[Trombone-l] Thoughts on Practicing and Auditions, was Re: Beta-blocker info requested

[Chris Tune]

I think your story is excellent.  It points up something very, very 
important.  Our perception of reality IS REALITY.

We actually can THINK our way into or out of success.  You found a strategy 
which helped move you to success.  It wasn't only that you conquered the 
anxiety, but it was especially important that you ENVISIONED SUCCESS. . you 
had a model of what you wanted -- WINNING AUDITIONS.  [in my case it might 
be something like "I want to be able to play jazz solos just like the 
greats. . ." . . .or "I want to be able to circular breathe. . ."].  Changed 
thinking results in added practice and strategies that are winning 
strategies.

You thought it through, and realized that there was a possibility that the 
artificial relaxation would not really be a help in terms of putting out 
really great HUMAN performance.  So, very importantly, you had imagined and 
planned clearly what you wanted, having already done this for the various 
auditions.  Then you used a change of approach to provide you with some 
extra energy from an unexpected source.  You also made something which you 
previously VIEWED, or THOUGHT about as being BAD. . .into something 
potentially USEFUL.  This is important too.  You see the biggest problem 
with changing things like this, is the ATTITUDE you decide you are going to 
have toward the actual ANXIETY itself, and any other unfortunate side 
effects.  You see, if you decide that you don't like it, don't want it, 
can't tolerate it, and feel generally lousy about having this sweaty awful 
stupid anxiety. . . . .Well, that is very different than if you are saying . 
. .Oh!  COOL! There I go again, I'm getting hyped!  That's OK. . .that's 
gonna come in handy here. . .I'm in the spotlight so I WANT to be HYPED UP!! 
That's perfectly alright. I'm sure we can all see these two are completely 
different attitudes.  [of course, you need to control how over-amped you 
might get. . .that is a corollary]

These are two totally different thought patterns based entirely upon your 
beliefs about the consequences of anxiety.  The thought patterns work like a 
feedback mechanism into your physical anxiety symptoms.   Welcome the 
feeling and it modulates into a sense of improved awareness and an energy 
enhancement. . . .HATE the feeling and it generates increased anxiety, and 
possibly some incapacitation.   The fact that we have a choice of WHAT TO 
THINK. . .is the problem most people have. . .they falsely believe that you 
cannot have a different internal MENTAL reaction that you have previously 
had.  Well, you CAN!  This is very much like auto hypnosis (self-hypnosis) 
only kind of a combination "home-brew" and " lay person with some love of 
psychology" method.  Basically this is a process that allows for fundamental 
mental changes.  A thing we all go through during life.  My mental processes 
are much different now that I'm somebody's dad, than when I was a teenager 
just exploring out and around town with my newfound "car driving" ability. 
Two totally different mind sets.

One thing is more important than anything else:  Belief that you certainly 
can change your own thought patterns.  Most people don't think this is 
possible, but it is actually quite possible, and even easy once you realize 
that you can do this, and how it works.  Typically, results will be most 
obvious if the changed thinking patterns can be made HABIT.  Then you 
realize that you had certain ways of thinking in one period and now you have 
a different set of patterns of thought. These things are more obvious over 
the course of very long periods of time. . .months or years. Once you see 
this, you have PROVED to yourself that you can change a pattern of internal 
behaviour or "thought".

Your view or attitude toward the various aspects of the problem is a very 
important part.  Your basic personality will color this, and may make your 
starting point different than another person's.  But, even if you have a 
particularly bleak, basic world view, you can change a particular thought 
pattern if you want to.  Wanting to, is a prerequisite.  Belief that you can 
is another (Thinking things like "I'm a skeptic". . .that's one of my great 
assets!" is just you trying to defeat the improvement. . .nobody is more 
skeptical than myself, yet I've been able to change).  Starting to try 
different thoughts is a next step. . .being persistent (very persistant . . 
. .anything less than 2-3 years is just NOT TRYING. . .I wouldn't consider 
giving up unless I had tried lots of options and alternatives over about 
five years or so) and willing to experiment around a bit is another 
important ingredient. One thought pattern might work very well for someone 
with a particular personality and yet another different pattern of thinking 
and approach might help someone with a totally different personality.

If you want to look at personality typing then Google on "Meyers Briggs" and 
bounce around until you find some of the personality tests.    This stuff, 
and other psych subjects are actually very interesting and sometimes quite 
helpful to performers.

Chris

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Phil Brink" <basstrb3 at comcast.net>
To: "Gabriel Langfur" <glangfur at yahoo.com>; "Trombone-L Trombone" 
<TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Thoughts on Practicing and Auditions,was Re: 
Beta-blocker info requested


I have some further information based on my own personal experience with
beta blockers... this may be of use or not. Here it is, for what it's worth:

During the late 70's and early 80's I had been practicing really [like
REALLY] hard and taking auditions, with VERY limited success. This had a
negative impact on my confidence, since I knew that I was improving, but
couldn't seem to make it into the finals of any auditions. As we all know,
this gets expensive after a while. So I talked to a friend [actually, a
relative by marriage] who was a medical doctor. He told me what he knew
about the drug and some things to be careful of, and wrote me a
prescription.

Starting with the very next audition I took, my results [placing in the
finals, coming in second or third] started to improve dramatically - this
was more to my taste! The only thing seemed to be, I couldn't break through
the "ceiling" into the FIRST place and win a job. After several months of
this, and thinking that the drug might have obviated my adrenalin-based
anxiety on the one hand, and yet making my performance flat [i.e.,
uninteresting], I decided to take advantage of what I had been able to
achieve and go into the audition "cold," without drugs. The results were
interesting: I won that job [New Mexico], went from there to win a quintet
job [Southwest Brass] and, before two years were over, to my long tenure in
Hong Kong. So, which I don't necessarily recommend that students, et. al.,
follow my path, I cannot dismiss all use of beta blockers, since they were a
real help to me.

Tell me what you think!

Phil Brink

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gabriel Langfur" <glangfur at yahoo.com>
To: "Trombone-L Trombone" <TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 1:21 PM
Subject: [Trombone-l] Thoughts on Practicing and Auditions,was Re:
Beta-blocker info requested


I think part of the sentiment behind Chris' response is that a drug-based
solution should probably always be a last resort. I would second that. What
types of performances is your student stressed about? Are they so important
that he should consider taking a drug into his body that affects his heart
rate, metabolism, etc.? Does any part of his future income depend on them? a
significant part of his future happiness? I doubt it, but that's certainly
not my call.

Honestly, I have no direct experience with beta-blocker drugs. I have eaten
bananas before auditions, for their reputed adrenaline-blocking properties,
but my experience has been that my own preparation, physical and - even more
importantly - mental, has been the single most important factor in how well
I responded to and dealt with the effects of the extra adrenaline in
stressful performance and audition situations.

I have some general thoughts about this, much of which were spurred by an
article on Jay Friedman's website:
http://www.jayfriedman.net/reflections/20060309Audition_First_Aid.php

We often think about practicing as a way to refine the physical skills
necessary to playing our instruments, or as a process of learning and
thinking about the music we will play. But I think the time we spend
practicing also has to address some of the issues inherent in performing.
When you are at home practicing, you can play a passage multiple times until
you get it the way you want it...but on stage, in the moment, you only have
one shot. So...devote some of your practice time to determining the most
useful, most consistent mental process to carry out BEFORE you play the
first note of a piece or passage. I find rhythm to be incredibly helpful -
to get the pulse of the piece going in my head long before I play the first
note, and to hear some of the characteristic rhythms of the piece in their
proper character.

As I write, I realize I've written a bunch of this before, in some documents
I prepared for an audition preparation workshop I taught to some high school
youth orchestra students. I'll paste the relevant ones below:

---------------------

Thoughts on Practicing

“Always start with what you CAN do.” – Norman Bolter. Whatever you want to
achieve, you have to start with what you can do today and work towards it
patiently and deliberately.

“The highest reward from your working is not what you get for it but what
you become by it.” – Sydney Harris. Keep the ultimate goals in mind: being a
wonderful, expressive musician.

Tell, don’t ask. Don’t play anything, ever, wondering how it will come out.
Direct it, tell it, sing it in your brain, be in charge of the sound. If it
doesn't come out the way you imagine, that's something to work out practice
methods to improve. But keep your imagination in charge of your body, not
the other way around.

Be creative. Invent routines and methods for yourself to address specific
problems. Hammering away at something hoping it will get better is probably
the slowest way to improve. It’s better than not practicing at all, but not
by much.

Be productive. Don’t just put in hours because you think you should; find
ways to use your time productively. If you only have a few minutes, figure
out what you can accomplish in that time. If some aspect of your playing is
going so poorly one day that even trying to fix it will be frustrating, work
on something else and vow to come back to that aspect the next day.
Practicing slowly is always productive.

Monitor your body for relaxation and ease of motion/tone production/etc.
“I want it to be EASY!” – Sam Pilafian

Think more about great phrases and less about perfect notes – particularly
as you get closer to the audition or performance.

Practice for your mind at least as much as your body. Find the most
productive thought processes that help you in the moment of performance, and
practice those as you prepare for the performance and audition.

Practice performing. Devote some of your regular practice time to
performing. Commit to the moment, play as if there’s an audience, and don’t
stop for anything. Using a recording device is one excellent way of doing
this. Evaluate afterwards to determine what specific technical aspects and
overall musical ideas you want to do better, and then practice those things
very specifically. But make sure to practice the commitment to the moment
you will need for performance.

---------------------------------

Thoughts on The Audition

"strive to EX-press not IM-press" – Buddy Baker

My advice is to fill your mind with musical thoughts.

First, be sure the tempo of everything you play, and start the inner
metronome going at that tempo as soon as possible after you've finished
playing what comes before. At the start of the audition, of course, fill
your mind with the pulse of the first tempo even before you walk into the
room. A steady pulse is a great kind of focusing thought.

Have a reason for everything you play. Know something about every piece -
have a visual or psychological image. For example, when I play The Ride, I
imagine the monsters flying in attack formation. At the B section of the B
Major (F#, G#, E, G#, B...), where the dynamic is marked louder, I imagine a
second squadron joining the first.

Know the high point of the phrase and show the listener what that is. Know
the softest and loudest thing you will play in the audition.

If you're going to monitor anything physical during the audition, make it
your breath (if you are a wind player). Find useful visualizations for the
most delicate physical activities you have to carry out. For soft playing on
a wind instrument, I like to imagine the air rolling slowly down a gentle
slope; I control the angle of the slope with the embouchure.

Some other thoughts:
Show how much you love the music you are playing and maybe how much you love
your instrument. Demonstrate your joy!

As you get closer and closer to the audition, think more and more about
great phrases and less and less about perfect notes.

Tell, don't ask. Don't play anything, ever, wondering how it will come out.
Direct it, tell it, be in charge of what comes out, sing it in your brain.
If it doesn't come out the bell the way you imagine, that's something to
work out practice methods to improve. But keep your imagination in charge,
not your body.

All of this needs to be practiced. You can't just turn on these thought
processes for the first time when you walk in the audition room. Practicing
is for your brain just as much as it is for your body.

And for that matter, follow Jay Friedman's advice: play an audition for
yourself, or somebody else, or a tape recorder, as often as possible - every
day if possible. Dedicate a portion of a practice session every day to
getting it right the first time. Evaluate what went well and what didn't,
and then figure out how to do detailed practice on the things that didn't.

------------------------

Really, honestly, I think most of the issues involved with performance
anxiety can be dealt with by practicing creatively and productively. If
you're goiong to be serious about performing, you need to be serious about
practicing...and practicing performing.

Gabe


----- Original Message ----
From: Chris Tune <crtune at adelphia.net>
To: Dean Hubbard <bonedean at msn.com>; Trombone-L Trombone
<TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 11:09:59 AM
Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Beta-blocker info requested


It probably DOES work.  But, I'd caution that psych work with a counselor is
probably a better solution because the performance anxiety is probably not
the only thing that could be improved by competent counsel and continuing
sessions.

I've not heard about a person developing "tolerance" to the B blocker, but
maybe some others here have heard definitely about that.

I'm very lucky.  I'm one of those who responds well to Mind Game methods of
getting away from performance anxiety.  I think of the audience as all kinds
of things other than what anxiety says they are.

The anxiousness also is not the first thing that starts this process.  The
first thing to occur, is the body gets more Cortisol and/or Adrenalin shot
into the bloodstream.  This in turn causes more rapid breathing, increased
awareness, "goosebumps", etc. then the mind perceives this as anxiousness.
. . .something to be Concerned about.  I try to focus upon how INTERESTING
this whole psycho-physiological process is.

You see, refocusing upon something as being INTERESTING causes beneficial
neurotransmitters to be produced to soothe away the opposing symptons.  This
results in Endorphin and perhaps Dopamine to be produced which accompany
your feeling that you have DISCOVERED some new information.   Usually right
after I absorb this briefly, I refocus upon the particular demands right
before the performance (refocusing upon anything memorized. . .double
checking that I have my mutes out. . .my lube available. . .horn properly
assembled).

Chris



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dean Hubbard" <bonedean at msn.com>
To: "Trombone-L Trombone" <TROMBONE-L at server5.samford.edu>
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 9:59 AM
Subject: [Trombone-l] Beta-blocker info requested


> Friends,
>   One of my adult students asked me about beta-blockers.  He's having
> performance anxiety and his doctor suggested trying this medicine.
> Please share any experiences you've had with this drug.
>
>
> Truly,
> Dean Hubbard
> _______________________________________________
> Trombone-l mailing list
> Trombone-l at maillists.samford.edu
> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l

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