The Conductor's Role in Performance Anxiety of Ensemble Members

The July 2009 JRME article about performance anxiety in semi-professional singers revealed some interesting findings about the influence of conductors on their singers' performance anxiety:

84% of singers report that their conductor influences their level of performance anxiety.

To what extent? 59% believe that conductors make a lot or all of the difference in performance anxiety, 29% indicated some difference, and 12% indicated a little difference.

What specific characteristics and behaviors of the conductor induces anxiety?

75% Anxious

31% Negative Mood

18% Weak conducting/rehearsal skills

17% Disrespectful

13% Poor preparation/disorganized

12% Negative body language

What does this mean?

The demeanor of a conductor is very important and has influence on the execution of an ensemble. Conductors should prepare to the extent where they are under control and organized. They also should be careful about negative comments and body language right before the performance.

Ryan, C., & Andrews, N. (2009). An Investigation Into the Choral Singer's Experience of Music Performance Anxiety. Journal of Research in Music Education, 57(2), 108-126.

What I am looking for in an audition

If your music scholarship audition is coming this month, you are probably wondering what your auditioner is looking for? This is an important question to consider, the answer may surprise you.

First of all, I care a lot less about note accuracy than you probably do. An audition is a one-time shot at showing how capable you will be in a college ensemble. Note correctness provides little information to determine this. Of course, it is important, and a sloppy performance might say something negative about your capability. However, your capability to be a successful collegiate ensemble member will show more clearly in several other (more important) areas. Here are five:

1. Musical Poise - In the Concordia Wind Orchestra, we operate with a minimal amount of doubled parts. This means that it is really a big chamber group. This might be different than your high school band, where you may be one of four or five players on the 2nd trumpet part. Here, we only will use 1-2 players on that part (depending on the piece). I want to see that musicians can handle themselves independently and confidently. I want musicians who make critical judgments about how music ought to sound and then put it into action. When you play your excerpts, for example, don't ask me how to play it. Using your experience, look at the markings on the page, the title of the piece, and the note patterns. Determine the style to the best of your ability, and then execute it.

2. Expression - Music is not just notes. Cognitive research shows that developing musicians are so preoccupied with note and rhythm accuracy that there is little room for them to focus on elements of expression and style. If you play with a tasteful and wide dynamic envelope, and if you add subtle expressive detail from note to note on a journey to complete a phrase, I know that you are moving on in your musical development. And since the Concordia Wind Orchestra has controlled instrumentation, I know that you will add a noticeable expressive element to the ensemble (every individual is magnified in our setting). So, don't just pick a piece that runs you through a lot of fast passages. I'm not listening for the notes, I am listening for how you get from one note to the next. Choose a solo that offers you the chance to express yourself.

3. Control - Expert ensemble playing is a special art. I am listening to how you sustain notes - does your airstream waver, does the sound change unexpectedly, does the intonation shift? An expert ensemble player can play very softly without any of these happening. He also can shade his tone quality, use variable vibrato to make the note expressive, and can release it pristinely. Consider how important control of individual players is - if one member of the ensemble can't taper his sound into the cutoff and can't hold it steady, his deficiency will cover the excellence of the other members. For these reasons, I'll be listening far more carefully to the long notes than the short and fast ones.

4. Intonation - The average person notices timbre more than any other musical element (again, this comes from leading cognitive research). An out-of-tune player changes the timbre of his section from pure to spread and shaky. Any audience member will notice this (even if many of them can't describe the effect). If you show that you can handle the out-of-tune tendency notes on your instrument, I know that you have an intimate procedural knowledge of performance on your instrument. To learn more about intonation tendencies on your instrument, Google it (trumpet intonation tendencies, for example).

5. Who you are - This is critical at Concordia University. We are thinking about paying you through a music scholarship to represent the university. Members of our ensemble interact in significant ways with outsiders. When we go on tour, for example, you will share meals with church members, sometimes sleep at their houses, and you'll have many opportunities to interact with children. I want to make sure my ensemble projects a positive image of Concordia and a positive image for music. Kids don't hear a lot of live music - their interaction with us will be a shaping experience. They'll want to become musicians based on how we perform AND how we carry ourselves. So, briefly, I want players in my ensemble who project a caring and warm personality - a Christian demeanor.

Finally, enjoy your audition!  Why not?  You have invested hundreds to thousands of hours developing your musicianship.  Don't worry, I'll notice what you've invested.  You'll have a chance to play and to discuss music and college life with me.  You are on the brink of a new, very exciting stage in life!

Test your musical brain!

www.tonometric.com

This site has 3 tests:

Adaptive Pitch: Determine how well you can discriminate between two separate pitches (it gets progressively tougher)

Rhythm Test: Measures your ability to hear subtle differences in rhythmic patterns

Tonedeaf Test: Measures your ability to hear subtle differences in tone patterns.

Give it a try!

"Tuning" Out Distractions (lessons from sports science)

Fox Sports has a series that examines issues in sports science. There is plenty of crossover into music. Here's what I learned from a recent episode about free throw shooting:

• the brain decodes visual stimuli and aural stimuli in different areas. Decoding visual stimuli is more cognitive, which also means visual distractions can more readily be blocked out.
• Aural distractions, being harder to filter, will have a greater effect on us. The greatest of aural distractions is not just noise, but surprise, inconsistent noises.

What does this mean for musicians? Consider a solo instrumental performance. We make every effort to focus on, within the moment, our expressive music. But wrong notes happen (the trumpet "clam"). Science tells us that these shake us physiologically, breaking our focus, and putting future notes in jeopardy. There are two things we can do about this:

1. PRACTICE A LOT: You'll miss fewer notes in performance!
2. PUT YOURSELF IN PRESSURE SITUATIONS OFTEN: We may not be able to control the fact that audible distractions shake us, but we can control our reaction. Those that minimize the anger after mistakes are in the best condition to execute. Anger quickly raises the physiological stress indicators, and this makes playing an instrument more challenging, leading to more mistakes. A high-intensity, critical mentality may be useful in the practice room, but there is already too much heat on us while we are performing. A calm mind resists the mental "commentary" while we play. That is a good thing. How do we achieve the calm mind? We've got to perform as often as possible in many different pressure situations. Save your critiquing for after the performance and include a critique of how well you responded to your missed notes (the distractions). Did you dwell on it well after it happened? Did you allow your "blood to boil?"

Finally, the question begs to be asked - why do we put ourselves through this? In my opinion, playing an instrument in public is one of the toughest things to execute. The experience gained in the heat of the musical moment will definitely translate to other areas of life - public speaking, thinking quickly in a meeting, keeping poise when you are being judged (a job interview, date, etc.). Musical performances will stay with you all of your life. Make the most of them (prepare well & execute as calmly as you can), and you will always value and cherish the experience!


Sport Science: FT Distractions