Performance mindset: Showing off vs. showing up

Do you stress out when you think about preparing for a musical performance? If so, chances are that you’re worrying about being good enough to play for other people.

There’s a way around performance anxiety that works especially well for sensitive, heart-led people. Building a healthy music performance mindset can start with the small step of considering your own general intention when you practice. When you’re preparing for your performance, do you focus on showing off (for your audience) or showing up (for your music)?

It may seem like a small distinction, but it completely revolutionized my own relationship with performance!

Showing off: Thinking about others

Showing off for your audience is when you make performance decisions (speed of playing, quality of dynamics, flourishes and trills, etc.) based on what you think the audience wants from you. You’re either trying to elicit a positive response from other people or trying to avoid a negative response.

Because showing off is centred around trying to impress other people, it’s an externally driven form of motivation and carries a very high likelihood of developing or fostering perfectionism.

Showing up: Thinking about the music

Showing up for your music is when you make those same performance decisions based on what you think the song needs from you in order to be expressed to its fullest. It means respecting the beauty of the piece enough to ask yourself if you’re giving it the quality of attention it deserves.

Because showing up is focused on your personal relationship to the music, this kind of motivation is internally driven and does not carry such a high likelihood of inviting perfectionism. As long as you’ve shown up fully and authentically, you’ve won!

Developing your own performance mindset

I find I’m using this distinction a lot with my own piano students right now, as winter recital season is around the corner. Maybe this could be a good distinction for you, too.

The next time you’re preparing for a performance, or considering whether or not to participate in one, I invite you to reflect on your mindset — especially if the thought of performing brings you stress. Do you feel an obligation to show off for your audience? Or are you satisfied with your own commitment to show up for your song? In my experience, this mindset shift can make a powerful difference.

If you value this advice and would like to learn more about it, please comment below and let me know! Performance anxiety lived in my heart for a long time and I’m happy to share more about how I moved away from it, if it will help others.

Good luck!