|
Saturday, June 19 Lisa Blackmore, Reporter
ITG President, Stephen Chenette gave the introduction to the lecture by Dr. Charles Brantigan and Dr. Richard Cox, titled “Medical Afflictions of Brass Players: Performance Anxiety.” Chenette mentioned that he asked his teacher Rafael Méndez what to do about his awful stage fright and dry mouth. Méndez replied, “Do what I do—chew gum!” Chenette said that this has worked for him. He chews about a quarter piece of sugarless gum to soften it and when performing puts it up between his cheek and gums on the side. A member of the audience later mentioned that he had seen Méndez chew Dentyne gum when performing. Dr. Brantigan is a vascular surgeon who has practiced in Denver, Colorado for the past 25 years. Dr. Brantigan and his wife Kathy founded the Denver Brass, and he has performed on tuba with the group for almost 25 years. He said stage fright is a disabling condition that affects many of our finest musicians. There is a biochemical basis for stage fright, the outpouring of adrenaline-like substances designed to allow the person to fight or to flee. This response of “racing the engine with the clutch in” is inappropriate in musical performance.Dr. Brantigan advocates strategies like cognitive training and beta blocking drugs in order to make the body’s response match the situation. Behavioral treatments including self-hypnosis can help one in a performance situation. Controlled medical studies have indicated that beta-blockers improve the quality of performance by uniformly improving complex cognitive function and are beneficial in stress situations. Beta-blockers have not been shown to cause depression. The appropriate use of beta-blockers include isolated episodes of severe stress (not for everyday rehearsals, etc.), retraining (cognitive restructuring) to create new relaxed responses to stressful events, and hypertension and heart disease. He cautions that beta blockers can be dangerous in certain forms of heart disease, asthma, and diabetes, and that continuous use induces more beta receptors. Dr. Cox holds doctoral degrees in psychology, medicine, and theology. He is a trumpet player and his work with musicians facing physical and psychological challenges is well known. His book “Managing Your Head and Body so You Can Become a Good Musician” has been published by United Musical Instruments. Dr. Cox mentioned that before using beta-blockers consult your physician. Stage fright occasionally is a result of a single incident but generally is due to a buildup of many negative events. An understanding of body mechanics, mind/body relationships, body chemistry, and the physiology of fear can help us to perform better even in the face of stage fright. He stressed that we must stop the expectation of failure, and to think of the body as a friend rather than an enemy. We can partially control our chemistry and avoid foods like milk, chocolate, and coffee before we perform. A question/answer session followed and many helpful comments were given. It is important that the excitement over public performance be preserved. Dr. Brantigan said that beta-blockers don’t cause this excitement to be lost or damaged as in the use of alcohol or valium. There is no natural source of a beta-blocker that is available. Dr. Cox mentioned not to gulp water before a performance. It can actually dry you out more. He used an analogy of a wet chamois cloth being effective in wiping water off a car. He uses hypnosis but stated that we need to be careful not to use it to mask pain. |
|
