Extreme Performance Anxiety

[gremlokes]

Hi all
I've been a music (piano/violin) teacher for many years, I did a B Mus (performance) and just love to teach. But I have had a student fail a grade 5 AMEB exam last year and it really threw me!

I've had failures before, generally when the kid just hasn't done the work. It's very frustrating, and I'm (finally) at the point when I will not enrol them until they can do everything for the exam at a p[assable standard. But I digress.  Basically, I have this lovely girl who works hard, knows her scales, very intelligant, lovely touch etc. When she was playing for me in her lessons she sounded great. But when she went into the exam room she must have freaked out! I have never seen such negative comments (but that's another issue again), including an assumption that she hadn't spent enough time preparing for this exam. I really thought she was ready, she was for me....

So she's re sitting the exam, and I'm going to make hjer do lots of performaces for other students etc, then a 'mock exam' with a friend of mine (also a music teacher) as 'examiner'. Can you think of anything else I can do? This was totally out of left field, I had no idea it was coming... I feel like such a bad teacher. All suggestions welcome!

Thanks
Josie

[perfect_pitch]

Get her do do the exam in front of her friends, family - school students - maybe at an assembly...

...and record it. Tell her you are recording it to prepare her. This way she can review her performance afterwards and identify parts of her performance that unnerved her.

[symbolism of l. ron]

Ask her is she really wants to play for people in the first place. If you are forcing her to play in front of an audience you are really not doing her a favor. She will simply begin to despise playing out of stress.

[gremlokes]

Thanks for the recording idea, I'll give that a go!

I never force my kids to do exams or performances. She is a smart and driven girl and always wants to do her best. THe only time I would pressure a student is if I felt they would regret not doing it afterwards, eg freaking out standing outside the exam room with minutes to spare. She's going into year 11 this year and I suspect after her exam she will give up to concentrate on school work -- she wants to go into medicine.

[fernando57]

 To play piano you need great concentration, you can not be distracted with the audience, make her play blind folded  so she concentrated her thoughts on the music only,  maybe she can sheet a little looking through a small gab, that will focus her on her piano and not on the audience, just for practice.

good luck
Fernando

[avguste]

use neuro-psychology.
Basically train her to think happy thoughts before she plays.
The idea is for her to keep about something positive that makes her happy. I have found this method to be relaxing

If needed, I am available to listen to her on Skype and hopefully help her as well

[nanabush]

I hate performance anxiety!  It always throws me.  We have a group lesson every Thursday with my prof, and whenever I play, either one of my hands shakes or my pedal foot starts spasming.  I can say though that I am less nervous now than at the start of the year.  The best thing is to get more experience playing in front of groups of people.

Playing in front of 5-6 family/friends is great, and playing at a recital knowing there are loads of people in your position is also relieving.

[oxy60]

Here's a topic to which I can relate.

What started me in piano was attending a Sunday afternoon recital that my future teacher held monthly and a featured a few of her students. Each month a different group of students were featured playing just for their friends of the same age group. I was invited by a friend who was a student of hers.

Yearly we had a big recital with all her students which took three hours with an intermission.

Whether the venue was her living room or a big hall we were encourged to dress up (suits and ties for the boys) and put on our best behavior.

Getting over performance anxiety is best done when you are young but older people can do it if it is a step by step process. I suggest starting with small groups and advancing to bigger crowds. Use the same process in stepping from groups with the least knowledge of music to those that know more.

I too found the university experience daunting. Those were the moments in my life when more than 1% of the audience knew the difference. Still I always play for the 1% who do know!

[CC]

This is a complex problem and becomes even more problematic with each bad experience because it basically results from fear that is re-inforced with each bad experience.  Go to my home page below and look up "nervousness" and "performance" in the Index, especially read from P. 161.  She needs a few good experiences to start with, and a good way to do that is to perform very easy pieces and concentrate on music instead of showing off technique. She must also learn the rules for performance preparation, at least until she develops into a concert pianist of her own.