After an early musical upbringing, a twist of fate lead Berenice Beverley Zammit to uncover the science behind music performance. Now a researcher in the field, her ground-breaking work on pre-performance routines for musicians is leading the way in uncovering new and effective strategies to optimise performance. Here she speaks of her work, and the launch of her latest research project.

Can you give us a bit of background about your musical journey? How did you develop an interest in music research, and what kind of work are you doing now?

The earliest recollection I have of music is not of anyone in particular playing an instrument, but of a feeling that swept me to colourful places. Today I can say that the feeling I felt was riveting, addictive even. Switching on the TV and finding a channel showing a televised classical concert was the only way my parents could ever get me to sit still. As I watched, I remember having eyes only for the musicians on the left, playing that gorgeous small instrument whose melody ebbed and flowed, moving something inside me. I remember how I secretly hoped my mother would get the hint and suggest I took up violin lessons. I remember thinking that the only thing I could do was pray every night for that to happen. And I did, religiously!

I was barely 3 when my parents bought a ¼ violin from a friend. They kept it stashed away on my mother’s upright piano. When once I was caught red-handedly trying to get hold of it, balancing on tiptoes on my sister’s swivel piano stool, I was finally allowed to “play” it for the first time. Needless to say, I played to my heart’s content, happily bringing down the house with howling and screeching sounds. It was then that my prayers were finally answered! My mother asked me if I would like to take up violin lessons, and a couple of weeks later I was crossing the road, clutching my mother’s hand with one hand, and the violin case with the other, off to my very first lesson!

The rest is history. I debuted with the Malta National Orchestra, now the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, at the age of 13, playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons at the Manoel Theatre, in Valletta. I went on to win a scholarship to Siena, Italy, where I studied and worked with some of Italy’s best; the likes of Marco Fornaciari, Cristiano Rossi, Andrea Nannoni, among others. I continued to freelance for a couple of years as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player in Italy, France and the UK while still playing with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra.

Then one night, as I was making my way home after a long day in Florence rehearsing and performing, I remember feeling suddenly tired. Tired of having to deal with performance anxiety. Tired of practising day and night only to feel like my performance came in short. Tired of feeling like an impostor. I wondered whether it was just me who had to deal with all of this, and I wondered whether it was time to throw the towel in.

A year or two later, I decided to go against all the advice I had always been given, and to get into a sport that involved using the hands that I had so carefully taken care of all my life. And I took that even further. I took up semi-professional rugby! After all, what better way was there to vent my frustration with performance?! So as I ran, tackled and rucked, often limping across the playing field with grazed knees and bruises, I felt good and in control both prior to and during matches. I could tackle anyone twice my size and not bat an eyelid, and that was more than I could say for myself whenever I took to the stage and had to play through the running commentary in my head!

But then, with rugby, came one of the worst injuries: shoulder subluxation. I hobbled off the pitch and swore I had to stop the madness. As I sat on the bench trying not to cringe with pain, I started to panic. What if I could never play violin again? What if I had to cancel my upcoming performances? What was I to do in that period in which I couldn’t practise?!

During those 2 months in which I could barely dress myself, let alone perform, I spent most of my days surfing the net trying to look up for more detailed info about my injury and the best way to rehabilitate as a violinist. And then I came upon a Masters degree dealing with the science behind performance. I felt like I had just stumbled upon a pot of gold. Up until then, I had felt alone on so many facets of musical performance that realizing that my issues were suddenly being acknowledged, identified and given technical terms to by scientists, was a relief, to say the least.

The rest too is history. My orchestral work, my love for sports and physical exercise, and my rugby injury, all found their way in my Masters research which focused on orchestral musicians, injuries, physical exercise and performance. My funded Masters degree then earned me a funded PhD at the Royal College of Music. My research today still revolves on performance optimization in professional orchestral musicians, but more specifically it investigates pre-performance routines as a strategy towards alleviating performance anxiety. With the exception of my research, there is no literature on pre-performance routines in music and on how these can enhance music performance, so my findings in the field promise to carry quite some weight.

Your research focuses on musicians’ use of a pre-performance routine as a way of optimising performance. Could you explain to us what this is, and why a performer would use this to improve their performance?

A pre-performance routine is a series of task-related thoughts and actions which a musician engages in systematically prior to performance. To put it simply, a routine is what you go through prior to performance. It could range from not having a routine at all (which in itself is a routine!) to having a number of things that you like doing before performing, such as warming up on your instrument before walking on stage, spending time alone, centering, visualization, and so on. So a pre-performance routine is all of those things that a musician does to help prepare for performance.

Your question of whether or not pre-performance routines enhance performance is a million-dollar question. Before we can start scratching at this surface, there are a couple of things that one needs to take into consideration. For example, what is the definition of performance? How can performance be evaluated effectively? And what makes a good performance? If I were to ask you to tell me about a good performance you have given, which one would you pick? Would you choose one where you did not play so well but which won you an audition, or would you choose one where you performed flawlessly yet weren’t assessed well for? Or would you pick a performance from your orchestral career in which you did not perform particularly well, but still received rave reviews? Or yet another one where your colleagues and yourself felt that it was a particularly good performance, only to learn that your friends in the audience were not as enthusiastic as you were?

As you can see, there is no straight-forward answer to any of these questions, so for the purpose of my research, and as a means of investigating the use of pre-performance routines on performance, I have chosen to investigate pre-performance routines from the musicians’ perception of optimal performance.

But before being able to do this, I’ve had to first investigate what pre-performance routines professional orchestral musicians engage in. As I mentioned earlier, there is no literature dealing with pre-performance routines in music performance, so launching a survey about pre-performance routines and distributing it as far and wide as possible was the way forward. I wish I could tell you about the findings to this first stage of my research, but I cannot do so before the article gets published as it is still in the pipeline.

However, I can tell you that the findings are important not only because they will serve as a stepping-stone for further research, but also because of the implications they will carry for music students, teachers and conservatoires. Through these findings, for example, music students will be able to learn what professionals in their field do prior to performance and they will be able to choose which pre-performance routine they can adopt prior to their own performance. Similarly, teachers and professionals can use the findings to either suggest pre-performance routines to their students, or to adopt them themselves for their performances. In regards to conservatoires, there is a lot that can be said here especially when one considers how infrequently students are given the opportunity to perform, and how little, if at all, performance is ever practised.

But going back to your question on pre-performance routines and the impact of these on performance, I followed up the survey with a series of interviews to better understand HOW pre-performance routines are adopted and WHY. Again, I cannot tell you the findings to this second part of the research yet, but I can give you a hint! Think of your own pre-performance routine and then ask yourself whether you do what you do with a view of enhancing performance, and how you think your pre-performance routine helps do that for you…!

The findings of this second part of research have led me to the current, final stage. This is the FIT MUSICIAN survey that I have just launched and for which I am recruiting as many professional classical performing instrumentalists as possible. The FIT MUSICIAN survey is in collaboration with HEartS Professional, a project by the Royal College of Music investigating the health, economic, and social impact of COVID-19 on professionals in the arts.

How can your research help musicians, especially in regards to general health and wellbeing, improving performance quality, as well as managing performance anxiety?

This is a question that I will be able to answer once data from the FIT MUSICIAN survey is collected and anaylzed, and once all of the 3 studies (the PRE-PERFORMANCE ROUTINES survey, the interviews and the FIT MUSICIAN survey) are put into context.

However, recent findings from the HEartS Professional project have shown that professionals in the arts who have maintained physical activity during the various lockdown periods have had a less steep decline in mental health indicators. My team and I believe that in collaboration with HEartS Professional, the next step in the research is to investigate physical activity and/or exercise in classical musicians to explore its effects on musicians’ general health and performance. The findings of this research will of course carry implications as to the role that physical exercise and/or activity plays in musicians’ physical and mental health as well as in their ability to cope with adversity and in its use as part of a pre-performance routine.

Do you use a pre-performance routine when you perform? If so, have you adjusted your routine according to the findings in your research?

We all have at least one pre-performance routine though not everyone is conscious of having one (or more). One pre-performance routine of mine is to stay off wheat right before performance. While some of us may prefer to have some pasta in the hours leading to performance to help with energy levels, I avoid it like the plague as wheat bloats me up and then who can perform well in a tight dress?! However, it seems that pre-performance routines change depending on the situation or scenario one is playing in. Your pre-performance routine prior to an orchestral performance, for example, might be different to your pre-performance routine prior to a solo performance. So because this is such a rich and complex argument, we could perhaps talk more about this on another occasion.

But to answer you briefly, yes, there have been a few takeaways from my interview study which I have used to tweak my own pre-performance routines. However, I think that the biggest takeaway for musicians will come from the FIT MUSICIAN survey.

If you would like to contribute and be part of this exciting research investigating pre-performance routines in relation to performance anxiety and performance, you can take or share the survey here: https://imperial.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5yCKGKV6vjgaoDA

**Please note: This survey is for professional classical instrumentalists who either derive the most part, or all, of their livelihood from work in the following scenarios - professional orchestral musicians, professional chamber/duo musicians or professional freelance musicians (portfolio career) - or are postgraduate students in performance practice. Please note that this survey is not for singers. Thank you!**

If someone would like to find out more, how can they get in touch with you?

I am currently working on my own website called PERFORMANCE GURU which can be found at www.performanceguru.co Although I am still working on the site, it will be a trusted source on all matters relating to the science of performance, including but not exclusive to, pre-performance routines, performance anxiety, memorization, coping strategies, playing-related injuries and injury prevention, physical exercise and health and wellbeing.

Anyone who would like to be kept in the loop with updates to my site, including a future blog and links to my published articles can visit www.performanceguru.co and subscribe. Subscribers will also be kept up to date with new info and upcoming engagements such as lectures, talks and workshops. Visitors to the site seeking consultation in performance can either fill in a form indicating their choice of consultation package (individual or group) or they can write directly to performanceguru.co@gmail.com

Berenice also has a featured article in The Strad here.

Performance Guru has its own Facebook page www.facebook.com/PerformanceGuru and is already taking bookings.

@performance_guru_ is also on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/performance_guru_/

And on Twitter: @Perf0rmanceGuru

Finally, for anyone looking to learn and implement performance strategies while learning violin, I can be contacted on my Online Violin Lessons Facebook page at www.facebook.com/onlineviolintuition or on Instagram @online_violin_lessons_ at https://www.instagram.com/online_violin_lessons_/

To follow my work you can follow me on Twitter @PrePerfRoutines https://twitter.com/PrePerfRoutines and on LinkedIn: BERENICE BEVERLEY ZAMMIT www.linkedin.com/in/berenice-beverley-zammit-9a82758b/

Q&A with Berenice Beverley Zammit