Preparing for Performance

I recently attended a symposium held by our local chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). It was called Transforming Performance Anxiety into Performance Success. The presenter, Dr. Patrick Gannon is a psychologist who specialized in peak performance. He identified five standard tools of performance psychology and three new techniques for enhanced performance.

Five Standard tools

  1. Relaxation

  2. Goal-Setting

  3. Self-Talk

  4. Imagery

  5. Concentration

Three New Techniques

  1. Mindfulness Meditation

  2. Eye Momvent Desensitatzation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Bi-Lateral Stimulation (BLS)

  3. Cardio Imagery and Rehearsal (CIR)

I’ll be teaching everyone the new tool EMDR in individual lessons. It’s a way to unite the right and left brain and install desired physical, emotional, and mental states for specific occasions. It will be an interesting experiment to try out these new tools in preparation for upcoming performances during the holiday season.

For those of you who have the Calming Light Meditation from Passionate Practice by Margret Elson, that is a wonderful meditation to use for relaxing and creating a relaxed alert state for performance.

Practice, PerformanceSusan Nanceperformance anxiety, EMDR, meditation