Analysis Of Stage Fright: Mechanism, Levels, Treatment And Effects
From the beginning of modern civilization, many people have been plagued with an array of often debilitating fears and anxieties about performing in public places. Stage fright affects millions of people. Feel fear in a state of anticipation and it is rare case especially for those students who haven’t the guts to carry out in action. It is very difficult for them to perform in front of many people that can brought them in to fear, nervousness, trembling, sweating, blushing, dry mouth, rapid heartbeat, and breathlessness. In contest performance, panic can cause backed out particularly being triggered with their opponent. Some groups are afraid to lose the battle but there are still groups that are competitive to win. The repetition can help the dull effects of stage fright and people continually exposed to public performances may become slightly immune to the crippling influence of stage fright. As stress hormones pour into the blood, preparing the body for fright or flight sharpen the senses. Stress may provide an edge for a better performance. As cited by Holland (1985) specific fears of objects and situations may result from conditioning. These are learned fears, acquired through a history of interaction with the environment and with other people. Since fear is learned through a conditioning process, the same process can be applied to unlearn fear. The idea is to pair the feared object or situation with some pleasant emotions.
It is possible to overcome the body's natural defense mechanism and to use the surge of adrenalin in a positive way to enhance instead of hindering a performance. It just takes some understanding and practice. Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, whether actually or potentially (for example, when performing before a camera). In the context of public speaking, this may precede or accompany participation in any activity involving public self-presentation.
In some cases stage fright may be a part of a larger pattern of social phobia or social anxiety disorder, but many people experience stage fright without any wider problems. Quite often, stage fright arises in a mere anticipation of a performance, often a long time ahead. It has numerous manifestations: fluttering or pounding heart, tremor in the hands and legs, sweaty hands, diarrhea, facial nerve tics, dry mouth).
Although stage fright has different causes, either related to earlier events in life (musical and non-musical) or not, breaking the pattern of acquired stress reactions (the interactions between the various components of stage fright) is a first requirement before (possible) deeper causes can be found. Anxiety has different systems in the brain and one of them is a subconscious system. The amygdale is at the core of this system and is involved in forming fearmemories. As a result of negative performance experiences a conditioned reaction is formed: each following concert automatically triggers the conscious fear-system. Musicians with stage fright therefore have to deal with an acquired pattern because of which the body responds very directly and quickly to the musical performance situation. Just like with a phobia the individual has to deprogramme built up routines, replace them with adequate reactions. This is why insight into what stress is, is not enough, this is an activity of the neocortex. The automatic fear-response takes place in another layer of the brain (the limbic system in combination with autonomous reactions at the level of the brainstem) and therefore requires different measures for change.
Levels of Stage Fright
According to Redman (2012), stage fright can happen to anyone who has to make a public appearance, perform or speak before others. Stage fright can even hit someone who is going in for a one-on-one interview. The term stage fright applies to all levels of nervousness, from butterflies in the stomach to abject terror. There are several levels of stage fright in which a person may encounter from preparation to performance proper.
Butterflies in the stomach: The most minor of stage fright levels, the butterflies in the stomach describe the nervous feeling that a performer gets just before the performance. Some artists say this low level of anxiety is actually a positive, motivating factor as it demonstrates they care about performing well. This stage is typically characterized by worry over the performance and a restlessness that may lead to pacing, tapping one's foot or wringing one's hands.
Knocking knees: This more moderate level of stage fright begins to take on more physical symptoms. The person suffering this level of stage fright may find himself trembling, palms sweating, experiencing nausea, his heart rate increasing, and his knees and legs getting weak. A musician might experience dry mouth. This level of stage fright can often interfere with performances because of the physical effects. If not curbed at this point, stage fright can grow into the later and more severe levels.
Anxiety attack: The third level of stage fright is quite serious and can affect the performance of the individual experiencing it and everyone around her. It is characterized by panicky thoughts, a cold sweat, a severe headache, vomiting and an inability to focus. A person suffering an anxiety attack may have difficulty breathing and be unable to perform until the anxiety attack passes.
Frozen in terror: The final stage of stage fright is that of abject terror. The person is unable to move and often unable to speak. The performer may faint or simply disassociate psychologically from his surroundings. This level of stage fright usually is brought on by a severe phobia and may require psychological or medical intervention to overcome.
Anxiety: Anxiety is an emotional state in which people feel uneasy, apprehensive, or fearful. People usually experience anxiety about events they cannot control or predict, or about events that seem threatening or dangerous. For example, dancers performing on stage feel anxious because they predict what would the audience may react to their performance.
Treatment
The treatment of stage fright includes several different approaches:
Behaviour-based approaches like optimum preparation, appropriate selection of pieces to play and systematic desensitization through habituation (frequent public performances) characterize the daily life of many musicians. A depth-psychological analysis of anxieties is rarely conducted. If one wants to deal adequately with the multifactor genesis of performance anxiety, an accordingly multifaceted, i. e. holistic, treatment concept is required which combines cognitive, emotional and total-body approaches. The Schlaffhorst-Andersen concept is based on such a therapeutic approach. It is based on the reciprocal interaction between emotional processes, reactions of the sympathetic nervous system and motor performance and it aims at improving - the capacity for expression - the ability to perform and - health of the musician.
Realistic thinking: not making the event too big; you do not fail as a person after a performance that went less well; letting go of delusions of grandeur; the audience is not your enemy; people will still like you even if you perform less for once. Much research has been done into the area of positive thinking. Many researchers conclude that especially the absence of negative thoughts prior to and during the performance is the explanatory factor for a decrease in anxiety. Considering that the cognitive component is the most important component in maintaining and worsening of stage fright, apparently the following strategies work well for musicians: learning to accept that a certain measure of anxiety and making small mistakes during a public performance are normal; learning to enjoy the performance instead of wondering what the audience will think the whole time; and encouraging yourself and focusing on realistic task-oriented thoughts.
According to Van der Loo (2008), based on the thought that stage fright is a kind of social phobia, people who suffer from stage fright underestimate the quality of their musical achievement and overestimate the degree to which their fear is visible to others. They see themselves as predominantly negative. Heightened self-awareness maintains stage fright in various ways:
When you are stressed the negative emotions, you are experiencing cause incoherent patterns in your heart rhythm. The cortical inhibition that arises limits the possibilities of the brain (the neocortex) to process information in a good way, which causes a diminishing in quality of processes such as decision-making, problem solving abilities and creativity. Your reactive power declines and your coordination weakens.
Anxiety about the possible outcome of future events is not always lessened by experiences of success. On the contrary, anxiety can be increased, because there is the more solid conviction that next time it will be a disaster. Concentrating on the musical content while playing is a good way of taking away distracting thoughts.
According to Hart (2007), who conducted an in-depth qualitative research among six professional musicians who suffered from stage fright, shame is the most important threat to self-esteem and the cause of anxiety. Feelings of shame in relation to the environmental conditions responsible for shame are stored in the amygdale (part of the limbic system). The feeling of shame very rapidly activates the correlated physical reactions (increased heartrate, trembling, sweating etc. ) and cognitive reactions (negative thoughts about own functioning). The body has to be reprogrammed, as it were, to get rid of these mechanisms.
Perfectionist attitude: people who are not easily satisfied about themselves; this can also be caused by the pressure someone feels from her or his environment: I cannot disappoint them. Kenny, Davis & Oates (2004) found that with experienced performers perfectionism had a strong correlation with trait anxiety. This has a direct influence on the cognitive component of stage fright.
