Teacher: Lisanne Altrov

What is music physiology?

Musicphysiology or musician´s mental and physical preparation for the stage entails the following topics:

• Tension-free playing
• Physical prowess and endurance
• Ability to cope with unexpected situations
• Communication with the audience, stage partners, collegues and oneself
• Body language
• Concentration and focus
• Motivation
• Confidence/self-assuredness
• Coping with mental and physical stress
• Self-regulation (ability to adjust one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour)
• Setting and achieving goals
• Timing on stage
• Envisioning one´s sound
• Time management and planning
• Effective (mental) practicing
• Self-analysis
• Burnout prevention

One of the many skills a musician carries is coping with stage fright. This includes finding solutions to thrive and propell oneself forward in performance situations. The goal of the individual and group lessons in music physiology at Pärnu Music Festival is to map the mechanisms of dealing with stage fright that have proven to be useful, aswell as the ones that still need mending. Simply putting in the practice hours is not enough. During the lessons I will explain the principles of music physiology: how and why stage fright appears, how do body and mind react to stress and how to manage them. The goal is to offer artists mental and physical excercises and tools, to ease the stage fright, prevent injuries and increase the joy of performing on stage and making music.