It's well documented that mental health issues are more prevalent among artists, musicians and creatives. As such, it is important that we teach good practice to students, and equip them with the tools they need to recognise issues as they arise, in order to deal with them effectively. Performance anxiety is more common than people think – the first way to tackle it is to simply talk about it. Peer-to-peer support is vital in the music industry and we place this support system at the core of our workshops at ACM. If you are teaching on a one-to-one basis, it's a good idea to encourage your students to take part in a club involving music, such as ACM's Saturday School, so that students can grow their support network from an early age.
The next step is to remind students is that nobody is perfect – it's natural to make mistakes. Mistakes don't mean failure and should be seen as useful learning exercises for future performances. Self-criticism can be difficult to overcome as a creative, especially if your student is going through grades or exams. Below are some pointers on how to stop your students falling down a hole of self-doubt:
- Ensure they know it's OK to seek help and encourage them to be frank and open about their worries and fears. More often than not, just talking about it will help lighten the load.
- Encourage them not to compare themselves with other artists or musicians – focus on who they are as a musician.
- Remind them not to worry about what other people might think; it's only their own opinion that counts.
Mindfulness is a brilliant skill to have as a musician, as learning to live in the moment during stressful performances can be the key to shaking off any pre-performance nerves. If you're able to, incorporating yoga into your lessons can be an excellent practice to help relax and ground a student.
It is also important to encourage students to learn their own way of dealing with stressful situations so they can begin to understand their own coping mechanisms. Preparing to deal with performance anxiety is just as important as learning the music itself. During our ACM workshops, we simulate performance situations; this enables our students to learn how to effectively manage their nerves and come out better prepared on the other side. In one-to-one lessons you might want to consider running a dress rehearsal for an exam, in front of the student's family. By inducing feelings of anxiety, your student can learn to identify the signs, and work out how to deal with them ahead of time.
Here are some tips to share with your students to help them combat any performance anxiety:
- Ask them to focus on their breathing, taking deep breaths in, holding them and slowly breathing out. Urge them to take time to focus in on this before any performance.
- Get them to close their eyes – taking five minutes to imagine their performance, ask them what do they play, how they feel, and then tell them to focus on how to achieve it as a reality.
- Ahead of the performance or exam date, remind them how important it is to practice. Preparation is key and when the day comes around, remind them that they are ready for this.
- Remind them of the times that previous performances went well. Tell them that it is good to accept compliments from others.
When dealing with performance anxiety with a student, make sure to teach them that nerves are normal and actually a good thing. Nerves allow a person to connect with the music on an emotional level, which often leads to a stand-out performance. Tell them to to feel the adrenaline, but remind them that they have the tools to harness it and use it to improve their performance.
In reality, performance anxiety will likely happen to most of us at some stage in our musical careers. But by taking action before it becomes an issue, students can learn how to use it to improve their performances.
The Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) has campuses in Guildford, London and Birmingham. Lee Fellows heads up the ACM's student services team
