6 | what would prince do?

It is not uncommon to hear athletes describe poor performance as the “game speeding up” on them. In contrast, times of peak performance are often described as “moving in slow motion.” If left to chance, these moments of superior performance will likely happen inconsistently and infrequently. But what if we could find ways to intentionally slow down?

Consider the following story highlighting Prince’s advice for dealing with the nerves around performance:

Perhaps unsurprisingly, what Prince learned through experience is supported with science. In her book, “Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing,” Dr. Molly Gebrian describes learning a similar lesson:

Tempo precision is paramount, and even though I thought I was steady as a rock, I would listen back to the recordings of my run-throughs and I was always rushing…Then my teacher told me to practice with the metronome clicking on the offbeats or just on the downbeats to fix my rushing problems. Lo and behold, it worked!

Dr. Molly Gebrian, Learn Faster, Perform Better: A Musician’s Guide to the Neuroscience of Practicing, p. 174

Gebrian goes on to provide the scientific basis for the approach. The tl:dr version is that the brain behaves differently in the presence of an external timer than it does in its absence. Prince’s approach suggests that the brain may even interact differently with an internal timer depending on what beats are being tracked!

In sport, there are similar stories of athletes discovering the value of behaving counterintuitively. Consider what Mark Prior said about learning from Greg Maddux, which parallels what Prince relayed to a young performer:

He’s helped me tremendously. I’ve always gone harder whenever I’m in trouble. He’s got me thinking, go softer when I’m in trouble. I never thought that way before, and it’s helped me develop confidence in my changeup.

Mark Prior on the influence of Greg Maddux

Maddux’s “go softer” approach reminds me of some advice from my college pitching coach. He told pitchers to throw a “batting practice fastball” on hitters’ counts (e.g., 2-0, 3-1). His reasoning was that hitters would likely be swinging harder and/or gearing up for your best fastball in those situations. Taking a bit off would often produce a lazy flyball when their eagerness put them out in front of the pitch. Interestedly, modern analytics on bat speed by count corroborates both Greg Maddux’s thinking and my coach’s approach. The graphic below is from a recent article from Joshua Rodrigues. Bat speeds are consistently higher in hitters’ counts, so “going softer” in such situations may be to a pitcher’s advantage. It is fighting fire with water (or marshmallows).

For athletes, this points to the value in meeting moments of pressure with increased relaxation. As Prince noted, these moments may naturally make you want to move faster or push harder. To stay present, or “behind the beat,” however, it may be best to do the opposite. You may be tempted to “fight through,” but “relaxing through” is likely the better option. It may seem logical to “throw harder” when the stakes are highest, but “throwing softer” may produce better outcomes*. So next time you are tempted to press or speed up, ask yourself what Prince or Greg Maddux would have to say about it!

* This is more than just semantics; self-talk, whether verbalized or simply thought, becomes the cue for movement

Victor Candia, Martin Kusserow, Oliver Margulies, and Horst Hildebrandt. 2023. Repeated stage exposure reduces music performance anxiety. Frontiers in Psychology, 14:1146405. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1146405.

background: Music performance anxiety (MPA) is a form of anxiety that produces unpleasant physiological (e.g., excessive heart rate) and psychological (e.g., lack of self-confidence, excessive rumination) effects. Previous research indicates that attentional focus, feedback characteristics, and exposure to real/virtual stressors may impact MPA levels.

purpose: This study examined whether repeated live performances would impact MPA levels and playing performance in a group of string players.

participants: 18 string players (12 violin, 1 viola, 5 cello; 12 female, 6 male; mean age 21.11 SD 2.25)

task(s): repeated solo performances in front of live professional audiences that changed with every performance

measure(s): heart rate (HR), technical performance (errors), Multidimensional Mental Health Questionnaire (MDBF), visual analogue scale (VAS) for MPA

design: Participants completed three performances in front of a live, rotating audience of 15-20 professional-level music students and teachers. Participants selected a personally challenging piece that would trigger their MPA and were required to perform from memory. They were allowed up to 3 minutes to warm-up prior to each performance. Performances were 1.5 hours apart. Performances were recorded for later technical evaluation. Participants wore an electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor and three 3-axis accelerometer loggers to record physiological data. Before and after each performance, musicians evaluated their MPA level using a 10-item VAS where 1 = no MPA and 10 = extreme MPA). They also completed the MDBF scales on calmness and composure and on mood and alertness.

results: Participants experienced significant changes in HR (HR 1st performance > HR 2nd performance > HR 3rd performance) and VAS (VAS 1st performance > VAS 2nd performance > VAS 3rd performance). Participants also experienced significant changes in rest-restlessness (RU) scores from the 1st to the 3rd performance. There were also significant negative correlations between HR and RU scores and VAS and RU scores. Finally, participants committed significantly less errors across performances (errors 1st performance > errors 2nd performance > errors 3rd performance).

discussion: According the authors, these results suggest that repeated live performances with the same musical excerpts lowered HR, led to lower subjective ratings of MPA and higher levels of calmness, and results in fewer technical errors. This occurred even in the absence of additional off-stage practice. The results suggest that creating solo-performance environments with social-evaluative conditions (i.e., comparable to real audition settings) may help lessen MPA.

potential translations to sport: The parallel to a live performance in sport is competition, and this study suggests that there is value to mirroring anxiety-producing competitive scenarios in practice. Similar to how the authors in the study had participants identify a piece that would produce high levels of MPA, it may be useful for coaches to solicit anxiety-producing scenarios from athletes. There are obvious examples across sports (e.g., late game free throws in basketball, penalty kicks in soccer, pinch-hitting in baseball or softball), but the best answers will likely come directly from the athletes. Once identified, coaches can work to find ways to create game-like pressure and, ideally, some sort of social-evaluative conditions.

Additionally, this study demonstrates the importance of recognizing how performers may react physiologically to performance situations. I recall a discussion with an ex-major league baseball professional. He described a teammate's frustration with a manager who would call for pinch hitters with no warning. His teammate explained that he needed time to get his HR under control and his focus where it needed to be. The ambush approach of the manager did not afford such an opportunity. Interestingly, this teammate was a 15+ year veteran with 500+ career home runs at the time of their exchange. Giving performers a chance to practice managing nerves is important, but equally important may be learning what each performer needs to take those lessons into competition.

In short, the most successful practices will prepare athletes at such a level that they will be prepared for anything that may come their way during competition!

Jose Iglesias of the New York Mets provides a prime example of the crossover between music and sport. Along with a major-league career, Iglesias pursued a musical one, and had already achieved success with Spanish-language songs under the name Candelita. The two paths collided last season when his own song, “OMG,” became the informal anthem of the Mets surprising push to the playoffs. Below is a video of Iglesias performing the song for the home crowd after a victory over the Houston Astros.

This issue’s spotlight is courtesy of Marcus J. Moore’s new substack Active Listening. His whole article on Eugene McDaniels is worth a read, and he highlights lyrics from “Freedom Death Dance” that certainly feel relevant today. For this spotlight, I will pull from another track whose lyrics also seem to have held up.

Polluting the water, Goddamn, defiling the air
Rewriting the standards of what’s good and fair
Promote law and order, yeah, just let justice go to hell
If the law's hard to swallow, use the old wishing well

“The Parasite (for Buffy)” from Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse

I used to think that listening to musicians practice was like watching an author write; I just wanted to read the book! As I have learned more about learning, I have found a greater interest in hearing the creative process as it unfolds. For this week’s playlist, I located a few demo versions of songs. It is interesting to hear examples of musicians in the process of creation, especially when you hear moments of realization. Because Tom Petty Is My DJ, the list leans heavily in his direction. Prince also makes an appearance, with a recording of a track that was later recorded by The Bangles. If you have other suggestions, please add them to the comments below so I can expand the playlist!