Even professionals have to deal with performance anxiety. It's a natural part of being a musician!

Take a look behind the scenes as I practice, rehearse, and perform the first movement of the Elgar concerto with a local community orchestra. I'll bring you along for the emotional rollercoaster of being a soloist!

Performance anxiety is something that can:

• make a piece that sounds amazing at home fall apart when you play for someone else.
• cause you to feel like you might be dying as you walk onstage.
• make you never want to touch your instrument again!

This is normal!  There are a bunch of bizarre things your body does when you are about to play for others. If you feel this way, it doesn't mean you are a freak who shouldn't play music.  We all feel some form of performance anxiety when the pressure is on.  EVERYONE!

You won't be able to get rid of it completely, but there are some tips and tricks I have to make the most of it. I like to use all the excess energy I get from my nervousness to help me play better!

I taught an online class to the 2021 virtual All-State participants on this very topic.  Although I couldn't see or hear them, I still experienced some performance anxiety . . . while giving a class on performance anxiety!

See what I mean? It affects us all. You are not alone and you don't have to suffer! 

​I hope some of the tips in the following video class help you.

It's that time of year again... Graduation. 

As I write this, Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance is on repeat in my mind, and it takes me back to the very end of my high school days.

There's a young, sweaty me, sitting on a folding chair on the football field, wearing a robe that feels as though it might melt onto my skin. The tassel on my mortarboard keeps hitting me in the eye, but at least it mops up a little perspiration as it swings across my face...


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Who knew back then that I would be a cellist and teacher a mere *mumble mumble* years in the future?

Uh, I meant to say, back to the present ...

During lessons this week, I discovered that both of my students who are high school seniors this year are valedictorians.  

And so was I all those years ago.

How crazy is that?  It's all a big coincidence, right?

I'm not so sure!

This got me thinking about the connection between music and the mind. 

You have all probably heard about the Mozart Effect --the idea that simply listening to Mozart's music can help kids perform better on tests.  Mozart's music has also been shown to decrease the amount of epileptic activity in the brain of patients who have seizures (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9660010/). 

Even listening to non-classical music can have significant performance enhancing benefits (http://www.livescience.com/2953-amazing-power-music-revealed.html)!


So if listening to music is helpful, what about playing music on an instrument?  
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Those of us who are more mature can reap major benefits from playing a musical instrument as well.  Not only can it improve your health--staving off anxiety, depression, and general cognitive decline (http://www.livescience.com/40597-playing-musical-instrument-good-health.html)--but it can also help prevent dementia
(http://dementiaresearchfoundation.org.au/blog/playing-musical-instrument-later-life-protective-factor-against-dementia).

Learning an instrument could be just about the best thing an adult can do to improve his or her brain health
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996135/#S4title).  

​And it might also be a little bit fun! 
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If you're interested in seeing a few more articles on this topic, check out these:

• http://portlandchamberorchestra.org/what-happens-when-the-brain-plays-a-musical-instrument/

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• http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/09/10/343681493/this-is-your-brain-this-is-your-brain-on-music

And this one, specifically about the defiant nature of cellists (who, us?):

•  http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2016/05/why_cellists_like_sergei_roldugin_are_the_most_rebellious_musicians_in_the.html

Do you have personal experience to support or debunk these ideas? Let me know what you think about all this in the comments section below.  

And in the meantime, congrats to all the graduates!  For the rest of us, we'll just enjoy all that Elgar wafting through the spring air!