Wellbeing should not be an afterthought. It's as much a core component of being a creative artist as warm up stretches or scales. For anyone wanting a career in the performing arts industry, or even just wishing to enjoy it for years to come, making sure your body and mind are as well-developed as your artform is essential, not optional.
"Wellbeing" is a broad term and its interpretation can be quite personal. It encompasses everything from your daily practises through to your support networks during the times you most need them. The more we can do to prioritise and focus on our individual wellbeing on a day-to-day basis, the stronger our resilience will be when we need to get through the tougher times.
By prioritising wellbeing as a core component of developing your craft, you'll become the best version of yourself, and increase your chances of realising your best performance.
Below, you'll find some ideas for improving your wellbeing, fun facts, and links to support organisations who are there for you during the really tough times. Take the time to consider what fits best for you, your specialty, and your lifestyle. Please note that all content and media available on this website is created and published online for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.
Breathing
Awareness of breathing isn't just the domain of singers and wind players. In fact, they're the lucky ones because breathing is core to their craft. When we breathe, we provide oxygen to our brain. By keeping it fuelled, we're better able to focus on the task at hand, remember routines or rhythms, and even have better aural perception and peripheral vision to increase our awareness of our associate artists. If you're a performer who isn't already aware of their breathing, it's worth thinking about. Holding your breath can also cause you to hold tension in your neck and shoulders, which is neither comfortable, nor helpful to your performing.
When we get nervous, loss of breath control is a common side affect. We can learn to be more comfortable with that by doing something active (eg running on the spot) until you're a little puffed, and then trying to perform your best. It's hard! But, just like anything with practice, it gets easier.
Breathing is important in what we do but it can also be used as a tool before and around performances. If you're feeling nervous or anxious, breathing exercises can help you to calm down, and to focus on yourself and the performance.
Try the Box (AKA Square) Breathing method, which helps to calm your sympathetic nervous system and tells your brain that it's safe (no sabre-toothed tigers to run from).
Visualise a square in your mind, with an arrow along each side. Each arrow represents four counts. Breathing through your nose, slowly inhale for 4 counts. Hold for 4 counts. Exhale for 4 counts. Hold for 4 counts. Repeat. You can add extra counts to each side to increase the calming effect. Want to learn more? Watch the video, which also includes a handy a guide for the exercise.
Posture
Do you feel pain when you practice? That's not a badge of honour that proves your commitment. It could lead to serious problems, which can inhibit your ability to improve or (at worst) put an end to your performing altogether. How we hold ourselves, and the muscles we use to perform (and rehearse) are going to be different for each specialty. Your teacher should be providing advice about how to sit/stand, hold your instrument, breathe, and other physiological aspects that are relevant to your specialty. Those broad principles are an ideal place to start, however it's important to acknowledge that our bodies are all unique and those broad principles may require some nuance. If you're feeling pain when practicing, speak with your teacher about what you're experiencing to get some solutions (the sooner the better!). They may need to refer you to a medical practitioner and we've included some links below that may help in finding someone who specialises in your performing area.
As much as bad posture can have a negative impact, good posture can have a positive one. A well-balanced and natural position can optimise muscle strength and endurance, and enhance blood flow (and oxygen) to the brain, all of which will make it possible for you to concentrate better, and do your best in your performance.
When it comes to exam day, your body can even help you to feel more confident. Ever heard of "fake it till you make it"? This is a perfect example. Your physiology will influence your psychology. Or, to put another way, if you stand or sit in a strong, confident posture, you will actually feel more confident. However you're feeling, try to present yourself in a posture of how you want to feel, and see what happens.
Movement is important. How much movement and what type of activity will be a personal range - it must be relevant to you, your physique, what you do (and don't do), and what your body is capable of. If you're sedentary a lot of the time you can try setting reminders to stand up, or move around - this includes practicing in one position for long periods of time. Move your body every 20 minutes, otherwise your body will think that it's time for sleep. From a physical perspective, muscles begin to cramp and, over time, can cause repetitive strain injury. Mentally, this can also lead to not only general sleepiness (and reduction in alertness and concentration) but also withdrawal from people, and (at worst) depression.
Our bodies were designed to move and this fills our physical energy tank. Walking is a highly effective way to keep our cardiovascular system fit, and our energy tank filled. Research suggests that physical movement for 30-40 minutes, 3-5 times a week is ample to achieve those benefits. Walk in nature on your own, with a friend or a pet. If you are walking at a pace where you are feeling short of breath while talking, you've moved into aerobic exercise. That's fine but, if your aim is to just be a bit more mobile, you can probably slow down a little. (Sapolsky et al, 2012).
If you're looking for a program or activity that will help with movement, strength, and coordination, you might consider exercise classes in yoga or Pilates, or perhaps explore lessons in Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais Method.
Diet
You are what you eat. Yep. We've all heard that before. Eating a balanced diet is going to be good for you for lots of reasons but here are some (more relevant) pointers.
Do you perform better on a full or an empty stomach? How do your energy levels change on either side of a meal, or after a caffeinated beverage? We all respond differently but you'll no doubt notice some trends that can either help or inhibit your ability to perform at the top of your game. For example, if you know that you feel ill trying to dance after a big lunch, or your mouth is too dry to play your trumpet after a cup of coffee, you can manage your day to either avoid consuming those things before you need to perform, or schedule your practice time for optimum comfort.
It's a good idea to eat regularly (but not too regularly). Every 3-5 hours is best. Eating within 3 hours of your last meal can result in high blood-sugar levels, which can slowly degrade the vascular system. Conversely, waiting too long to refuel can lead to low blood-sugar levels, which can manifest as low energy, loss of focus, and irritability.
Try eating your evening meal at least 2.5 hours before your bed time. And aim to eat your proteins during the day, rather than at night. These choices will help you to get a good night's sleep. It takes a lot to digest protein (metabolically) and your body will continue to prioritise processing food over getting into quality sleep cycles.
In general, it's best to avoid lots of sugars (and not just for the waistline). Sugars have direct impact on your glycaemic levels, which can affect the highs and lows of your mood. If you're eating too much, it can affect your glycaemic regulation, which can lead to irritability and anxiety (which is probably not ideal if you're already prone to experiencing performance anxiety!).
Avoid caffeine if you can but here's a fun fact: Caffeine has a half-life of 4-6 hours, which means that you'll still have one quarter of the caffeine you consumed left in your brain after 10-12 hours! So, help your body to get a good night's sleep and avoid caffeine after midday.
Stay hydrated. Water hydrates the body, including brain cells, which can help with attention and concentration (for those focussed practice sessions). Hydration can also have a significant impact on heart rate and recovery (eg from a stressful situation). And apparently, when your brain is receiving the signal that your bladder is full, it can increase attentional focus!
Sleep
It's important to note just how powerful a good night's sleep can be in preparing you for success in every way. Better sleep = better productivity during the day.
Quality sleep is essential, especially for performers. It helps keep us physically healthy by staving off things like diabetes, chronic heart disease, obesity, stroke, and even infections. When we're well rested, our artistic powers become supercharged - we're better at learning, storing memories, and accessing our emotional intelligence and creativity.
It might seem obvious, but sugar right before bedtime isn't great. Eating sugar releases insulin and increases the energy available to your body which, in turn, raises your resting heart rate which will make it harder to get to sleep. Processing the sugar also uses up a lot of magnesium, a chemical that is far better put to use during the overnight regeneration process.
Stretching for 5 minutes before bed can lower your stress hormone levels (cortisol), and help send you off to the land of nod. You can also try the box breathing technique with longer exhalation counts - this tells your brain that you're safe and, with it, the signal that it's ok to sleep.
If all else fails, you can try using reverse psychology on yourself - telling yourself that you are NOT allowed to close your eyes apparently helps make you fall asleep faster (Broomfield & Espie, 2003).
We've linked some great apps below but here's some more information to help you decide between Binaural beats and boring audio books on your quest for quality sleep.
Train your brain
Nerves can affect all of us in one way or another. Often, it's not until we're in a performance situation that we experience them for the first time and the physical impact can be quite unsettling and really throw us off our game. So how do we manage this?
First of all, be prepared. The better we know the material we're going to perform, the lower the likelihood (or number of spots) where things might fall over. This will also boost your confidence because you know you've worked hard and that you have the skills to present a fantastic performance.
When you're heading into your exam, or a performance situation, you can help yourself get in the best mental place possible by avoiding difficult conversations, reading worrying texts, or generally putting yourself in a situation that will create stress. By doing so, you'll limit the amount of stress hormones floating around your body, which will help you keep a positive and focussed perspective. And to really double up on those efforts, focus your thoughts on the good vibes, rather than dwelling on the things that you think might go wrong. It may seem simple but try smiling, even when you don't feel like it. Smiling releases serotonin, which makes you feel good. And, it's a natural stress-reliever. This might be handy both before and after your performance!
Visualising can be a powerful tool because your brain doesn't differentiate between what you imagine and what you see. Try mentally walking through a performance during which everything goes as you hope it will. Your brain will respond in the same way it would from a successful performance in reality. Not only does this boost confidence, but it helps to ward off negative emotions that might undermine your best performance.
Fear and excitement are really closely related in how our bodies react and our brains often can't tell the difference. Try telling yourself that you're excited, rather than nervous, and it will help to channel all of that energy into a great performance. Got butterflies in your stomach? Perhaps they're actually DRAGONS OF EXCITEMENT!
If your nerves are manifesting in physical, uncontrollable ways (eg difficulty controlling your breathing, shaking fingers, sweaty hands etc), it can really get in the way of your ability to perform. It's tempting to fixate on the issue that you're experiencing, trying to will it away. Not only does this not work (very often) but it also takes your focus away from your performance. So try a different approach - acknowledge the thing that is happening, then concede that you can't do anything about it, then turn your focus to something that you CAN control, such as your articulation, or breathing, or even wiggling your big toe. Surprising as it sounds, this often short-circuits the nervous movement and it usually goes away on its own (and surprisingly quickly).
Practicing performing is also really helpful. The more we do, the more we can learn about how our body reacts to the nerves, and what impact that has on our ability to perform. In doing so, we get practice at managing the nerves through trying out various techniques, and also practicing in the difficult conditions so that, when we have a performance that really matters, there are fewer surprises and lots more confidence that we'll succeed.
It can be so easy for us to fixate on what went wrong with a performance, or even in the practice room. In fact, that's a skill we develop so that we can continue to improve what we do! But these thoughts should always remain constructive. If you find that you're developing negative self-talk, be disciplined with your thoughts. When you find yourself feeling emotional, attempt to name it to tame it. By naming the emotion we allow our executive function (pre-frontal cortex) to take over, which helps with processing the emotion and frees us up to respond appropriately.
If you're looking for some support with performance anxiety, we've included a link to Performance Under Pressure (below). One of our Examiners, Mark Bain, has created this organisation out of his own experience (and plenty of research) and made it his mission to help performers realise their potential, unencumbered by the limitations triggered by performance anxiety.
Overcoming failure
Without challenges, we won't grow and learn. But sometimes things don't go as well as we know we're capable of. A less-than-perfect performance, or a disappointing exam result, might seem like a failure at the time, but it's only a snapshot of your performance on the day - it has nothing to do with your capabilities or what you might achieve in future.
Shifting your thinking so that missing the mark isn't a negative, but rather a chance to take away learnings, is an excellent place to start improving your skills and getting the most out of every experience. Here's a great video that explains how you can turn failure - a very normal and necessary part of life - into a real strength.
Energy management
Try scheduling your practice for when your energy tank is full. If you're feeling tired, take a quick (5 minute) walk around the block to give yourself a circuit-breaker - it will also help to reduce stress hormones (cortisol) and refill your tank to focus on the task ahead.
Try breaking down your practice session into smaller, bite-sized goals, such as working on two bars of a tricky passage of note, learning a chunk of a work from memory, 3 minutes on a particular technical exercise, and so on. This will make the time pass quicker, conserve your energy levels, and also make your time more focussed and productive. AND it's been shown to increase creativity! (Oppezzo & Schwartz, 2014). For a bonus, write down your list and then tick off each task as you complete it. Observing your own wins activates dopamine, which helps sustain motivation, and wards off the "quit-reflex".
When spending long chunks of time practicing (or doing anything), factor in a break every 60-90 minutes. Spending 20 minutes on a short walk, stretching, having a cuppa, or speaking with a friend can help boost your mental, physical, and emotional energy levels.
Creating safe spaces
Supporting children and young people to thrive starts with a positive and nurturing environment. While exams can be a scary experience, we hope that Candidates will feel empowered and excited about their performance. We do all we can to foster an environment in which performers can excel.
Did you know that...
Examiners are assessing what you CAN do, not looking for things that you can't.
If you didn't hear a question during the exam, you're allowed (and encouraged) to ask for it to be repeated.
If you're unsure of what is being asked of you, you're allowed (and welcome) to clarify what you've been asked.
Examiners really want you to do your best - they love hearing your performances!
To help us ensure that the voices of our young Candidates are heard, we have a virtual suggestion box just for you! It's anonymous and you can let us know about anything that we can do better. We look forward to working with you on making the exam environment an even more enjoyable place to perform.
And finally, to help you set yourself up for success with your exam, check out our Helpful hints page. It includes tips for planning your practice, the lead up to the big day, and the day itself. You'll also find advice collected from our Examiners each year to help you avoid common pitfalls. We hope to see you soon, performing at (and feeling) your very best.
Where has all this advice come from? Science and experience. We've collated this from lots of reputable sources but particular acknowledgement to Drs Jemma King (at the BioPsych Analytics) and Leanne Wall, Benjamin Hamlett, Eloise Ristad, The Healthy Conservatoires Network (UK), HealthAndBass.com, and the fantastic resources and advice provided through the various links below.
During the tough times, help is there for you. Reaching out is the first step.
