Puts Fight or Flight Down for the Count

If you’ve ever experienced the ‘fight or flight’ response prior to going before the public you may find this interesting.

One fellow subscriber asks if I do the counting technique in performance. You bet I do.

In fact, I regard it as a kind of ‘life-line’ to all my valuable preparation when the heat is on.

The reason for this is simple. When the fight or flight response is triggered and adrenaline courses through your veins, it not only draws blood away from your extremities, it draws it away from your higher brain as well.

Ever notice how difficult it is to think clearly during an adrenaline rush?

So, aside from ‘belly breathing’ you must find tools to keep your higher brain doing it’s job. Internal verbalization of the beat does the trick for me. It keeps me present – in the moment – and it keeps me thinking.

On many an occasion I have walked onstage, begun to play, felt fear getting a toe-hold; and then realized I wasn’t counting. Boom, I start to track each beat. Bingo, I’m right back in the music.

Remember, performance time is not ‘la-la’ time; you must Do everything you practice. Once you are at that point, the confidence will arise in you to accept the gifts of inspiration that arise spontaneously within each moment.

Never forget, ‘Chance favors the prepared mind – Louis Pasteur.’

All the best,

Clayton Haslop

P.S. ”Kreutzer for Violin Mastery, Vol. 3 and 4” will be officially published next Wednesday. What’s revealed inside these volumes may not only prepare your mind, they may just blow your mind.