The Psychology of Musical Performances – Part 1: Balancing Your Emotions

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Welcome to Part 1 in our ongoing series of the Psychology of Musical Performance. This is a very important and in-depth subject so today we are only going to scratch the surface. Today we’re going to discuss the mental stability necessary for performing and how to create a balanced state of mind for yourself.

Performing music is something that utilizes both sides of your brain. Before a performance you spend so much time practicing and making sure you’re playing technically correct. At the same time, you must let yourself go and be able to be creative with each performance. The trick is finding the right balance so that your performance is not too dry yet not self indulgent in your expression.

Sometimes emotions can completely control your performance in unexpected ways. Allowing yourself to delve into free expression can make you lose sight of where you’re going. For example, if you’re not careful you might take a tempo to a speed you can’t possibly handle! You have to be able to control your performance and reign yourself in.

While you definitely have to control your expressive side, you can’t let the technical side of you overwhelm your performance either. The last thing you want to present is a sterile performance. Musical expression is a completely different form of art from painting or photography in that it involves performance and there is a random element to that. No matter how hard you try, you can never replicate a performance again; each one is inherently unique.

We all have these conflicting aspects of our personalities and they collide with each other when it comes to musical performances. Finding this balance isn’t something you can teach easily; it’s something you must find within yourself through the experience of many performances finding the balance of emotion and reason.

Thanks again for joining me Robert Estrin Robert@LivingPianos.com (949) 244-3729