Some teachers may question whether addressing Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA) in private lessons is an appropriate course of action. Certainly deferring to the expertise of a professional can be a beneficial and even necessary option for some students, however implementing basic coping strategies as a part of a teacher’s curriculum is an accepted, even encouraged, approach by many professionals across disciplines.

Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA) encompasses a wide range of symptoms, from negative thought patterns to physical symptoms that can hinder a performance. A brief overview of what occurs in the body and mind when faced with pressure is presented here in order to understand what types of coping skills work best for young children and why.

Musical Performance Anxiety is a specific derivative of general performance anxiety, which can occur in various scenarios and manifest itself through a variety of mental and physical symptoms. Ranked as the third most common mental struggle among the general population, performance anxiety is surpassed only by alcoholism and depression. For those in pressure-dominated fields such as music, the percentage increases dramatically.

Anxiety can be experienced by people in any field, but its presence is especially well documented in performance-based disciplines. Musical performance is one such area. The distress that musicians can experience before or during a performance is commonly known as Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA). Because anxiety itself encompasses a wide range of symptoms, identifying all of the symptoms of MPA is challenging

In Part 1, the importance of breathing and muscular relaxation, termed “progressive relaxation,” were presented as strategies 1 and 2 for developing consistent performers. Here in part 2, meditation and mindfulness are discussed.

Have you ever noticed that certain students play with confidence and ease some days while other days they seem to struggle? I’m not talking about students who you know don’t practice with any degree of regularity or who lack the technical or musical ability to perform certain works. I’m talking about the students who work hard, are capable, practice faithfully, who can sound absolutely fantastic, but who sometimes seem to lose the connection between their brain and their fingers and lack consistency and confidence in their performances.