About performance under pressure
Image: David Waldie
Founded in 2019, Performance Under Pressure was created with the purpose of supporting and empowering musicians to take charge of their own learning, performance, and broader personal development.
This business is built on the belief that every person has the ability to achieve amazing things - you don’t have to be ‘talented’ to be successful! However, you do have to have effective techniques and strategies in order to maintain motivation, grow self-confidence, and improve skill development to achieve peak performance.
As a coach, my values are grounded in client-led learning and growth. I aim to encourage, support, and equip musicians on their path to becoming self-determined, self-regulated, and proactive learners and performers. I strive to unlock the full potential of each client by helping them strongly connect to their own values and purpose of making music. I rely on the latest evidence-based performance methods to provide crucial structure and certainty to clients, giving them the required skills and confidence to flourish in their chosen musical genre.
Performance Under Pressure is a culmination of over 20 years of performance and teaching experience that I am incredibly proud of. I love sharing my passion for learning, teaching, and performing with my clients, students, and the broader community. My vision is to empower and inspire as many people as possible to achieve great things, both in music, and in life.
However, the work that I do at Performance Under Pressure is actually not about me…it is all about helping YOU on your musical journey! So, if you want to expand your horizons and push your limits, then fill out the contact form below, and we can make those aspirations a reality!
All the best,
Mark
How Do I help you achieve success?
In my presentations, workshops, coaching sessions, and online course, I use scientifically researched and proven methods from the fields of psychology (cognitive, educational, motivational, peak performance, and Music Performance Anxiety psychology), as well as cognitive neuroscience.
The methods I use are derived from the following frameworks:
Self-Determination Theory
Growth Mindset
Self-Regulated Learning
Deliberate Practice
Desirable Difficulties
Peak Performance Psychology
Flow Theory
The Psychology of Music Performance Anxiety (MPA)
Acceptance and Commitment Coaching
Some of the topics that I regularly cover with clients include:
Clarifying personal goals and values
Practice planning
Using experimentation and problem solving in the practice room
Improving practice methods using cognitive science
Developing healthy practice and performance mindsets
Working with nerves and anxiety for performance
Mental skills for peak performance
Performance and audition preparation
ABOUT MARK BAIN
Photo: Conor Richardson
2022 - present - Trumpet Tutor, School of Creative Arts and Media, University of Tasmania
2019 - present - Founder & Director, Performance Under Pressure
2013 - present - Brass Examiner, Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB)
2011 - present - Tutti Trumpet, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
2012 - 2022 - Trumpet Tutor, The Friends’ School
2005 - 2007 - Guest Student, Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2001 - 2004 - Bachelor of Music (First Class Honours), Australian National University School of Music, Canberra A.C.T.
After growing up in Adelaide, Mark Bain moved to Canberra to complete tertiary studies at the Australian National University School of Music in 2004. This lead to further overseas study at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 2005. Since 2011, Mark has held the position of Tutti Trumpet with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Adelaide, West Australian, and Canberra Symphony Orchestras, the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra (Germany), Antwerp Symphony Orchestra (Belgium), and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra in Doha.
Over his career Mark has performed with artists such as James Morrison, Ben Folds, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Amanda Palmer, David Garrett, Tim Minchin, Kate Cebrano, Missy Higgins, Katie Noonan, Kate Miller-Heidke, and Megan Washington. He has worked with many bands, including The Violent Femmes, The Cat Empire, The Wolfe Brothers, Eskimo Joe, The Whitlams and Tripod.
Notable conductors that he has performed under include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Lorin Maazel, Sir Andrew Davis, Benjamin Zander, Sebastian Weigle, Marco Letonja, and Pinchas Steinberg.
Mark has toured with orchestras throughout Germany, China, Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy, and New Zealand, as well as performing regularly around Tasmania and Australia.
With a strong passion for music education, Mark has held teaching positions at the Australian National University School of Music in Canberra, the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), as well as guest tutor for the Australian Youth Orchestra’s Young Symphonists program. From 2012 to 2022 he was the Trumpet Tutor at The Friends’ School in Hobart, before becoming Trumpet Tutor at the University of Tasmania School of Creative Arts and Media in 2022. He has also been a Brass Examiner in Tasmania for the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) since 2013.
In 2019, Mark founded Performance Under Pressure and has conducted countless workshops and presentations at schools and organisations around Australasia and the U.S.A. Highlights have included guest presenting at the Australian Society for Music Education (ASME) XXIII National Conference in 2021, as well as engagements with Monash University, the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO), and the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB).
Mark lives in beautiful Hobart with his wife and 2 daughters.