Stop me if this sounds familiar.
You’ve basically got it covered in the practice room. It’s not that everything’s perfect, but you’re reasonably happy with where you are, and you can see yourself making consistent progress.
When you get up on stage to perform, though, it’s a different story.
Things which sounded inspired just a day or two before come out sounding dull. Material that you had mastered becomes shaky, or even falls apart altogether.
You find yourself just trying to get through the experience rather than playing freely and really enjoying yourself.
And the most frustrating thing is that there doesn’t seem to be any reason why this happens. So what can you do about it?
Well, there are at least 7 things which can contribute to the problem. In this article I’ll tell you what they are and how to tackle them – so that you can play consistently at your best and feel truly proud about your performances.
Here's what we're going to cover:
- You're not used to playing in a performance context
- You're not comfortable with the feeling of pressure that performance can bring
- You're stuck in a practice mindset
- You resent the conditions rather than accept them
- You're trying too hard
- You care too much
- You need to strengthen your self-belief and think positively