What's being threatened?

What do you find threatening about performance?

Having to live up to your reputation? Being judged by your peers? People thinking that you’re not the musician they thought you were? You’ll be “found out” as a fraud? Fear of making mistakes or failure?
And that’s even before we even start the first note of the piece!
These are all completely normal thought processes, and something that I think we can all relate with to some degree.

Although performance can be quite confronting at times, it’s how we react to these thoughts that can make all the difference.
A good exercise is to write out your thoughts to this quote, and question each thing that you’ve put down. Is what you’ve written rational, or unrealistic? Are they in line with what your values are in music making, or is your ego or something else getting in the way?

Mention this quote to your friends or colleagues and open up a discussion – this can bring new light onto your perceptions and give you more realistic view of performing. Although this in itself can be anxiety provoking, I’ve found that everyone is aware that we are all in the same boat, we just need someone to break the ice and start the conversation. That person can be you! 😀👍