Page 127 - How to Shine on Stage

sense of space and time, when we are simply in the moment, here and
now, when a sense of something sacred/transcendent emerges, when we
merge with the music, merge with the audience into one, when we are in
a state of a kind of superconsciousness, when we gratefully experience a
profound grace of being able to channel the beauty of the music, which is
inviting also the others into its world. It is a sense arising where the words
end and the music breathes with the creation. In a state of flow, we re-
turn to the original functions of music, which are to connect, communi-
cate, and heal. Flow is a state of optimal performance, which is usually 125
experienced only for a brief time. It is the most beautiful reward for our
engagement with music, and it evokes a self-rewarding (autotelic) feeling.
It is what Maslow referred to as peak experience. Some authors also re-
fer to flow as being in a Zone, which is an optimal performance space.
The author who introduced the concept of flow is Mihaly Csiksz-
entmihalyi, who recognized the existence of this optimal state of per-
formance in his study of creativity. He found in his research that
interviewees often reported a state of complete immersion in a creative
activity, which he labelled as enthusiasm. In a state of enthusiasm, one
is fully harnessing one’s own potential, and is internally motivated to
perform the task, with a reduced sense of self-awareness and of time. A
requirement for experiencing flow is an appropriate balance between Pre-Performance Excitement as the Main Stressor in Musicians
abilities—to which I would also add personality traits—and the com-
plexity of the performance. No matter the extent of a musician’s musi-
cal abilities, skills, and competences, it is their personal structure which
guides the realization of their musical abilities in the context of perfor-
mance. Thus, someone with superb musical skills but anxiety prone per-
sonality may require lower performance challenges than someone with
a different personality structure. When seeking a balance in musical per-
formance, we also need to consider the psychological readiness to per-
form. This is because, for example, if a performer cannot concentrate
properly on stage, if they cannot regulate their level of physiological ex-
citement, then the difficulty of the musical performance will need to be
lowered accordingly.
The performer achieves optimal performance delivery through in-
tense absorption and concentration (Biasutti, 2013). When a musician is
in the spirit of flow, they focus only on the creative moment and, when
performing optimally, report that they have managed to overcome their
cognitive limitations. The state of flow increases the level of expression
and imagination, and the musicians feel comfortable enough to dare to
experiment with new musical ideas (Biasutti, 2012; 2015a; 2015b; 2015c).