Fear In The Practice Room

If I only had time!

How often do you find yourself saying that?

Well, if you are like a lot of musicians I talk to, A LOT. People of all levels want more time for their music, but day to day life is busy and hectic. Many people I talk to want to improve their confidence but feel like they don’t have time.

…BUT…

Confidence and regular practice shouldn’t be oppositional.

Part of becoming confident on stage is understanding your emotions around playing. Are you scared, excited, bored, comfortable, etc. as your are playing? It can change from measure to measure.

The main one I want to talk about today though is fear. So often when I am practicing and keep making mistakes in the same place, what I notice is that I am feeling anxious or fearful of something.

That fear and anxiety cause us to tense up or hold back when we don’t need to. Slow repeated attention to detail and technique can help us painstakingly work through these spots. But why is it so slow?

It’s because we are fighting against our emotions. Our bodies and brains are designed to listen to our emotions, whether we like them or not.

Instead of fighting against your feelings, stop and take time to understand what it is that is making you scared or anxious in that moment. Tackling the root cause of these fears is often a faster method to improvement than just “woodshedding”

AND…

You will become more consistently confident on stage. When we just veneer over our fright with lots of repetitions the emotion isn’t gone. When a stressful moment happens on stage that fear will be amplified and the practice room work may not be enough to overcome it.

But, when we address the underlying emotion in the practice room, there is much less or even nothing to amplify on stage.

PLUS

You already have practice identifying and addressing your emotions because you have been doing it every day, so when you do have to do it on stage, you have practice doing so.

That’s it. That one simple trick has saved me countless time in the practice room and made me a much more confident performer!

About Edward

Edward House is a dynamic horn player and teacher committed to sharing his love of the horn. He is at home with many styles of music having played in chamber, symphonic, studio, and musical theater settings. He is currently an active performer and teacher in the Los Angeles area.

Recent engagements include the Schumann Konzertstück with the Stony Brook University Symphony, Gounod’s Petite Symphonie as part of the Staller Center’s Starry Nights series, and Principal Horn for Stony Brook Opera’s production of Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, as well as numerous appearances as a freelance player in New York City.