What are you focusing on?

How often do you find your focus wandering during a performance? Do you notice when it starts to drift? What do you become distracted by, and how do you bring yourself back to where your focus should be?

Whilst it is near impossible to remain 100% focused all of the time (the average attention span of people today is between 8 and 12 seconds), it is an important skill to develop in order to remain on top of things when we perform. Becoming aware of when and how our focus shifts is the first step in developing much sought-after Zen-like qualities.

But it all starts in the practice room. If we aren’t fully focused and present when we practice, how are we supposed to do this when we perform? You can start by creating a distraction-free practice space, one separated from your phone, TV, computer, or annoying family members!

Then once you have prepared your piece or exercise, start to incorporate things that would be distracting in short bursts into your run-throughs. Put on a metronome at a slightly different tempo than what the piece is at. Turn on some other music or the TV quietly in the background. Find a “friend” to try and put you off while you’re playing!

Whilst this can be a challenging (yet fun!) exercise, you will slowly become less distracted during concerts, and develop into a steeled performer of laser-like focus and concentration.

So what do you find most distracting during performances? Share below!