第十三篇 Stage Fright1

　　Fall down as you come onstage. That’s an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Feltsman when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic,2 Mr. Feltsman said, “ All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?”

　　Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms: icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind.3

　　Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out,4 to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don’t deny that you’re jittery，they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience.

　　Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance, “Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile,’’ she says. “And not one of these ‘please don’t kill me’ smiles. Then choose three friendly faces in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them.”She doesn’t want performers to think of the audience as a judge.

　　Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright，says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve.

　　When Lynn Harrell was 20，he became the principal cellist of the Cleverland Orchestra, and he suffered extreme stage fright. “There were times when I got so nervous I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought,‘ If I have to go through this to play music, I think I’m going to look for another job.”5 Recovery, he said, involved developing humility-recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible，and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster.6

　　It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz’s nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. “They had to push him on stage,”Soprano Renata Scotto recalled.

　　Actually，success can make things worse. “In the beginning of your career, when you’re scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don’t have any expectations,”Soprano June Anderson said. “There’s less to lose. Later on, when you’re known, people are coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose.”

　　Anderson added，“I never stop being nervous until I’ve sung my last note.”

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