I just had the experience of performing Bolero for the first time, and I knew from rehearsals that my preparation was going to be key to execution. Luckily, our maestro and my orchestral colleagues were 'on my side' all the way. When it came to the 15 minutes of truth that night, I remembered to breathe and also a tip from Chris Deviney: don't start too soft or too slow. I had followed Rob's prep ideas to view many diverse performances, and I also had a new Black Swamp snare which I married to a Freer leather dampener to adapt to the concert hall. For me, the results were gratifying, and I appreciate Rob's detailed sharing.
This is a very interesting take on overcoming nervousness, and such an important video for any musician. Using your terminology, I find that a vast majority of causes stem from someone's centralized desire to meet certain expectations without ever separating those expectations from their standards. I feel like people confuse standards and expectations to a toxic degree. Standards are goals you set for yourself while expectations are goals you demand from yourself. Failure is not an option when it comes to expectations. Similarly, the fear of losing your place in the music and not interpreting the piece correctly mostly likely fall into that category as well. It's like you're telling yourself, "You're better than that. You should known better. This is too important for me to be making any mistakes." Demanding certain expectations only allow your mind to create senarios of not meeting those expectations, which adds anxiety to the situation. It's crazy, because, people would think that allowing yourself to make mistakes and fail would only hinder growth. What's keeping someone from slacking off if success isn't the priority? I believe that's where setting goals and standards come into play. Having high standards, but not beating yourself up for not reaching those standards can help clear the mind from those causes, and as a result, the symptoms. It's easier said than done, but very possible. It might even remove causes you didn't know existed, because you haven't experienced them yet. Directly fixing specific causes, one at a time is certainly affective, but figuring out why those causes even happen and attacking the root of the problem could be even better.
I experienced this issue performing at the National Museum of the American Indian's Classical Native series. I was performing Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate's "Taloa' Hiloha" timpani solo. My nerves were on edge because this was the first time Native American classical musicians were gathered to perform together, AND Jerod was in the audience. You only have one chance to make a first impression! The performance went well, but it wasn't as good as it could have been had I not been so nervous!
Hey, something that I would be really interested in is a video with recommendations on what to learn for auditions when you can choose the piece. Maybe with 3 or 4 pieces requiring different skill levels from what you would learn in high school to what would be good as a professional, so that everyone can find a good fit for themselves. I would be most interested if this was about snaredrum, and maybe xylophone. (this is of course just what I would find helpful. You make great videos and I just say what would help me personally.)
This is great advice Rob! I get really nervous right before I perform. I am trying to learn how to keep my performance anxiety under control right before I perform.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and all of these wonderful tips! I am preforming in a month, and I will definitely be coming back to your content. 😁
What my problem is, is that I am not used to playing in front of people. I solved that a bit, by playing in front of friends and family before an audition.
Dr Amishi Jha's book Peak Mind is a really interesting book that talks about the brain's predisposition to distraction (and curiously, how we shouldn't prevent it). The idea is (as your practice method shows, Rob) that we should learn things so well that we can afford to be distracted and things will work anyway. It's certainly been thought-provoking to me! Also, I'm looking closely at your Inner Circle, but I'm currently midway through a break from excerpts to properly shed fundamentals again. How important is it to be my version of "audition-ready" prior to (potentially) enrolling, or is it partly the point that I'm not and that I learn another system? Thanks in advance Rob! (this was longer than I thought..!) Aidan
awesome that you've discovered peak mind and this concept about accepting distraction. i totally agree (as you know). about inner circle, it depends on a lot of variables and i recommend you reach out to me over email or apply for an inner circle interview so we can discuss your situation further. hello@robknopper.com
Hey Rob, I've been working on sight reading recently. I find that sometimes I just assume I can play the music and start playing, then play wrong. What should I look for in a sight reading setting and how do you approach sight reading?
i have a couple videos already about sight-reading - if you search "rob knopper sight reading" in youtube you'll find them. i would recommend to start developing a pre-sight reading routine, where you have a short checklist of items that you go through right before you start playing. tempo, key signature, scan through the music and figure out the general type of material and any roadblocks that you might find, etc. if you start sight reading every day and continually updating this pre-sight reading routine, updating it each time you make mistakes, you'll definitely improve!
I just had the experience of performing Bolero for the first time, and I knew from rehearsals that my preparation was going to be key to execution. Luckily, our maestro and my orchestral colleagues were 'on my side' all the way. When it came to the 15 minutes of truth that night, I remembered to breathe and also a tip from Chris Deviney: don't start too soft or too slow. I had followed Rob's prep ideas to view many diverse performances, and I also had a new Black Swamp snare which I married to a Freer leather dampener to adapt to the concert hall. For me, the results were gratifying, and I appreciate Rob's detailed sharing.
excellent! sounds like a success to me - congratulations!
This is a very interesting take on overcoming nervousness, and such an important video for any musician.
Using your terminology, I find that a vast majority of causes stem from someone's centralized desire to meet certain expectations without ever separating those expectations from their standards.
I feel like people confuse standards and expectations to a toxic degree. Standards are goals you set for yourself while expectations are goals you demand from yourself. Failure is not an option when it comes to expectations.
Similarly, the fear of losing your place in the music and not interpreting the piece correctly mostly likely fall into that category as well. It's like you're telling yourself, "You're better than that. You should known better. This is too important for me to be making any mistakes." Demanding certain expectations only allow your mind to create senarios of not meeting those expectations, which adds anxiety to the situation.
It's crazy, because, people would think that allowing yourself to make mistakes and fail would only hinder growth. What's keeping someone from slacking off if success isn't the priority? I believe that's where setting goals and standards come into play. Having high standards, but not beating yourself up for not reaching those standards can help clear the mind from those causes, and as a result, the symptoms.
It's easier said than done, but very possible. It might even remove causes you didn't know existed, because you haven't experienced them yet. Directly fixing specific causes, one at a time is certainly affective, but figuring out why those causes even happen and attacking the root of the problem could be even better.
I experienced this issue performing at the National Museum of the American Indian's Classical Native series. I was performing Jerod Impichchaachaaha Tate's "Taloa' Hiloha" timpani solo. My nerves were on edge because this was the first time Native American classical musicians were gathered to perform together, AND Jerod was in the audience. You only have one chance to make a first impression! The performance went well, but it wasn't as good as it could have been had I not been so nervous!
Hey, something that I would be really interested in is a video with recommendations on what to learn for auditions when you can choose the piece. Maybe with 3 or 4 pieces requiring different skill levels from what you would learn in high school to what would be good as a professional, so that everyone can find a good fit for themselves. I would be most interested if this was about snaredrum, and maybe xylophone.
(this is of course just what I would find helpful. You make great videos and I just say what would help me personally.)
This is great advice Rob! I get really nervous right before I perform. I am trying to learn how to keep my performance anxiety under control right before I perform.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and all of these wonderful tips! I am preforming in a month, and I will definitely be coming back to your content. 😁
What my problem is, is that I am not used to playing in front of people.
I solved that a bit, by playing in front of friends and family before an audition.
great!
Spot on as always! Great stuff!
Dr Amishi Jha's book Peak Mind is a really interesting book that talks about the brain's predisposition to distraction (and curiously, how we shouldn't prevent it). The idea is (as your practice method shows, Rob) that we should learn things so well that we can afford to be distracted and things will work anyway. It's certainly been thought-provoking to me!
Also, I'm looking closely at your Inner Circle, but I'm currently midway through a break from excerpts to properly shed fundamentals again. How important is it to be my version of "audition-ready" prior to (potentially) enrolling, or is it partly the point that I'm not and that I learn another system?
Thanks in advance Rob! (this was longer than I thought..!)
Aidan
awesome that you've discovered peak mind and this concept about accepting distraction. i totally agree (as you know). about inner circle, it depends on a lot of variables and i recommend you reach out to me over email or apply for an inner circle interview so we can discuss your situation further. hello@robknopper.com
Hey Rob, I've been working on sight reading recently. I find that sometimes I just assume I can play the music and start playing, then play wrong. What should I look for in a sight reading setting and how do you approach sight reading?
i have a couple videos already about sight-reading - if you search "rob knopper sight reading" in youtube you'll find them. i would recommend to start developing a pre-sight reading routine, where you have a short checklist of items that you go through right before you start playing. tempo, key signature, scan through the music and figure out the general type of material and any roadblocks that you might find, etc. if you start sight reading every day and continually updating this pre-sight reading routine, updating it each time you make mistakes, you'll definitely improve!
Yes!