Change Your Perception

Perception is everything.

Look at the weather outside and ask yourself “Is today a nice day to be outside?”
After living in a sub-tropical climate for the majority of 2019 (I’ve been spoilt, I know!), I’ll be heading back to a much colder part of Australia very soon – Tasmania! What I’ve found quite funny is that “winter” in the tropics is pretty much like an awesome summer in Tasmania – in the high teens or early 20’s, sunny days and blue skies, perfection! But ask a Lennox Head local what they think, and they say, “It’s freezing!” as they put on another scarf and hoodie and run inside to be by the fire.

I might be exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea – one person’s freezing is another person’s perfection. It’s just determined by your perception of the same thing, but is based on your own experiences and points of view.

This is especially the case with performing, and illustrates why everyone has differing performance experiences. Importantly, your perceptions shape how you react under pressure, and top performers have trained their perceptions to work for them, and not against them.

While your perceptions of events or situations are often an automatic response, you actually have a fair bit of control over how you choose to view these things. However, this takes a bit of mulling over to make your perceptions a bit clearer and more conscious.

There are 3 main perceptions for musicians that impact how you react when under performance pressure. The first is the perception of your own capabilities – how well you have practised and prepared, how confident you feel in executing the skills you have practiced, and how in-control of your instrument you feel. Obviously the quality and quantity of your practice will have a significant bearing on this, along with your ability to trust that all of that practice will pay off in the concert.

The second is your perception of the demands of the situation – how difficult the pieces are that you are about to play. If it’s an easy concert of long tones or a straightforward piece that you know really well, then things are going to feel comfortable. If you have to play something that’s really challenging, or you have to sight-read something tricky, then you’ll probably be a bit more on edge.

And the third is your perception of success - how well you think you need to play in order to call the performance a success. Playing for children can generally be a lot less stressful than performing for a group of your peers, your teacher, or a panel of experts (think auditions and competitions). It can feel like when there is more at stake, you have to perform at your very best to gain the accolades that you are striving for.

Larger audiences or live broadcasts can evoke a stronger stress response than just performing for a few people (although for me I actually get more nervous with a smaller crowd where I can see their faces clearly!), as these situations are often viewed as “more important” than concerts in smaller settings.

But another factor in your perception of success is if you have perfectionistic tendencies. By EXPECTING perfection and setting this as the level required for success, you are placing an enormous amount of additional pressure on yourself, causing much greater anxiety and stress. Perfection is obviously something that is impossible to achieve, and this mindset can negatively affect performance and overall well-being.

So start to consider which performance circumstances make you feel the most anxious, and from these elements try to work out why. Once you know why you reacted how you did, then you have the power to change your perceptions and preparation in the future.

In what performance circumstances do you feel the most anxious? Share your experiences below!