(I wrote the following as a reply to a question on The Trombone Forum. It came out pretty good, so I thought that I would post it here as well. S.)=====================================================================
I don't mean reducing the amount that nerves hamper our performance.
I mean using the body's reaction to play better, instead of worse.
I know it is possible, because it is routine for athletes. Something about their mental approach or their training allows them to get "up" for the big game. Nerves are there, and they throw up, but they play better.
Our discussion here are mostly about how nerves interfere with performance, and how to get past that. We have various strategies that help most of us cope. But I recall very few discussions about how to actually perform better under pressure than we normally could.
Any ideas?
I often write about the similarities between athletics and playing an instrument, but now I am going to mention a
dissimilarity.
Macro and micro physical movements.
Imagine a nervous painter or surgeon.
Hands shaking...
UH oh!!!
How about an orator or actor with the shakes and a serious case of drymouth?
Nope.
We have a problem here. Sure, "nerves" can produce a certain energy. But unless one can perform whatever task is at hand and still be (physically) nervous, the drawbacks are worse than the advantages. Fighters often say "I was nervous until the first hit. Then it just went away." Football players, too. I did enough martial arts to understand this on a quite visceral level.
And...I have experienced stage fright, too. Not for a long while, but I remember it well. When the physical symptoms of fright make the performance of a given task nearly impossible, then the fear that caused that nervousness...fear of (public) failure and the resultant loss of position in a given system, fear of a certain kind of humiliation...that kind of fear just amplifies the negative aspects of a given situation until a feedback system occurs. Like the sound->microphone->speaker->
more sound system that produces the feedback that you encounter in amplification systems, the nerves->failure->more nerves->more failure feedback loop is deadly. There is a reason why the only sports that have many individual "nerve"-produced failures are those where the athlete must stand still and control the small motions of the body and mind until action is required...like golf and baseball batting. "He's a clutch hitter" they say admiringly about certain baseball players. They do not use quite the same language about athletics that consist primarily of running or other large bodily movements. Why? Because "nerves" do not enter into the equation in such an intrusive way when one is hurling 180+ lbs of meat down a field preparing to collide with another set of meats in a winner take all collision. I mean...they have good
reason to be "nervous", right? Better than our reasons, anyway. But the problem doesn't much get in the way of their performance, because they are in a macro rather than micro situation.
So what if their hands are shaking a little?
But for us?
OOOOooooo....dat vibrato is outta control!!!!
Solution?
Don't get nervous.
Duh.
Easy to say, hard to do for many of us.
My own answer?
Stop caring so much about the results and just concentrate on the process.
This is a lesson taught by the jazz life. By the great jazz players. But it applies
everywhere.
Great improvisers simply
go for it. Go for a little more than they can do. They
grow from their mistakes, not suffer from them. Now admittedly this is hard to do in situations where vicious critics surround you and have your financial and professional life in their unforgiving hands.
You know...like in school? At auditions? In pro scenes that largely function through backstabbing and so-called "competition" like studio work, Broadway-style shows and much of the mainstream orchestral world?
But notice this...the players who really learn this lesson (be they orchestral players like Bud Herseth or innumerable freelancers in the biggest cities of the world) are the ones who are
really successful. I personally have never known a single successful NYC freelance pro (outside of the B'way scene, anyway) who has not developed a sort of "Damn the torpedoes!!!" attitude regarding success or failure. They just...go for it.
Once that lesson is truly learned, there simply
are no more "nerves". No fear of failure and no great elation at success, either. Just the best effort available on any given day and if you don't like it it, why...feel free to call someone else.
Once you get to that point....it all gets easy in the nerves department.
Have fun...it's really the only way to go.
Or, of course...
Your choice.
Have fun.
I am.
Bet on it.
Later...
S.
