A New Approach for Mastering Stage Fright?

Most of us experience a degree of stage fright when called on to talk or perform in public.  But this is usually a relatively short-lived affair, extending for only a few minutes before the actual event.  Pity, however, the professional musician or actor who has stage fright before every performance, sometimes to such an extent that the quality of the rendition is impaired.  It’s been reported that over 70% of musicians may suffer from what’s been described as Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA); it’s a severe form of stage fright, marked by high anxiety and impaired performance. 

MPA is usually treated by medication; beta-blocker drugs, normally used to treat high blood pressure, can take care of the physical symptoms of MPA, but not the emotional ones.  Psychological counseling, physical activity, and hypnosis are also frequently prescribed.  A new approach, described in the journal Biofeedback, was suggested by the success of biofeedback therapy in treating anxiety states. 

University of North Texas researchers enrolled 14 student-musicians, who had their symptoms assessed during a 5-minute baseline performance in front of an audience.  They were then randomly assigned to a treatment or a control group.  The treatment consisted of 4 or 5 heart rate variability training sessions of 30 to 50 minutes each;  beat-to-beat changes in heart rate are displayed in graphic form for the participant to see and self-regulate.  The student was instructed how to decrease chaotic, stress-related heart rhythm patterns, and replace them with organized and smooth patterns; this was achieved by relaxed and rhythmic breathing, letting go of stressful thoughts and feelings, and focusing on sustained neutral or positive emotions.  In addition, the treated subjects were provided with a portable heart rate training device, and undertook emotional regulation exercises. 

Three to 4 weeks after the start of the training period, all the participants (trained and controls) repeated their performance piece under similar conditions as at baseline. The measures made showed that there was, overall, a 72%decrease in performance anxiety in the trained students, together with a 62% subjective improvement in performance.  In both instances, the differences between the trained and the control groups were statistically significant.

This study shows that a relatively quick and inexpensive biofeedback training program is able to decrease anxiety and improve performance in musicians with stage fright.  It may well prove an acceptable alternative, or even an improvement upon, the use of medications or other approaches to treatment.  Further trials will determine this.