Drummers and Performance Anxiety - Final Research

Done mate, interesting stuff but has not affected me in years.
 
Done. I usually suffer from it from about a half hour before going on til about 30 seconds into the first song. I start thinking about all the bad things that could happen, so I'll try to keep myself preoccupied. Once I start playing, it's like "OK. I know what I'm doing." Also, I tend to get nervous playing in front of 1 or 2 people or other really talented musicians. I'd chalk that up to an inferiority complex on my part.
 
Viktor:
I think you should have left an open space question that we could add some text, explaining our unique situations.

I don't usually experience performance anxiety. However, I do experience it if I am playing right after a great drummer just played.


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Took the survey, basically went straight to 'next'.

It may be important to know why there is anxiety for some drummers, but you failed to ask why there isn't anxiety for others, and why they don't feel any.

As stated, a comment box would be helpful for the best result, or you can ask the appropriate questions here..

Bermuda
 
I don't get nervous before playing...at all. Played some big festivals with thousands of people, nothing. However when I'm playing in a bar, if I know I'm being watched, beings it's close quarters, that can throw me off momentarily. Nothing major, I don't think anyone could tell, but I know it. I play best when I don't look at the crowd, like a horse with blinders on. As soon as I catch someone checking me out, the ego creeps in, I falter a bit, and usually that's it. Until it happens again.
 
Done, good luck with your paper.
 
done

I suffer from "General Anxiety disorder". It's a battle with anxiety on a regular basis in daily life, not just limited to drumming. It can make life difficult.

Anxiety with drumming comes from "What If's" like what if I mess up (like most of you I'm a perfectionist) what if I get sick before playing, what if I get sick while playing. Funny thing is that all just started in the past 5-10 years. That was something that never bothered me before. I'm confident in my playing abilities and know how to recover if I make a mistake, it's just odd how it started affecting me out of nowhere.
 
Some of my anxiety comes from thinking "What if I start this song too fast? What it I played this song too slow? What if I forget the changes?"

I try to be prepared the best that I can be and try imagine everyone in audience wearing nothing but their underwear.
 
I had terrible anxiety playing live the first few times I did it.

But after the first few times, it went away quickly, and never became an issue again.
 
I was raised in an anxious family so it's been a battle to stay on top of my nervousness. When I was young I'd just get blasted before playing.

Now I'm seeing that the problem with anxiety is ego - that people might think I'm pathetic if I play badly. It helps my perspective to have other interests rather than putting all my eggs in the musical basket. Good days and bad days matter less than the fun of it when you have something completely different to come back to after playing.

So if I play badly in the band's two outings next month I won't much care. Maybe a little, because it seems to me that playing badly is usually ego-related, so that would mean I needed to lighten up. I'd want to better understand how I screwed up and got too serious so it didn't happen next time.

In the end, each time I play - wherever it is - I just want to gel with everyone and maybe help them sound good, keep the song flowing, have a laugh and maybe slip in a few sly licks where I can :)
 
Here's some thoughts...Anxiety starts from within, with the ego. Anxiety robs you of the present because you are more concerned with the future. It's usually in the form of questions or what if's. What if I don't do this right etc. People know that thinking like that is bad for them but yet they continue to "go there". Don't project past the present. You have to train yourself to not do something that's bad for you.

Try making a "rule" that makes those thoughts "illegal". I think a mind over matter approach could work here. If you are doing something that is detrimental, simply identify what it is you're doing, (bad thoughts) catch it as soon as it happens, and try and substitute it with something designed to lighten yourself up. Change the tape in your head. Get the hell out of your own way, why do you insist on sabotaging yourself?. Look at it like this....this is one thing that you CAN have control over, if you decide to. Be bigger than your thoughts. Kick your thoughts ass if they are bad for you. Treat bad thoughts like a threat and kick their ass. Appoint a mental Clint Eastwood in your head whose job it is to pummel those thoughts into the dirt. Don't be a victim of your own brain, that's insane! It's your brain and you're the boss, so flex your muscle FFS!

People act a certain way, because deep down, they decide to. They think it's out of their control, but it's not. You just have to decide enough is enough and re-program yourself.
 
To me,Performance Anxiety is self-doubt. I don't have it. There's no benefit to it. Prepare properly and perform to the best of your ability. Be early enough to have your sound check performed and adjusted to your specifications. Then,...... breathe.
 
larryace said:
Here's some thoughts...Anxiety starts from within, with the ego. Anxiety robs you of the present because you are more concerned with the future. It's usually in the form of questions or what if's. What if I don't do this right etc. People know that thinking like that is bad for them but yet they continue to "go there". Don't project past the present. You have to train yourself to not do something that's bad for you.

Try making a "rule" that makes those thoughts "illegal". I think a mind over matter approach could work here. If you are doing something that is detrimental, simply identify what it is you're doing, (bad thoughts) catch it as soon as it happens, and try and substitute it with something designed to lighten yourself up. Change the tape in your head. Get the hell out of your own way, why do you insist on sabotaging yourself?. Look at it like this....this is one thing that you CAN have control over, if you decide to. Be bigger than your thoughts. Kick your thoughts ass if they are bad for you. Treat bad thoughts like a threat and kick their ass. Appoint a mental Clint Eastwood in your head whose job it is to pummel those thoughts into the dirt. Don't be a victim of your own brain, that's insane! It's your brain and you're the boss, so flex your muscle FFS!

People act a certain way, because deep down, they decide to. They think it's out of their control, but it's not. You just have to decide enough is enough and re-program yourself.
Click to expand...


Some great ideas ! Thanks !

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Done,

I definitely get a feeling before I play in front of people (I'd call it positive nerves) but I personally wouldn't class that as performance anxiety as it doesn't worry me at all.

I have had performance related anxiety when it comes to things outside my comfort zone but I guess that's the same for everyone.
Dancing, for example, is a case of 'plenty of rhythm, severely lacking style' (seriously, it's like a drunken scarecrow flailing around in time to the music) and I very rarely dance because of it but that is a therapy session for another time.
 
The Percussive Arts Society has featured several articles through the years regarding performance anxiety. Try and track those down. It would also be interested to see how the use of beta-blockers helps professional musicians (especially orchestral musicians).
 
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