fear of failure

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fear of failure

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luke.park

Posts: 114
Joined: Dec. 29 2005

fear of failure

hola todos,

i was undergoing a questionnaire from my friend whos doing a degree in classical guitar and began to realise a lot of things.

i think that in a concert situation when you sit down in front of an audience, fear of failure, or fear of not living up to what you know you can do really well in practice, is the worst thing that brings standards crashing down and technique goes down the pot.

last october i was sitting ready to play a concert. i had a rumba down to a t and was looking forward to trying it out. i sat down and started thinking of all the expectations i have from people watching, then of my own expectations and of my image of how i wanted the concert to go (we all have that, you know, we can picture it being perfect playing, rapturous applause and a bit of duende thrown in for good measure!

)

my hands were all ready clammy but after all these thoughts and fears rushing through my head i lost all confidence in myself and my technique. notes were fluffed, and i had to improvise with other easier falsetas cos i knew that i wouldnt be able to play the other bit that i had got down so well.

after the rumba i was calm and played a rondena really well and it went down well too. goes to show.

for the future, i know not to think of the expectations around me, which is most difficult for me, and to be confident and just concentrate on the music. i am the worst at having an image of how i want te concert to go and how much i want the audience to enjoy it, thats my big downfall. nerves are inevitable, but fear of failure can be avoided... methinks...

lucca

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 9 2006 16:11:17

edgar884

Posts: 1975
Joined: Nov. 16 2005

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

I think that is typical, out of 10 shows I'll have maybe 3 or 4 that I'm in the zone and confident. What helps me is to pretend I'm a proffesional, no beer no mota,dress nice and make sure to start with like 2 or 3 easy peices to get relaxed and confident. Also have a song list and rehearse it in that order. Thats my 2 cents.

Owe yeh some one over at Todd Ks site said to eat lots of bannanas, for memmory strength.

I say drink lots of water.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 9 2006 17:48:28

luke.park

Posts: 114
Joined: Dec. 29 2005

RE: fear of failure (in reply to edgar884)

hmm.. bananas eh??

yeh tis typical and only natural but just something that is frustrating as i am so set on showing my best! im sure the professionals out there experience the same!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 9 2006 18:00:54

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

Luke,
don't worry, just make a point to perform in frotn of people as much as you can. It gets easier over time.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 2:14:36

luke.park

Posts: 114
Joined: Dec. 29 2005

RE: fear of failure (in reply to Miguel de Maria)

thanks miguel,
i try and am really keen to, im young and there aren't many oppurtunities for concerts whee i live. i play to strangers in restaurants and that all the time, but is completely different as its just background music and is like practicing, very relaxed. im going to look for places who are holdingmixed concerts or something, really annoying as is all grunge/rock round here!! any suggestions for an approach?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 9:08:47

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

Do yourslef a massive favour and gop buy the Inner Game of music.

Mind games - all about conquering performance anxiety and the problems you describe.

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Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 10:31:38

photog

Posts: 24
Joined: Feb. 19 2004

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

I had(have)this fear. Thr first time I did a solo piece, I couldn't stop shaking, although inside I felt quite calm. The second time as I settled down to play, the chair moved and one of the back legs caught in a rut on the stage and almost sent me sprawling! Confidence gone, I apologised and left without playing a note. The last time (I hope), I was waiting to go on while several other performers did their acts. All the previous acts danced to recorded music and whether it was this or the fact that the last 3 acts were bellydancers (and rather good too) I had a complete mental blank and had to busk a sevi and rumba! Now I rehearse and rehearse and rehearse.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 14:54:27

luke.park

Posts: 114
Joined: Dec. 29 2005

RE: fear of failure (in reply to Jon Boyes)

hey jon, looked at some stuff bout the book and looks bloody good. cheers mate! have you ever experienced the same do ya think?

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 14:54:36

Jon Boyes

Posts: 1377
Joined: Jul. 10 2003

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

quote:

ORIGINAL: luke.park
hey jon, looked at some stuff bout the book and looks bloody good. cheers mate! have you ever experienced the same do ya think?

Definitely! Several years ago when I was just doing classical guitar I couldn't play something in front of family without going through what you describe. Pure torture - the pressure to impress, to show what you can do when you've put in all that work... I used to get in a real state and then hated it when I invevitably screwed up.

I was determined to sort it out, so I did. First of all by preparing/memorising at a much deeper level to get it all much more secure, then getting as much experience playing in front of people as I could eg. by busking.

Hundreds of gigs later I still get adrenalin rushes, in some venues more than others, but I know it won't affect my playing like it used to.

If I make a flub at a gig I just raise an eyebrow, sometimes even chuckle to myself, its no big deal. I may even deliberately play something flashy straight away as a kind of "Is that the best you can do? Eat that!" attitude, know what I mean?

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Spanish Guitarist in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 15:16:14

luke.park

Posts: 114
Joined: Dec. 29 2005

RE: fear of failure (in reply to Jon Boyes)

yeh know exactly wat ya mean. thanks. i know what route to take in that respect now. im going to canterbury in the wee south (of england

) in a coulpe of hours to gig in a restaurant so ill put that mentality to use. i love the rush of concerts, absolutely feed off it, i just need to channel the self-torture!

im confident and at ease in restaurants as most the time they're either eating or talking! mwahaha

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 10 2006 15:25:06

seanm

Posts: 169
Joined: Apr. 5 2005
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia

RE: fear of failure (in reply to luke.park)

Lots of good stuff here. I always have a banana before playing ... something eliot fisk mentioned once about it being a really good sugar for the brain. Not too fast .. not too slow.

Definitely getting out and playing really helps because you either build confidence or find out what to work on. Friends of mine used to have dinner parties with a few friends before begining a concert tour and do mini concerts before dinner to get through new material (complete with bowing and everything to recreate the nerve factor). It only takes two to make an audience as long as you treat it as such. So play for friends and familiy but make sure you have expectations and their attention. The nerves will come and you can practice performing. Also, never turn down a chance to play (within reason) and you set a kinda of rule so that you will keep putting yourself out there and not pick and choose 'the right time'.

Finally, as Jon said, preparation is probably the key and learning at a deeper level. The deep memory (I was taught it a "visualization" techinques) will give you so much confidence and help you play without mistakes that you will gain a lot of control over the vervous energy. These are similar to the techiques that I use to memorize for any one interested http://users.rcn.com/dante.interport/visualization.html. When you learn by playing over and over and over and over (by rote), then your brain never really knows(or memorizes) what you are doing in a conscience sence (it's called muscle memory). So when you get nervous, your nerves make you think about what you are going to play and you can't even see the notes clearly because you don't really know them. That's when you really get nervous.

Sean

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 11 2006 1:02:55

duende

Posts: 3053
Joined: Dec. 15 2003
From: Sweden

RE: fear of failure (in reply to edgar884)

quote:

Todd Ks site said to eat lots of bannanas, for memmory strength.

i wouldn´t smoke a lot of bannanas before i play. not good for sync, not good for memorie

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This is hard stuff!
Don't give up...
And don't make it a race.
Enjoy the ray of sunshine that comes with every new step in knowledge.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 12 2006 4:17:19