How to Dump That Excess Adrenaline
Before I get into the topic of the day, I’d like to mention that as the list of subscribers to these newsletters has grown so have the number of questions and comments that come in daily.
And I’m thrilled to receive them, believe me.
Yet because of the numbers I find it challenging to respond to all of them, and I know that occasionally an important question may fall through the cracks. So if you write in with a question and don’t hear from me in a timely manner, please do not hesitate to resend the email after a few days. Thanks.
In response to yesterday’s missive there was a question related to controlling ‘nerves’ in performance. I’d like to say a few words about it.
The ‘fight or flight’ response behind what we call nerves is an automatic response challenging to eliminate once it has taken hold. Judy Garland was famous for the severity of her performance anxieties I learned recently.
Yet not every performer experiences them. And some will have them at auditions, for instance, yet not be troubled particularly in live performance. It is indeed an individualized kind of thing.
I have a number of strategies I employ in dealing with mine, which can very considerably, by the way, depending on the situation I’m in.
First, is breathing. There is nothing like diaphragm breathing to relax the upper body and smooth out the effect of nerves, particularly in the bow arm. Yet this becomes even more effective when combined with consciously visualizing the smooth outward and inward movements of the hand as you are actually playing.
When I played the violin solo at the Academy Award show last year I was thinking and doing these in spades.
Now if there is time for a warm-up before the performance I will get to the venue very early and literally play myself through the fear or flight response. After all, the body only has so much adrenaline to throw at one situation. If I can burn the bulk of it off in a vigorous warm-up I find myself generally free to go about my business when I get onstage.
The danger here, however, is draining yourself so completely that you have nothing left for the performance. So you have to use some judgment, balancing the energy needs for the performance with dumping the excess fuel that comes with the moment.
When I performed the Tchaikowski Concerto for the first time, some years ago, I put quite a bit of pressure on myself. And I began warming up 90 minutes before the performance – bear in mind, I’d already run the concerto once that day at the morning dress rehearsal.
This is a lot of playing on the day you’re going to play a 50 minute ‘knucklebuster’. Yet I felt ok with it because I had trained going into it for 3 plus hours of heavy playing at one sitting. The warmup and performance, then, was well within my means.
Had I been touring the piece the need for the extended warm-up would no doubt have diminished as I gained specific, repeatable experience.
The bottom line is I can generally judge how much a factor nerves will play, in advance, by pitting my level of preparation against the level of ‘threat’ the situation presents. No, it’s not a perfect science, yet you will be surprised at how effective you can become by seeking to evaluate and manage ‘risk’ in this way.
All the best, Clayton Haslop
