stopped performing for periods of time and some of the reasons were related to nervousness. Although good piano teachers always hold recitals of their students and enter them into competitions, they have tended to be poor sociologists or psychologists, concentrating only on piano playing and ignoring nervousness. It is important for any person guiding youngsters through recitals and competitions to learn the fundamentals of what causes nervousness, how to deal with it, and its psychological consequences.
Because teachers fail so often, the parents must look out for the social and psychological welfare of their children.
Nervousness is a natural human emotion and arises in critical situations. Therefore, it is normally a performance enhancing reaction. Nervousness makes us concentrate all our energies towards the critical task. Most people dislike nervousness because it is too often accompanied, or is caused, by fear of failure. Therefore, although nervousness is necessary for a great performance, it needs to be kept under control; otherwise, it can interfere with the performance and cause suffering. Performing should be a rewarding experience of communicating through music, not the most terrifying experience of a child's life.
Emotions are basic, primitive, animal reactions, and have evolved to be helpful under normal circumstances. However, under extreme conditions, emotions can get out of control, and become a liability, unless your name is Wolfie or Franz (Freddy apparently didn't qualify, as he was a nervous wreck and disliked public performances; however, he seemed more comfortable in a salon environment). Youngsters, who are too frightened to perform solo, almost always enjoy performing in a group. This shows the importance of the mental perception of the situation.
By the time nervousness becomes a problem, it is usually spinning out of control. A lack of understanding of nervousness also creates fear because of the fear of the
unknown. Thus the simple knowledge of what stage fright is, and what generally happens during a performance, can be a calming factor by reducing the fear of the unknown.
How does nervousness grow out of control, and are there ways to prevent it? According to fundamental science, practically anything in our universe grows by a
process known as the Nucleation-Growth (NG) mechanism. The NG theory states that an object forms in two stages, nucleation and growth. This theory became popular because it is in fact the way in which the majority of objects in our universe form, from raindrops to cities, stars, humans, etc. Tiny nuclei are always forming and disappearing, but there is a thing called a critical nucleus which, when formed, becomes stable -- it does not
disappear. In general, the critical nucleus does not form unless there is a supersaturation of the material that aggregate to form it. For the object to grow to its final size, the critical nucleus needs a growth mechanism by which to increase its size. In general, the growth mechanism is different from the nucleation mechanism. One interesting aspect of nucleation is that there is always a barrier to nucleation -- otherwise, everything would have nucleated a long time ago. Growth is a two-way street: it can be positive or
negative.
Let's apply NG theory to nervousness. In everyday life, your sense of nervousness comes and goes, without becoming anything serious. However, in an unusual situation such as a performance, there is a supersaturation of factors that cause nervousness: you must perform flawlessly, you didn't have enough time to practice the piece, there is a big audience out there, etc. However, this still may not cause any problem because there are natural barriers to nucleating nervousness, because the person may not even be aware of nervousness, or might be too busy finalizing the preparations for the recital. But then, a fellow performer says, "Hey, I got butterflies in my stomach!" and you suddenly feel a lump in your throat and realize that you are nervous -- the critical nucleus has formed! This may still not be that bad, until you start to worry that perhaps your piece is not yet ready to perform or the nervousness might interfere with the playing -- these fears cause the nervousness to grow. Thus, asking a performer, "aren't you nervous?", etc., is the worst thing to do. On the other hand, a teacher who ignores nervousness and doesn't teach performance preparation is not doing her job.
It is not a good idea to pretend that nervousness does not exist, especially with youngsters who can more easily suffer lifelong psychological damage. Kids are smart and they can easily see through the pretense, and the need to play along with the pretense can only increase the stress because they must shoulder the burden by themselves and feel alone and abandoned. This is why performance training, in which nervousness is discussed and studied, is so important. For young students, the parents and friends attending the recital need to be educated. Statements like "I hope you aren't nervous!" or "How can you perform without getting nervous?" are almost certain to cause nucleation and growth. Unless you know what you are doing, stay away from such statements! You can help by keeping them busy, giving them simple tasks to do or discussing details of the music, how to adjust the chair, etc.
The nice thing about scientific theory is that it not only describes the process, but also provides solutions. We can attack nervousness at the nucleation stage; if we can prevent nucleation, it will never form a critical nucleus. Merely delaying the nucleation will be helpful because that will reduce the time available for it to grow. Playing easier pieces will reduce the supersaturation of worry. Mock recitals will give you more
experience and confidence; both will reduce the fear of the unknown. Generally, you need to perform a piece three or more times before you know whether you can perform it successfully or not; thus performing pieces that had been performed several times will also help. All these factors reduce the supersaturation for nucleation. For someone like Mozart, nervousness never nucleates because there is no supersaturation of factors like fear of mistakes, etc.; instead, he was always eager to show off, which is the opposite of supersaturation. The eagerness to make music for the audience can prevent stage fright.
Nervousness is generally worst before a performance; once you start playing, you are so busy with the task at hand that there is no time to dwell on nervousness, thus
reducing the growth factor. This knowledge helps because it alleviates the fear that things might get worse during the performance. Not dwelling on nervousness is another way of delaying the nucleation as well as slowing the growth stage. Thus it is a good idea to keep yourself occupied while waiting for the recital to begin. MP is useful because you can check your memory and keep yourself occupied at the same time; thus MP is the most important tool for preventing or delaying nucleation and for reducing growth. Playing musically is a surprisingly effective antidote against nervousness; when you can involve your entire brain in the business of creating music, there is little brain resources left to worry about nervousness
Performance training must include lessons on how to react to various circumstances, such as when you make mistakes or have blackouts. For students who tend to have
blackouts, have the sheet music ready; just the knowledge that the sheet music is available can reduce blackouts. Placing the music on the piano or nearby can act as a security blanket. A student must always bring the music with them to the recital. It is important, early in a student's career, to play easy pieces that can be performed without nervousness. Even one such experience can provide the existence proof that performing without nervousness is possible. That single experience can influence the performance attitude for life.
Some have claimed that, under a doctor's supervision, medications such as Inderal and Atenolol, or even Zantac will work to calm nerves. Conversely, you can make it worse by drinking coffee or tea, not getting enough sleep, or taking certain cold medications. The best solution is to learn enough about nervousness so that it can be controlled without medication.
In summary, stage fright is nervousness that has spiraled out of control. A certain amount of nervousness is normal and helpful. You can minimize nervousness by delaying its nucleation by keeping busy and reducing its growth by playing musically. MP is the most effective tool for these purposes. It is pure ignorance, and not helpful, to ask "do you get nervous when you perform?" Everyone does, and should. We only need to contain nervousness so that it does not grow out of control. Nervousness is worst just before you begin to play; once you start, you are too busy with the playing to worry about nervousness and this will cause it to shrink. This knowledge can be reassuring, and can accelerate the reduction. There is a wide range of individuals from those who don't get nervous at all, to those who suffer debilitating stage fright. Nervousness needs to be taught in such a way that most students can be in the camp that never gets nervous through performance preparation routines and performance training programs. Having fun with contemporary music such as pop, jazz, and improvisation, is a good way. Playing easy pieces, and practicing with playing snippets in casual events, is another.