IMSLP Forums

There is a very interesting article in today's "Sydney Morning Herald" about drug and alcohol use in the classical music profession.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/staring ... 23958.html

(anecdotal I admit but...)Half of WASO take nerve drugs rather than work out a natural way around it.

What is surprising, is that that article didn't mention Berlioz or Schoenberg.

I must say that I have been intrigued by the idea of beta-blockers, especially since one of the things that discouraged me from pursuing music as a profession was my performance anxiety when I was younger...

The use of beta-blockers is widespread in the medical world as well, especially among trainee doctors undertaking their advanced fellowship exams (e.g. to become a specialist). Some examiners have actually started taking the pulse of a candidate as part of the exam process, and if it is 60/min or less, they take that into account when determining marks (the ONLY way you can have a pulse that slow when doing a medical exam is by taking beta-blockers.)

disclaimer: I do not promote or condone taking any drug not prescribed by your medical practitioner. This is a general discussion only for information and debate, and anyone who takes anything does so entirely at their own risk. In particular: Do NOT take any beta-blockers if you have a history of asthma, diabetes or any weakness of the heart, as it could be deadly.

aldona

Well, the only problem (not the only one!) is that playing a concert need as much speed of reaction and reflexes than running a racing car full speed... and also need all the emotions to go into the music...

Anyway, if you master those emotion correctly to fit them at the right time into your communication, you should be able to master the misemotion coming from outside.

Emotion is a creation, and one should be able to create the right one... this is part of the job... and the fact that it is not taught in music schools is another problem altogether (I always did it to my pupils and they had no problem of that sort).

I did once a Concert, playing some music from Renaissance on old instruments, and there was also an actress saying some poems from Ronsard...

The previous rehearshals had been on a sort of half emotion, just to see where comes everything and so on, but at the dress rehearshall she opened the full volume, and onces, in saying a text, she was even crying with tears saying it...

for some reason, at that moment, the theater director did stop us to tell her something about the place on stage or something, and it took her 20 seconds not to cry anymore... she started to answer him sobbing!...
She was bloodywell creating that grief... and it took a bit time to get off the coat.

Now, when I was young, I used to be unable to play in public or in exams... my hands were trembling so much as to be well noticed and heard in the hall !!

But one day, I did some exercises and also some thinking about what is communication, and so, in just a few weeks (in fact, not even : 10 days!), that condition disappeared totally... and from then, I could start a whole carrier as a soloist (more than 1000 concerts now)... even doing live concerts on radio or TV... and enjoyed it.

If the pilots at the nasa where unable to land correctly on the airstrip 24 hours after smoking some herb, it is just the same for any concert player...

And when one says that such pianist played lot of wrong notes (is dead now)... well it happenned also to him to arrive on stage and to sit next to his chair by mistake ! both mishaps came from the six glasses aligned on the table backstage, and that he assiduously swallowed one after the other shortly before to go on stage.

As a conclusion, I would say that to resolve a problem, it is always better to find the power in oneself, and not to try resolving it with outside forces.

But, that is only my opinion and experience...