Nervous before your performance? Say the alphabet backward in your mind to help regain a sense of calm. Scroll down to learn the limitations of this trick (and how to work around this) and watch a short video explaining why this works. Basically, without using what I call the "$100 fancy medical-science words" (which I feel qualified to joke about after going to nursing school), we can explain our brain like a bunch of networks or pathways, if you will. I like to visualize these pathways as being similar to spaghetti. When the brain is calm, all the spaghetti line up in a row and are organized. When the mind is anxious (like before a violin recital), the brain pathways get scrambled up like a plate of cooked noodles. Here are my visuals: This is why it is important to plan at least one relaxing activity for yourself (or your violin students) before giving a recital. I make this a part of the lesson, and the student declares what they want to do that will relax them, and I stress to the parent how important this is to the success of the student performing. Next, it helps to have a few tricks to calm performance nerves immediately before a performance which is where the backward alphabet comes in. I have even done this as a group activity with all students together before we start our recital, and it's fun, gets the mind free from mustering up fears about the performance and calms the performer down. However, the problem with this trick is that once the brain learns the pattern of a backward alphabet, this trick no longer works. Fear not; any word, name or phrase will work for this performance anxiety-relieving tip. Below are some other words backward to demonstrate: Have a tip to help relieve performance anxiety?
Please share in the comments below. Thanks!
2 Comments
5/21/2020 11:45:45 am
Thank you for giving the spaghetti visuals to help us understand how anxiety can make it harder to think and perform great! I love playing the violin; I enjoy the challenge and the rich sound that I can make. I really want to share my passion and talent, but I am terrified of performing in front of people. There have to be some resources out there that can help me figure out how to face my fears. Thank you for the advice; I will have to look into anxiety performance books that could possibly help.
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heather
5/21/2020 12:01:22 pm
Hello, Thank you so much for the comment. The reason I posted this is because it was such a struggle for me. Years later when I did more improvisation, I realized that I was no longer nervous. This got me really curious about how the brain works and essentially what I concluded is that when I am operating from the right brain (i.e. when improvising), it is impossible to experience performance anxiety because anxiety is a left brain experience. I was able to pull these concepts more into my concert/classical performing with success. There is something powerful about going into your fears to conquer them and I hope you still focused! Best wishes, Heather
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AuthorHi! It's me, Heather. I absolutely love working on the Music for Young Violinists project and all the many facets: blogging, website, music, teaching materials, freebies, videos, newsletter and giveaway contests. The best part is connecting with you so feel free to drop me a line. You can learn more about me on the "ABOUT" page. Thanks! |