Performance Psychology

[eddie92099]

Recently I attended a seminar on performance psychology. These were the basic points: (I'm aware that it sounds rather preachy!)

Psychology for Enjoying Performing

•Be in charge and stay in charge whatever happens: The audience wants you to
•Breathe from the diaphragm, and move: Moving enables you to inhabit you whole body and become fully present in the moment. Stretch, flex, do cross-lateral movements etc.
•Tune in to yourself and the audience: Be fully present, responsive and spontaneous
•Imagine yourself playing the opening notes before starting
•Use keywords to help focus your mind and steady your concentration: Warmth, beauty, concentrate etc.
•Concentrate on making your playing feel and sound enjoyable for you: Only if you are enjoying it can the audience enjoy it as, through countertransference, they feel everything you feel
•Remember that the purpose is satisfying, musical expression and connection. Be fully connected with what you are conveying, Mistakes are irrelevant (except in rehearsal where they need full awareness and attention!)
•Play from the warmth of your solar plexus, the “Deep Self”, and trust the “Deep Self”: if the learning has been fully conscious, aware and clear at every level, aural, visual, intellectual and physical, it will have sunk in deeply and be easily retrieved when needed
•Bathe the room in beautiful, harmonizing and healing sound

I hope you find this useful!
Ed

[xenon]

Wow.  That is really useful.  Those points are certainly very true.  Thanks!

[piani0player]

i find it very useful ,too.

thank you

[lobo]

very interesting... thanks for sharing