Page 138 - How to Shine on Stage

strongly present in the musical performance. The last level of pre- per-
formance regulation focuses on thoughts. Practice shows that it is more
effective in the psychological preparation of musicians for successful per-
formance to first address regulation at the physical and emotional levels,
with thoughts following changes at these two levels. The psychological
mastery of top performers lies precisely at this level, where performers
are able to skilfully direct their attention and concentration during per-
formance, achieving a high level of mental fortitude where various phys-
136 ical or social distractors do not affect them.

As a fundamental strategy for regulating thoughts, we highlight
mindfulness meditation training, and we also mention cognitive restruc-
turing techniques and stop techniques derived from cognitive-behav-
How to Shine on Stage commonly use the 3,2,1 VAK technique, which helps them train their
ioural therapy. For mental pre- performance regulation, musicians most
concentration multisensorially. We conclude this part by emphasizing
that regulating physical, emotional, and cognitive pre- performance sen-
sations requires a strategic approach, enabling the performer to consist-
ently prepare psychologically for various performance circumstances.
This is a complex and demanding process that allows the performer to
use certain techniques to stimulate automated optimal physical/emo-
tional/cognitive responses shortly before or during the performance.
In the third chapter, we define the path from stress to psychological
well-being. Initially, we paid a lot of attention to the stressfulness of the
musical profession and education and found that active engagement in
music brings numerous challenges. The profession of a musician is con-
sidered one of the most stressful, with sources of stress being internal
or external. The most common internal stressors for professional musi-
cians as well as music students are performance anxiety and perfection-
ism. External stressors mainly include career challenges related to com-
petitiveness and financial problems. Performance-related stress occurs
at various stages; it can occur well before an important performance,
just before a performance, during a performance, or even after a per-
formance. We identified resilience training as the most effective strategy
for managing stress among musicians. However, just as the profession of
a musician is stressful, it is also a source of inexhaustible psychological
well-being. Engaging in music is intrinsically rewarding and falls into
the category of self-actualizing activities that deeply fulfil individuals.
While research shows that there is much more reporting on the effects
of well-being in amateur music engagement, professional musicians
also report high satisfaction with life and subjective well-being. Musical
activities are among the most autotelic (self-rewarding) activities that