Sports Psychology and Musicians
by Dimitry Olevsky. Published March 27th, 2023.
Sports psychology is a continuously developing science based on the principles of psychology which focus on the enhancement of social, mental, artistic and athletic performance, as well as on general psychological benefits and human enrichment. Within this field, specific research focuses namely on the psychology of success, greatness, and excellence. Numerous studies have directly examined pre and post performance thought and mental processes, discovering the way the mind handles such situations and developing the most efficient, effective and reliable performance habits especially in highly stressful situations.
For professional athletes and musicians, performing under pressure is an inescapable element of their careers. Given the current levels of performance excellence and the consequent fierceness of competition, consistency in performance quality is indispensable in attaining the degree of professionalism that has become the new standard. Findings produced by sports psychologists provide a systematic approach to learning to perform at one’s highest potential. This can be applied not only to athletics, but to myriad other performance-related activities. Research in the science of sports psychology indicates that the proper combination of mental and physical preparation is perhaps the most crucial component of success.
This implied link between musical and athletic disciplines is a logical one. Similarly to athletes, musicians must achieve high levels of technical skill, efficient movement patterns, acute focus, composure and extreme concentration, all while maintaining a consistently high level of performance. Musicians ‘play’ music as athletes ‘play’ sports. Therefore, like sports, a musical performance is a physical activity with extreme demands on technical facility, training ethics, discipline, deliberate practice, structure, physical choreography, dedication, determination, motivation and inspiration. Like sports, it is a form of self-expression, performed in front of an audience that demands astounding mastery of the human mind and body. Both performance practices provide the performer with opportunities for excellence, though the journey may bring forth intense pressures, challenges, anxieties, fears and psychological phobias.
Olympic champions are exceptional athletes in their respective fields and are primary examples of performers who have excelled despite enormous physical and psychological obstacles. Research and studies conducted in this field have meticulously examined these exceptional athletes, concentrating heavily on analysis of their mental states during a performance. Given the established similarities between music and sports, these scientific findings can naturally be applied to push the capability of musicians towards achieving peak performance levels.
Sports psychology places strong emphasis on training athletes’ confidence, self-awareness and critical observation. In the case of musicians, this means being able to hear the end result mentally prior to physically executing it on the instrument. Critical observation of one’s playing is key to enacting effective modification and improvement of practice. If there is a difficulty executing a technical passage, it is crucial to identify, analyze and isolate the exact cause of the problem. If the problem lies in a physical motion, then more often than not, the mind is the source of the inaccuracy. It is the brain that is responsible for sending signals to the fingers and hands and therefore, you must address and adjust your mental approach to the task. Properly analyzing, isolating and identifying the source of the problem (i.e. technical deficiency, uncomfortable fingering, awkward shifts or hand stretches) is foundational to the effective training advocated by sports psychology.
A successful performance is one that is musically sophisticated and confident. Therefore, one’s practice should utilize beneficial mental-rehearsal techniques that reinforce this style of playing. If one practices for hours, yet finds that the final performance does not reflect the time invested into preparing for this performance, than the practice routines and methods used have not been effective and need to be re-examined and adjusted. A learning musician’s performance practice should consistently improve. This approach will ensure that the practice method is wise and effective-that is, to practice not only until it is right, but until it can’t go wrong.
Practice to the best of your abilities, playing to the highest standard. This requires extreme mental alertness, diligence, critical listening and essentially learning how to be your own teacher. It is important to avoid falling into the habit of practicing on ‘autopilot,’ a state in which one does not diligently exercise any form of mental or physical discipline. This approach leads to something that should not be considered ‘practicing,’ but rather, engaging in the careless, mindless and uninvolved playing-through of material while hoping that the results will somehow improve with repetition. On the contrary, pure repetition without conscious monitoring of one’s effort to internalize inaccuracies, imprecision, incorrect intonation and many other counterproductive habits is extremely unproductive if it becomes a staple of one’s daily practice. As stated before, practice makes permanent and it is important to be selective in choosing what to allow into one’s permanent technical facility. Being selective from the outset is important in order to avoid spending time later trying to unlearn any previously developed habits, which are not in the least bit beneficial or efficient. Incorporating such methods and principles developed by research in sports psychology affords tremendous advantage in a musician’s constant strive to elevate, not only the quality, but the consistency of quality in their performance.
BIO
Violinist Dr. Dimitry Olevsky holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts from UC Santa Barbara under the tutelage of the renowned violinist Yuval Yaron. The Master of Music degree was awarded from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music in New York under the guidance of professor Grigory Kalinovsky, prior to which he was a student of professor Linda Rose.
Dimitry is an active performer with symphonic and operatic orchestras in Los Angeles, and has performed under the baton of premier conductors that toured extensively in Russia, Egypt, Arab Emirates, Jordan, Amman, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Poland, Italy, England, Wales, Scotland, Austria, Czech Republic and France.
In addition to his performances, Dimitry maintains a private studio, as well as faculty position with the Colburn and Windward schools, chamber music coaching at Crossroads School. Dimitry’s teaching methods successfully help develop and increase control of muscular and mental functions, accuracy, precision, discipline, mental awareness and overall coordination in violin performance. As feedback to his approach, students win title positions in prestigious music festivals, schools and orchestras, win honors awards in the Certificate of Merit program, and have performed at renowned concert halls in the USA, Prague, Vienna and Italy. Working with students is an opportunity to share knowledge and performing experience, with further emphasis on social, mental, artistic performance, as well as general psychological benefits and human enrichment.