Mastering stage fright: shining on stage with mental strength

You're standing on stage with weak knees, your pulse is racing and your hands are sweaty. You actually wanted to focus on making music, but now your thoughts are all about your nervousness. Does this situation sound familiar?

Stage fright can severely impair performance. When the body is under stress, the stress hormone cortisol is released, which triggers symptoms such as trembling, sweating or shallow breathing. Although the stress reaction takes place subconsciously, it can be influenced by specific techniques - for example, conscious breathing.

A helpful technique for conscious breathing is "square breathing", which works as follows:

Position yourself comfortably and turn your attention "inwards". Breathe in and out calmly. Then count to five as you inhale and mentally follow the first side of an imaginary square. Hold your breath for the same length of time without tensing (the second side), then exhale and follow the third side of the square. Hold the breath again to complete the fourth side. Repeat this cycle. Adjust the duration of the side lengths to suit your needs.

There are many different breathing techniques and each person reacts differently. It is important to find out which technique best calms or activates you so that you can regain control over your nervousness.

In addition to breathing technique, dealing with distracting thoughts also plays an important role. "Distracting thoughts" are thoughts that distract us from the task at hand in stressful situations or have a negative impact on us - during a concert or audition, for example. An effective approach to dealing with such thoughts is the WAVE principle developed by sports psychologist Jörg Wetzel (from "GOLD - Mental stark zur Bestleistung", Jörg Wetzel, 6th edition, 2019). "WAVE" stands for:

1. perceive: Consciously recognize your thoughts, feelings and physical reactions.

2. stop: Actively stop the flow of thoughts by saying "stop" or "halt".

3. change: Replace negative thoughts with positive, constructive thought patterns.

4. practise: Repeat the new thought and check its effect.

Examples: Instead of "I didn't hit a note cleanly again, how embarrassing!" you could say, "I can do better than that. Check it off and move on!" Or instead of thinking, "If I get nervous now, I'm sure it won't work", the thought could be, "I'll stay calm and make music like I do at home." By learning to actively direct your thoughts, you can get a grip on your nervousness and focus better.

Mental training also offers the opportunity to practise concert situations. Visualization techniques help you to relive a positive concert experience with all your senses or to mentally rehearse a future performance in front of an imaginary audience. This method prepares you mentally for the "special moment" so that you can better anticipate the nervousness and face it calmly. In many cases, the third or fourth performance is much easier than the premiere.

The moments just before the performance are crucial for success. Careful planning and training of this process, supported by mental techniques, are just as important as the technical and musical preparation.

Nervousness cannot be completely eliminated, but with mental techniques you can learn to control it and develop a positive approach to dealing with it. This will enable you to perform reliably even in stressful moments and appear calm.

Sebastian Rosenberg
... advises musicians and gives courses and workshops in the field of mental training, teaches trumpet and leads ensembles at the Rontal LU music school.