Developing Concentration for better Practice and Performance
Practice Concentration
Concentration in Practice
GOAL SETTING
Before starting to play a note set a simple goal that you want to achieve in the next twenty or thirty minutes.
The focus of the goal can be either external, such as musical aspects (e.g., speed up a passage with metronome, learn a few bars by memory), or internal (e.g., the goal is to be aware of the use of the neck while playing).
Then map out (in your head or briefly in a notebook) an action plan with the strategies that you are going to use to achieve that goal. Start by choosing one or two things to focus on and add more things when you feel comfortable and have mastered the first goals.
By setting goals you are practising intention, which is a qualitative emphasis on the task at hand, a psychological process that affects our effort and attention and consequentially our physiological responses.
TAKE BREAKS
Every twenty or thirty minutes it is useful to take breaks. Take the time to reflect on the goals that you have set. Reflect on what you have achieved and what you haven't. Then, set new goals and new strategies to achieve them.
GET CENTERED
During your practice time it is beneficial to get centered, this is to focus on your breathing for a few breaths. As you exhale focus on releasing all the muscle tension you can locate in your chest, shoulders and neck. Then, try to make the time to exhale longer than the time to inhale. As describes it:
"Just like a roller coaster, the air comes in, pauses at the top, then you let go and the air effortlessly rolls out for a longer time than it took to get it in. Notice how the abdominal region rises as the air comes in, and how it gently falls as the air goes out".
Within less than a minute you will release the physical and psychological tension that naturally accumulates during practice.
PRACTICE MINDFUL MEDITATION
By practising five minutes of mindful meditation, whether at the beginning of your practice, during breaks or at the end, you will develop an awareness of the body and mind, and thus, you will learn how to regulate your own attention by developing refocusing skills. There is an app called Headspace, which offers free guided meditations for beginners.
Last week I wrote more in depth about this topic. If you would like to know more, go here:
BLOG ENTRY ON MINDFULNESS FOR BETTER PRACTICE AND PERFORMANCE
MAINTAIN AROUSAL AT AN OPTIMAL LEVEL
Arousal indirectly affects attention, judgment and memory, it is important to be aware of and able to control one's level of arousal. Examples of awareness and control training for arousal include breathing training.
By learning to breath at about six breaths per minute, you are improving cardio-respiratory synchrony. It also helps to calm the mind. Breathing should come from the diaphragm with the shoulders and chest muscles down and relaxed. You count in for three seconds as the air is coming in, let go and let the air come out as you count for six or seven seconds. The focus is only very gentle non-efforting exhalation.
This skill is critical when you are "to hyper" or your mind becomes scattered and you can't concentrate, such as when you are under high stress. If your arousal is too low and your mind drifts, such as during long practices, then you need to activate yourself. Try and breathe quickly for up to 10 or 15 seconds. Stop immediately if you become dizzy.
TURN FAILURE INTO SUCCESS
During performance, it is common to loose concentration after a mistake. But this can be trained, and practice is a good time for it. One way is to learn to transform failure into success. This is a cognitive habit of mentally rehearsing successful performance after a mistake. As soon as possible after making the error, try to mentally rehearse that same passage or skill perfectly without any error. Try not to dwell on the error, as one component of successful performance is to avoid self-judgement or blaming oneself, which disrupts concentration.
More harmful than making an error is to ruminate on it, as you are conditioning your mind to make the error the preferred motor pattern. Then, instead of dwelling on the mistake try and think about:
- What was the problem?
- What other skills do you need?
- How could I perform differently the same situation?
This way you will mentally rehearse the previous conditions leading to the error, but this time changing your behaviour by imagining yourself performing the skill perfectly.
Concentration for Performance
CREATE AN ATTENTIONAL SCRIPT PLAN
Before the performance day, some exercises have been found beneficial and helpful to prepare for it. These strategies are used in the sports field such as: "walk the walk", an attentional script plan for the upcoming performance, dress rehearsals, simulated performance experiences and mental rehearsal.
WALK THE WALK
Take a look at this performance script example that will give you an idea on how to practice this skill.
PERFORMANCE SCRIPT EXAMPLE
DRESS REHEARSAL
It is based on the concept that ease in performance is unconsciously conditioned by the external and internal stimuli that surrounds musicians during practice. The greater the number of different stimuli presented during performance as compared to practice, the more likely the performance quality will decrease.
For example, for the performance you will probably dress differently than in practice. This, can have an influence during the performance as it is a new stimulus and it may interfere performance. If you are preparing for performance, when you have mastered a new skill or a piece, do a few practice sessions with the clothes that you are going to use in the performance. This way it won't be a new stimuli with the potential to interfere your performance and you will be able to focus on the things you have planned to in your attentional script plan.
REHEARSAL OF SIMULATED PERFORMANCE
Simulated performance experiences enable musicians to become familiar with the stimuli associated with performances so that they are no longer distracting. This is the same concept that underlies dress rehearsal practice.
While there are existing performance simulators, such at the Royal College of Music in London, this is not the case for everyone. However, it can be useful to perform in safe environments, such as in front of friends or family, to get used to what the performance experience feels like. You will learn to dissociate from disruptive stimuli (e.g., sounds from the public, a phone ringing), reduce the effect of novelty, which tends to interfere with performance, and develop the ability to control distractibility, which is associated with superior performance.
Learning the mental control of concentrating on the task while not reacting to external stimuli takes time and practice. Trick yourself by introducing novelty situations in practice and think about them as challenges for learning the ability to control distractibility.
MENTAL REHEARSAL
Most performers report that visualization (mental rehearsal) is an important ingredient in their success. Using mental rehearsal to practice concentration and to learn not to react to external distractions is another useful strategy for musicians.
One useful exercise involves being with a colleague. One member of the pair relaxes and mentally rehearses his or her piece while the other member attempts to distract the performer from the mental rehearsal. The distraction can be anything except touching. Through this type of exercise, you can learn how to detach and dissociate yourself from external distractions and resulting unwanted internal reactions while focusing on the task of mentally rehearsing your music.
Mental rehearsal can also be trained to regain concentration. As soon as you realize your concentration has been disrupted by external or internal factors, you should stop, take a deep breath to relax, and bring your attention back by mentally rehearsing what you should be doing next. This technique is known in sports as TIC-TOC. TIC is any thought or idea that is irrelevant to what you should be doing now. These should be recognized and turned into TOC, productive thoughts or actions, as they assist you into focusing upon a positive outcome or the actions needed to get closer to that outcome.
It is evident that you can not do this in the middle of a performance, as you can't stop a piece to breathe and then start again, but with enough practice beforehand you would be able, in a performance situation, to recognize these unhelpful thoughts and redirect them into helpful and directed thoughts in a matter of seconds.