Think, Prep, Play
3 steps to a solid performance or practice session
Think
Prepare
Play
You practice and practice only to get to the performance or audition and completely fall apart. We’ve all been there. No one performs perfectly every single time, but there are ways to improve your performances and auditions and it has nothing to do with the notes you play.
Our mental practice is so much more important than most of us realize.
Working towards a performance can feel like climbing to the top of a mountain. It is daunting and difficult. Just like preparing for a long hike, how we approach a practice session, a start to a piece, or a performance makes a huge impact on the end result. If we don’t prepare ahead of time, we are less likely to make it to the top.
I’m glad to see this type of training becoming more prevalent in the classical music world. We see it mostly in the athletic training. Running coaches help people envision themselves doing well and focus on the mental aspects of running, same with tennis, football, swimming, etc.
There are some great books out there on this topic including: The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey and a collection of books by Dr. Don Greene for musicians.
As musicians, learning the notes is the easy part. Learning to maintain our mental focus while managing our nerves is another beast entirely.
A short, but helpful mantra I’ve been teaching my students is: think, prep, play.
The Importance of a Strong Mental Game
We live in a world of instant gratification and students in particular are constantly bombarded with targeted ads, social media noise, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We live in a space where you can watch whatever you want when you want to, can ask AI to produce anything (see photos below of AI generated “violin winning a race”), and receive immediate results at your fingertips.
While this access to information is pretty neat and sometimes amusing, there are some serious downsides like decreased attention spans, unrealistic expectations, and an increasing sense of isolation, perfectionism, and comparison to others. This leads to a more anxiety and frustration when a task or skill isn’t immediately perfect or fixable.
I frequently have students that spitball answers because they just want something to say. For these students, we work on pausing before answering and thinking about the question instead of getting flooded by wanting an immediate answer. Now more than ever, I’m teaching my students to take a step back, think, prepare, and then play in their practice sessions, lessons, and in performances.
What I Teach (and what I try to do myself):
Think
Before beginning to play, take a moment and think about what your goal. If you’re practicing a particular passage, identify what you are trying to fix and set and have a plan to work on it. If you are about to perform or audition, use this time to organize your thoughts. Think about the piece you are about to play or the setlist you have. Envision yourself doing well.
Envision yourself performing at your best.
Remind yourself of the work you did to get where you are.
Say a kind word of encouragement to yourself. Then prepare.
Prep
Prepping is physical and mental. At this time you want to get into a performance stance. Check your posture, for string players check left and right hand set up, and then get ready for the zero bar.
The zero bar is the bar of music before you start playing. It’s an imaginary measure where you get to think of tempo, pacing, musical ideas, etc., and envision your first sounds.
Then you breathe. I have a whole exercise on how to breathe before you start playing (more on that in another post).
Once you've set yourself up physically and mentally for the zero bar then it’s time to play.
Play
No turning back now! You’re playing or performing. Even during this stage, you want to be aware of your mental chatter.
How are you speaking to yourself? Are you focused on the notes, music, bowing, or whatever you’re playing or are you spinning in your head?
Each note we play is an opportunity to do better. Even if you miss something or don’t play it the way you want, you’re in it and have to keep going. However, the way you talk to yourself while playing makes a huge impact. I find it really helpful to have short neutral or positive phrases or words that redirect in case I get mentally off track.
Here are some examples below:
you got this
bowings
beauty of sound
left hand
right hand
you’re ok
breathe
Those are just a few words (some are string player specific) that help me when I’m performing or practicing and feel like my mind is wandering. I choose neutral or positive leaning words and avoid harsh or critical language when picking my redirection cues.
Practice is A Practice
If we practice this type of mental awareness when we are in the practice room, it really improves our overall playing, our relationship with our craft, and our performances. We have to practice our mental game away from the stage. I tell my students that every time they pick up their instrument and play, they are practicing. Every tester note, every wrong or right bowing, you’re imprinting on your brain how your body is going to behave and how your will replicate it later.
In addition to the Don Greene books mentioned earlier, one of the most helpful books on practicing and performing I’ve read in a long time is Dr. Molly Gebrian’s Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing.
Dr. Gebrian writes in great detail about how our brains work and how we learn in the context of practicing a musical instrument and performing.
Highly recommend her book and the others listed.
Let me know!
I hope this info helps you or your students. If it does I’d love to hear from you. What do you do to help your students to mentally prepare?
Stay tuned for more posts about teaching, performing, and getting your mind right while doing it.
Regarding the topic of the article, this is so insightful. The mental preparation is truly paramount, not just for performances but for navigating daily lifes challenges. It's about deep resilience.