical world lags behind
In many professions, continuous education is standard. People update their skills, learn new tools, and adapt to changing environments throughout their careers. In classical music, formal development often ends in the mid-twenties. From that point on, musicians are expected to simply perform – even as the world around them evolves rapidly.
Today’s musicians face demands that extend far beyond playing well: visibility in digital spaces, communication through social media, adaptability to new technologies, resilience in a fast-changing cultural landscape. Yet these competencies are rarely addressed in traditional training. Mental training and performance psychology offer musicians a way to continue growing – not by changing who they are, but by expanding how they function in modern performance contexts.
What mental training actually develops
Mental training is not limited to stress management, although that is an important component. Its scope is much broader. It supports musicians in developing: sustainable, grounded confidence, consistent focus during performance, emotional regulation under pressure, faster recovery after mistakes, plus a clear, communicative stage presence. These are not abstract qualities. They are practical performance skills that directly influence how music is perceived and experienced.
’Under pressure you can perform fifteen percent better or worse’ -Scott Hamilton, quoted in Mind Gym by Gary Mack
More than just coping with stress
In today’s artistic world, technical excellence alone is no longer enough. Musicians must also be able to present, communicate, and connect – whether as soloists, orchestral players, or members of ensembles.
Mental training opens a new dimension of artistry. It allows musicians to move beyond survival on stage and toward genuine expression. It supports not only better performances, but more sustainable careers and healthier relationships with music itself.
Looking forward
Mental training is not about fixing what is broken. It is about expanding what is possible. As musicians, we have spent decades training our hands, voices, and bodies. Training the mind is the next natural step. It represents a shift toward a more complete, modern understanding of performance – one that meets the realities of today’s world while honouring the depth of our art.
When musicians learn to work with their minds as intentionally as they work with their instruments, performance becomes not just more reliable, but more alive.
Joanna Latała is a Polish-born cellist and researcher specialising in mental training for musicians. Based in Scandinavia, she has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall and Berliner Philharmonie. In 2023, she founded the platform Achieve Performance Mindset, where she shares insights on performance psychology to help musicians build mental resilience.
No comments yet