When I began pursuing my Music Education degree, I had no idea that there was a specific mindset and mentality that the performing arts required in order to be successful…and I had not developed it.
My mentality had never been trained in a way to prepare me for facing the fact of performance nerves. It made the first few years as a music major tough. In fact, I had no idea that there was a way to train my mindset as a performer.
I had never really thought about it. Up to that point, I would experience nerves, but they were never something that overwhelmed me or caused me to simply want to forget performing ever again. I acknowledged they were there and then I simple performed through them.
But, when I enrolled in college and stepped into that level of talent, I realized that nerves affected me in a brand new way…and it wasn’t a good way.
I quickly found out that there was something about performing in front of music department faculty, staff and music major peers, that made the nerves almost overwhelming to me.
My performances were below my standards…way below, and my vocal quality was compromised. My mentality for how to handle stage moments, sadly, was rather weak.
It was very frustrating because I knew that I had skills. I could perform. I could act. I could sing. I could present….I could…but I wasn’t. I was not able to be all that I knew I was when I was in a live performance in the collegiate setting.
I hated the feeling and the results I was getting! It was affecting my mentality as a performer and as a student.
I knew I would either have to drop out of the program or figure out how to perform under pressure and be excellent.
I started looking for help with how to control the pressure feeling and how prepare for the inevitable rush of nerves that happened before auditions and performance.
I couldn’t find anything other than very basic suggestions. So I began a journey of figuring it out on my own.
It became a top priority of mine. I knew if I could learn how to perform under pressure, even when I felt nervous, that I could start landing solos and becoming successful in the program.
I knew I had to train my Performing Arts Mindset®.
It was a journey and it wasn’t always pretty. But after about two years, I was controlling the pressure; I was controlling my mentality as a student and a performer and I was controlling my mindset…it was finally not controlling me!
I have a lot to share about what I learned about performing arts mindset and mentality.
I have a list of original Mindset Power Phrases I use in my coaching, here’s one of them: “I control the performance, it does not control me.”
Use that statement to start helping you gain control of your own mindset! Say it out loud….every time you start to feel overwhelmed by nerves, speak the mindset power phrase out loud.
And, don’t just say it on the day of the performance or the day of your audition. Say it from the moment you find out about it.
Plant the seeds early, so they have time to grow before you start feeling the effects of the pressure.
Because, you will likely feel nerves and when you do, you can let your mentality crumble or you can remind yourself that, “I control the performance, it does not control me.”
I’d love to help you train your Performing Arts Mindset! Check out my Performing Arts Mindset here: https://practicepolishperform.com
Need to check out the definition of “mentality?” You can go here: https://finesentence.com/meaning/mentality
