MORE PRACTICE DOESN'T STOP STAGE FRIGHT
Stage fright is a common and often disabling health problem among performing artists. But performing in front of an audience is only part of the problem for many of these artists. Audition anxiety is the first hurdle.
"The competition in the arts and in performance today is so great that if you can't control your anxiety, you just really have to give it up because you just won't make it," says Sharon Davis Gratto, assistant professor of music at Gettysburg College. Gratto researches stage fright and audition anxiety and recently authored a paper, "The Effectiveness of an Audition Anxiety Workshop in Reducing Stress," which has been accepted for publication by the journal, Medical Problems of Performing Artists.
Her research focused on attempts to reduce audition anxiety among performing arts high- school students and she recently received the individual research award from the International Network of Performing and Visual Arts Schools.
"The study took stage fright from a concert and theater setting and applied it specifically to an audition setting, which is quite a different set of circumstances. Many of the same problems overlap but it is different," says Gratto.
Gratto notes that when a performer gives a recital or performance in front of an audience, the audience is large and not usually completely visible to you because of the lighting. The audience is there by choice so it is already a more friendly group.
"An audition is usually not held in an attractive place. It could be in a rehearsal room and very often the judges are seated at a table and there might be two to four of them. In addition, they're hearing a whole bunch of people or acts, one right after the other," says Gratto.
Symptoms of audition anxiety include increased heart and pulse rate, stomach butterflies, loss of concentration, shortness of breath and, in severe cases, even vomiting and seizures. She notes that while most students learn to master their particular art, most students or their teachers have no knowledge on how to prepare for an audition. While a knee-jerk reaction might be to practice more, Gratto says that more practice is not better in this instance.
"Some students think that if they practice more, longer and harder that they will get over the anxiety. That often, however, has the opposite effect and increases the anxiety," says Gratto. "Musical performance or stage performance of any kind is more than just the practice and skill of doing it. It is the preparation of the entire body to be ready to put forth the best possible performance."
Gratto says it is necessary to prepare physically, mentally and emotionally for an audition.
"Eat a good diet, get enough sleep prior to it. It helps to have a lifestyle of someone training for an athletic event," says Gratto.
Gratto developed a series of workshops on audition anxiety with two other educators: Dr. Bonnie Robson, a psychiatrist who works with students at the National Ballet School of Canada; and Joy Davidson, a faculty member at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. They are now working on a video workshop that could help performers cope with this problem, too.
"In the workshops, we work on breathing and talk about some of the advance preparation, actually mentally imagining getting up in the morning, getting dressed, going to the audition, how you are going to get there, who might be there and what it is going to look like at the audition," says Gratto. ###
Editors & Reporters: You can reach Dr. Gratto at 717-337-6135 (office) or via e-mail at Internet:[email protected] Editors & Reporters can obtain a copy of the paper by contacting Steve Infanti of Dick Jones Communications at 814-867-1963.
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