Legendary musicians and pedagogues are not in the habit of going out for drinks with sport psychologists. But if they were, I think there would be much to talk about.
As I reflect on everything I learned from my lessons, coachings, and master classes over the years, and filter it all through the lens of sport psychology, I find it interesting and even a bit amusing, just how much overlap there is. Not complete agreement of course, but more than you might expect.
For instance, what would a great pedagogue and a sport psychologist say to the question “Should one practice very much on the day of a concert appearance?”
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Have you ever been guilty of tuning someone out? Like a teacher who keeps harping on the same thing. Or a parent who keeps repeating the same old advice. Or a significant other who keeps telling you to squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom.
Tuning people out comes pretty naturally to us, and it doesn’t even require that much effort. Our brain is often looking to conserve resources, so anytime it senses that what’s about to happen is just more of the same old stuff, it take a mini-vacation.
So when you’ve played the same flute excerpt over and over for 20+ years, it’s hard to fault our brain for going on holiday. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.
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My kids recently took a belt test in their Tae Kwon Do class. One of the last parts of the test is board breaking. It usually takes a few tries for each student to successfully make the break, but it all goes pretty smoothly and everyone gets the job done. On this day, however, there was one student who caught everyone’s attention.
She had successfully gone through her skills and her pattern, and was clearly capable of executing the kick with the necessary force to break the board. Yet, for some reason the board was not breaking. All the other students had already finished breaking their boards, so the room had grown quiet and the eyes of every student, parent, and teacher were on her and this stubborn board.
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I was talking to a cellist the other day who complained of a history of feeling apathetic in the days before an audition. Specifically, he noticed becoming crankier, less motivated, and struggling to play well.
I know sometimes musicians try to convince themselves they don’t want to win the audition in an attempt to reduce their nervousness, but this was different.
It reminded me of a phenomenon in sports called overtraining or staleness syndrome. This occurs most commonly in sports like swimming or running which involve a lot of high intensity/high volume training, and presents as a combination of both physical and psychological symptoms including fatigue and negative mood, as well as a decrease in performance.
Musicians and athletes are different of course, but the rigors of daily practice and the physical demands we place on our bodies (some instruments more than others) are not insignificant. Daily practice, rehearsals, performances, not to mention the non-music-related demands life places on us – it all adds up.
I began to wonder; might musicians be susceptible to staleness as well?
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