As performers, we can’t allow ourselves to rely on having the right mindset by luck. We need to be aware of the different mental states that we have and actively train to switch between them. To some people, this comes completely natural, but for most people, it doesn’t… If you are in the last category, continue reading 😉
Our state of mind constantly changes – that´s inevitable. It can be due to a lot of things such as blood sugar, hormones, comments from other people and even the weather.
A lot of people go through life, accepting this fact and deal with it as they go along. However, it is possible to take control of our mindset! Through daily training, we can all learn to switch between mindsets. This makes sure that we are in the right state of mind and up to any given task at any time.
Identify your mental states
To be able to actively make a switch between different mindsets, we first need to define what mindsets we have and what they do to us. It can vary from person to person what mindsets occur and dominate, but here follow some general states, that I find most of us have:
Learning mode:
Learning mode is a mindset where we are open and ready to take in inputs. It is an optimal state in lessons and during most of our practice.
In this state, we have a long-term mindset in terms of development and performance. This allows us to try new things and implement them in our playing without worrying about making mistakes.
In the learning mode, we analyze ourselves as we play, asking questions like “How does it sound?”, “How can I make it better?”, “Did the new method that I used help me, and in what way”? and “What do I do next?” etc.
Performance/attacking-mode:
Performance/attacking mode is a focused and intense state, where we only focus on executing our plan regardless of how we feel or what happens around us. It´s an optimal state for auditions and concerts, where we have to play and perform well under pressure.
In this state, we use the adrenalin to “attack” the challenge by following a strict plan. We are like soldiers in combat. We don’t analyze while playing, but trust our preparation and focus on the execution.
Cozy mode:
It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Cozy mode… It really is a nice state to be in on a Friday night off in front of the TV!! Here we are free of worries and completely relaxed. This state often comes with routines, where the future is well-known and secure (when this episode ends, Netflix will automatically start the next one… that’s nice).
Even though the “cozy-mode” is nice and important to visit from time to time in order to relax, it’s not a state I would recommend to be in right before an audition. Often, though, we get tempted to go into this mode right before something important is coming up. We often use the cozy-mode to try to “escape” the situation we are facing.
Often students are told to take a deep breath and relax before going into an audition or concert. This advice sometimes misguides us into thinking that it’s better to relax and take it easy. Slowly we subconsciously begin searching for the “cozy-mode”. The problem here is, that this state probably is the furthest from the state we actually need in the moment of heat. There we want to be active and ready to fight and perform – even if we are nervous.
Be ready for the situation you are facing
Entering a performance situation directly from the “cozy-mode” can often create some kind of a shock to both the body and mind. It’s like going directly from the sauna out in the snow. If we plan to stay a long time in the snow, however, we need to accept, that it’s going to get cold. By accepting the reality, we can prepare by dressing up in warm clothes.
The same goes for entering an audition. If we accept the fact that it´s going to be hard, and that we are most likely going to be nervous, we can prepare for the situation rather than just hoping for the best.
The relation between different mental states
As described above, there are several mental states (much more than the 3 mentioned already) and each of them can work well depending on the situation. The problem is, that they often work in opposite ways.
In a lesson, for instance, we want to be in an open learning mode, ready to take in new inputs and ideas. This we definitely don’t want in an audition. Here we rather want to follow through and execute the “product” that we have prepared – we want to be in a performance/attacking mode!
And again, if we turn it around, it can be very difficult to learn anything from a teacher if we stay in our performance mode without being open to new inputs… So in order to both develop and perform, we need both the “learning mode” and the “performance mode”. Just in very different situations. That’s why it can be so beneficial to learn how to actively switch between mental states.
Switching between mental states
You know how certain sounds or smells can bring back memories and make you in a certain mood, right? Well, the same goes for our different mindsets!
Imagine walking into a room where you have played a numerous amount of great concerts. The smell of the room, the stage, the lighting, etc. will most likely bring you back to those good memories. Your body language and general attitude are very likely to follow along and you’ll begin to feel confident and happy while remembering all your success.
The same thing, unfortunately, could happen in a room where you have experienced a great amount of failure. Only now the smell in the room makes you shiver and doubt yourself. I have had a lot of students during the years fighting with this exact problem. In the music academy, students often have to play exams in the same hall every year. If a student has had a bad experience during the first years, it can be quite a challenge not to feel overwhelmed and set back, when entering that exact same stage a year after.
To get out of this problem, we need to actively control and train which mindset and attitude we enter a performance situation with. It can literally mean the difference between failure or success.
Setting yourself up to “performance mode” with a mental routine.
Switching between our mental states is not something we just do by thinking about it. It is something that we need to train over a long period of time, and it is something that needs to be trained and practiced continuously. Just like staying in shape physically. When done correctly, however, it can be extremely powerful!!
Just like the smell of a room or a specific sound can bring us into a certain mood, we want to have a routine that puts us in a mood/mindset for performing and attacking. We don’t want to be dependent on a certain location, smell or sound. We want to be able to control it regardless of where we are or how we feel.
In order to do this, we need a plan and some cues that trigger the right thoughts when we are about to perform. Thoughts that focus on what you CAN do, rather than things you worry about or can’t do. The more detailed plan we have of what actually to do (also mentally), the easier it will be to get in attacking mode. It is much easier to feel on top of a situation when we have something to do, rather than just waiting.
Making your routine
This plan with all the positive cues needs to be boiled down into a mental routine, that can be made in 15 seconds or less. A routine that you can do right before performing (or even during a performance) that will put you in the right mindset. A mindset where you follow through and execute your plan, regardless of how you feel or what circumstances surround you. This routine can be different from person to person. The most important thing is to be consequent! It’s important to really practice an exact routine, that stays the same every time. If staying in the smelly analogy, we don’t want to “change the smell of the room” every time, but instead use the same “good smell” every time we perform 🙂
A routine that I have used with great success myself (and that I also use with my clients) is the “centering exercises” by Don Green. It’s a mental routine in 7 steps that have proven highly effective. You can check it out and see if it works for you, or use it as inspiration to create your own personal routine. Whatever you do, be consistent with your routine.
How to implement this on a practical level?
On a practical level, we need to switch from learning mode to performance mode numerous times during each practice session.
I personally like to divide my practice room in two. One area for practicing and one for performing. This is only to strengthen my own awareness of which mode I want to be in at any time during my practice. A piano player, for instance, could just stand up and take a quick walk, before entering the performing zone.
Study-area
In the learning mode, I will analyze and do all kinds of things to make my playing better. As a trumpet player, this could involve things like singing the phrase or making wind patterns only with air, etc. I will try out new things, to find the most optimal way of playing.
When I have learned the section I’m working on, I’ll determine which “cues” made it work the best. Was it to keep the air (or bow for string players) moving? or to stay active throughout the phrase? or maybe to establish and keep a certain tempo while feeling the downbeats in the body?… The list could go on depending on the music, different people and instruments.
When having established these cues it starts to get interesting…
Performing-area
Instead of just moving on to the next passage or phrase, I’ll turn to the other side of the room and prepare to go into performance/attacking mode. In this mode, I no longer try out things or try to make my playing better. Instead, I mentally reinforce the process cues that I have already found and that I know work. I’ll then use them to execute the specific section, that I have been working on. The process of performing looks like this:
- Decide on a specific passage you want to play through.
- Set your phone or other equipment to record.
- Set yourself up for performing by doing your rehearsed mental routine (For instance the centering exercises).
- Pick up your instrument slowly and controlled. Focus on the cues that you know help you play the phrase.
- Perform the passage. Execute and follow through, no matter what!
After having performed and executed the phrase like this, I’ll go back to my study-area in the learning mode. The first step would be to listen to the recording of my performance. Now I can ask questions like, what could be better? and how can I optimize my performance?
Now I can easily make a very clear and specific list of things to improve before my next performance.
It’s important to be as specific as possible in terms of what “cues” can trigger you to play better in the next performance round.
Continue the process on both a micro and a macro level
The important thing is the process leading up to performing. This is what we need to train many times a day. We should make our mental routine an integrated part of our performance. In this way, our body and mind will be trained to execute and follow through no matter what. By training the switch into performance mode daily, the body and mind will start to go there as a habit, regardless of the circumstances.
When preparing for an audition or concert, we should begin performing almost from day one. In the beginning, it doesn’t have to be long passages. Maybe only 4-8 bars at a time. It is, however, important to begin “executing” from day one and train your mindset towards this. Otherwise, we often end up in a practice bubble, where we never seem to be ready to play and perform the repertoire in front of other people.
As we begin to really know the repertoire, we can begin making run-throughs of the entire program. The sections that we found to be struggling in, we can then practice and perform separately before running the whole program another time.
The essential thing is, that our mental routine leading up to performing, stays the same, whether we play 4 bars, a full solo piece or even a full recital.
In a full performance, we can with benefit reinforce our performance mode between pieces by repeating our mental routine of 10-15 seconds.
The science behind (very briefly explained)
We know from neuroscience that every time we make an action, information is transferred through electrical and chemical reactions in the brain. The information is transferred through neurons (the nerve cells that transmit information to each other) in different circuits that control different things. The more we use a certain circuit, the stronger it gets.
Very briefly this means that every time we make an action, our brain strengthens the different connections in our neuronal network, controlling that action we are making. Depending on what instrument we play, there will be connections or circuits that will control fingers, arms, legs, lips or whatever is involved while playing our instrument.
Neurons that fire together wire together
Today we know, that when neurons in different circuits “fire together”, the neurons will also wire together, making the connections stronger. On a practical level, this is why an organ player (after a lot of practice) can manage to play with 2 hands and 2 feet at the same time – all while reading a score.
This is where it gets interesting relating to our performance routine…
Since we know that neurons that fire together also will wire together, we have a chance to actually practice habits (our mental routine) that will trigger certain circuits in the brain. This means, that by doing the same mental routine up to and while performing in the practice room, the same circuits will be wired together also for the actual audition or concert.
This doesn’t mean that it is 100% secure we won’t make any mistakes due to nervousness. But it means that we can train our mental state to a point, where our brain and mind are ready to execute and where all the elements to succeed will be started as a chain-reaction in the brain. Not because of magic, but because we have trained this chain reaction consistently over a long period of time.
The neuronal network and how it works is a bigger topic, that we might go in details with later in another post.
In the meantime, if you are interested in knowing more about how to create and use a mental routine that can help you in auditions and concerts, you are always welcome to contact me for an individual session.
Sources
If you want to read more about these topics, here are some of the literature, that I have used to support this post.
Kristian Steenstrup: Blow your mind
Don Greene: Performance Success
Carsten Reidies Bjarkam w.m.: Fra celle til samfund (in danish)
Daniel Coyle: The talent code
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