Key to overcome the fright of artists

Phyllis Alpert Lehrer at the Bilbao Conservatory. piano concerto


– artists must cope with the anxiety of fright with a series of breathing and muscle relaxation exercises ”

-impulsive movements of jaw of many musicians tend to alter or diminish their ability to hear the piece that are performing well

– distractions induced by interest and innate curiosity towards the m3uSICA tends to distract the musician of the interpretation of the piece that is playing ”

Bilbao, 2011-October the musician, actor, dancer, and careers of all those facing a public requires not only a special artistic sensibility, but also a necessary improvement to the stage fright. Relaxation therapy is needed then such as learning the script, the piece of music or dance steps. The scenario becomes at the same time the most feared of all and in the most desired, for which the artist takes a long time preparing. This scenario has become today auditoriums and meeting rooms, where anyone can be the main actor, and a paper, a business plan or a presentation of a book her interpretation.

Phyllis Alpert Lehrer, renowned Professor, writer, judge and professional pianist, has been the guest of honour at the Conservatory of music of Bilbao Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga to interpret some of the most outstanding pieces of two great musicians of the piano: Chopin and Debussy. The concert took place the last Thursday, 6 October 2011, from 19: 30 in the own Conservatory of Bilbao. It is also a piano teacher and Director of the degree of piano at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, where he has developed a study on how to tackle the stage fright.

Artists must cope with the anxiety of fright with a series of breathing and muscle relaxation exercises ”, says Professor Lehrer. Why Lehrer gives a series of guidelines designed to overcome these fears to their students, and it applies also. soil series of seven to ten seconds of controlled breathing, not only for a clear mental relaxation, but above all to make the heartbeat stabilizes, and encourage much-needed muscle relaxation before the performance ”.

The study of the relaxation to overcome the stage fright not only focuses on the moments leading up to the implementation stage, if not that the analysis of the own performance is crucial to overcome it. Also study certain involuntary gestures to each of my students has during its performance, to then make a more detailed analysis of its behavior from the piano, and therefore, front to the public ”, says the professor. In this aspect, impulsive movements of jaw that many musicians have often alter and decrease your ability to hear well the piece that are playing, that this movement affects the inner ear.

From a psychological point of view, Phyllis Lehrer also analyzes the mental approach of the musician towards what is playing, that many of them tend to prefer listening to music than to play. Distractions induced by interest and innate curiosity towards music tend to distract the musician of the interpretation of the piece that is playing ”, qualifies the Lehrer Professor.

However, it proposes three techniques needed to get overcome panic to the stage, and be able to demonstrate the musical talent entirely. The first one – explains – is the take self-awareness in the scenario, how it looks and how you feel before the piano ”. He claims that only thus will it feel comfortable on stage.

The second of these techniques is that of the will, that invites to the musician what is their intention before the hearing or public. The musician must be aware of what is on the stage, to be able to concentrate on the music that will play ”, says.

The last one is the trust, in which the musician must rely on its ability to include mentally within the piece that is playing, by which ultimately just not thinking in itself, but in those thoughts that make you focus more on his music. Rather than fight the thoughts that distract me, I try to use this technique to eliminate this ‘ dialog ’ that just distracts me ”, adds.

Finally, already on stage and before you start playing, advised that crucial thing is to think positively in the ability of communicating with the piano and get the artistic aesthetics of the piece you want to interpret ”. Other techniques can interfere with the ability to let the music flow as it should, being more worried about yourself and how you are doing in the feelings and emotions that music must wake ”, concludes.

biography

La Ms. Lehrer has developed an extensive career as soloist in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Japan, Sweden, Russia, the Republic of Georgia and El Salvador. Ms. Lehrer is a founding member of the International Society for the Study of Tension in Performance (international society for the study of the tension in performance), collaborates regularly with the Music Teachers National Association, with the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy and the European Piano Teachers Association.