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*psychological pressure

I practice 4-5hrs a day

2hrs routine/ fundamentals

2-2 1/2hrs sight reading/ rep

For the past month there has been a 5 measure lick that I have been practicing/ nailing 5-10 times a day, for well over a month.

I nailed it in all of the rehearsals, but when it came to the performance I froze. This is very rare for me that I'm ever psyched out.

Afterwards I couldn't help but beat myself up. Why do I do a routine? Why do I practice my fundamentals?... Why do I practice a lick to perfection when I couldn't nail it when I needed to...

I want to know how we can incorporate a high pressure feeling into our daily practice.

I've never tried to replicate the pressure artificially, but just expose myself to it frequently. Perform as much as possible, even just informally one-on-one with a colleague.

The other thing I recommend is having a less involved routine for performance situations - shorter series of warmups to avoid fatigue and overthinking, and an easy-to-replicate set of physical/mental rituals that get you "in the zone." I have a very specific thought pattern before getting on stage, as well as tactile rituals (a specific manner of fiddling with valves/slides) that doesn't change from rehearsal to performance. Control what you can control - your equipment and your body will do what they're trained for.

Maybe its because you have can be running out of chops by time you start practicing your rep. I generally spend about 15 to 20 minutes on fundamentals and then another hour or hour and a half on repertoire, and by the end of that my chops are pretty much spent. Occasionally I will pick up practicing again later if a lick is bothering me. Are you sure that you are being efficient with your practice time? I couldn't even imagine having 5 hours in a day that could be used to practice much less actually doing it.

As far as high pressure feeling in the practice room, don't start practicing until the week before a performance? I bet that would do it.

I find it helpful to play a tough lick while I'm recording or videotaping it, with the intention of it being good enough to share publicly. There is something about the "live" element which can bring a little more noise upstairs, and frequently doing this helps to quiet the extraneous, unhelpful elements that creep in. Keep up the practicing. It'll reap great rewards. Accept mistakes a being human. I've heard some great players make them and it didn't make them any less great. Really. It's a lot more fun to play next to someone who can smile after making one, too.

Pressure really doesn't help anything, so reproducing it isn't helpful either. You need to be able to ignore the pressure, or better yet, just realize it doesn't exist unless you create it. Your performance is just another opportunity to play that lick, in time, in tune, with all the right notes, just like you've done a hundred times. There is no such thing as pressure. It's something you invent that is only counterproductive. Focus on the music. Concentrate on events happening in time. You still have to play the lick whether there are people sitting out there or not. Plus, everyone out there wants you to play that lick well. Don't learn to deal with pressure, because it doesn't help you at all. Learn to accept that there is no such thing as pressure, and it instantly dissolves. It's a rather zen way of looking at it, but very practical. I've done a lot of public speaking, and this helps me avoid the whole issue of nerves before a speech.

Cthuba wrote:
I want to know how we can incorporate a high pressure feeling into our daily practice.

The point is that you want to lessen the high pressure during performance, not increase it during practice.

Last year I had an important audition, my first in many years. Before the audition date I separately asked two friends, very competent musicians, to listen to me play a straight run-through of the two audition pieces. When it was time for the real audition, although I was still nervous, I was much more centered and confident as a result of the two mock auditions.

If you are nervous playing in front of people, play in front of people. Doesn't have to be a lot of people; one is enough.

Hup

You might find Alexander Technique studies worthwhile...

You may also want to look into the book, The Inner Game of Music. I don't believe it gives any specific exercises, but addresses a number of "mental" issues. Performance = Potential - Interference, etc...

Is five hours a day "normal??"

I mean, I have a square job, 9-5 stuff, and out of that I don't even put in five hours!!

Assisted living facilities and nursing homes are ALWAYS open to people coming in and spending time with their residents. They don't care if you're playing Encounters II, The Jolly Farmer Goes to Town, or Arban flexibility drills. You're sure to get a receptive audience, with maybe a few disruptions thrown in from the more vocal residents, which can also be a good way to learn to shrug off distractions.

The added benefits, of course, is that you'll leave with a lot of hugs, stories from residents who used to be in a band, and a warm feeling in your gut.

bloke wrote:

Three Valves wrote:Is five hours a day "normal??"

I mean, I have a square job, 9-5 stuff, and out of that I don't even put in five hours!!

They mean, "I play a Bordogni during the commercials between each Hallmark chick-flick, until my wife gets home from work, and starts chewing me out and telling me to get a job."

Oh, you mean the same thing I do for 90 minutes when I get home twice a week!!

8vb wrote:Assisted living facilities and nursing homes are ALWAYS open to people coming in and spending time with their residents. They don't care if you're playing Encounters II, The Jolly Farmer Goes to Town, or Arban flexibility drills. You're sure to get a receptive audience, with maybe a few disruptions thrown in from the more vocal residents, which can also be a good way to learn to shrug off distractions.

The added benefits, of course, is that you'll leave with a lot of hugs, stories from residents who used to be in a band, and a warm feeling in your gut.

THIS, is perfect. Good for the performer, excellent for the residents. Nothing wrong with warming the hearts and brightening the dreary days!

I always thought warming up a little behind the curtain or on stage where folks hear you always brought me down a little. Long tones while working your heart rate down. In your mind the audience is already hearing you - and you're getting comfortable with developing your connection/relationship with them. Even though some musicians hate those that practice on stage during warm-up - it is sometimes helpful (in your mind) that the audience has already heard your big scary lick and in a few minutes they will hear it again in the ensemble setting. Truth is most folks out front ain't even gonna hear what you're worrying about or even care. Quit practicing so much... you're wearing yourself down. A 5 hour day should be followed by a 30 minute day. This way the muscles repair and rejuvenate. If you don't over work yourself before the show you will all your chop power to pull off the task... relax and enjoy the ride.

Tim Jackson
can't remember
which horns
I have.

+1

bloke wrote:Following the same path, surely it's also best to eliminate extraneous mental noise (self-doubt, self-scolding, anxiety, etc., etc., etc...)

This is exactly why I royally botched a high-level audition. In mid-phrase, I thought of what could happen if I played perfectly... but then I heard imperfections, which made me fear what I was doing, which made me play worse, which made me terrified, which made me play TERRIBLE...

The best audition (if you could call it that; it was chair placement for an honor band) I played was when I just didn't care what the result might be.

There is an awful lot of emphasis on practicing the excerpts, licks, solos, etc that you need to be able to play, and I think not nearly enough emphasis on playing the instrument well enough that you would be able and comfortable playing or even sightreading those same things whether you had practiced them or not.

The key to avoiding stage fright or similar symptoms is to be fully prepared - to play anything, not just the required music.