Performing Joy

Dear Fellow Musician,

Hello! Peter Jacobson here, founder of Mind Body Music School.

I was coaching a young violinist recently at a performance workshop. He looked uncomfortable. So I asked how he was feeling. “I’m nervous,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting this many people.” I asked him what he really wanted for this performance.

“To not be nervous.”

All 50 people in the room laughed, me included. Because we could all relate to what he said.

But “not being nervous” isn’t a very inspiring performance goal. The audience doesn’t come to watch a performer not be nervous. They come to experience beauty and transformation.

So he and I worked together to reframe his nervousness as performance energy. And I shared some new possibilities about how he might use his mind-body instrument.

By the end of our 15 minutes, he wasn’t nervous. But more than that, he was saying something special with his music.

I started Mind Body Music School after four years of graduate training in orchestral conducting, partly because I saw major gaps in the music education system that I felt needed addressing. And for the past 12 years, it’s been a joy to help musicians navigate fear and anxiety in performance.

I’ve come to believe that most performance struggles aren’t personal issues. They’re systemic ones. The music education field does a pretty lousy job of teaching musicians how to skillfully engage with an audience.

(My other critique is that most interventions around music performance anxiety are about reducing anxiety rather than increasing joy. Hence the title of this workshop.)

The good news? Anyone can learn to practice and prepare in ways that allow us to give authentic and soul-stirring performances.

That’s what you’ll explore in this workshop.

To do that, you’ll learn some of the basic principles of Integrative Alexander Technique. This approach has been used by performing artists for over a century. And I think you’ll find that much of what this work offers goes against the conventional wisdom out there on performing.

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Questions We’ll Explore Together

You’ll walk away with some new ways of approaching performance, the start of a constructive performance plan, and a sense of what it’s like to perform from joy instead of fear.

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The Workshop Format

This is an interactive workshop. We’ll create a performance lab where I’ll coach volunteers on their performing in real time. In a way, it’s the opposite of a masterclass, you’re the master and I’m the guide.

We’ll lead with joy, keeping things light and playful, with the goal of getting out of our own way.

If you don’t get up to perform, no worries. Group activities and practices will be woven throughout, so everyone has a chance to experience the work in their own body, not just watch it.

One practical note: a limited number of spots are available for volunteer performers, offered on a first come, first served basis at registration.

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Who This Is For

This workshop is for all musicians, regardless of genre or tradition. Classical, jazz, musical theater, contemporary — all welcome. Vocalists, instrumentalists, teachers, conductors. There’s no musician’s food chain in our school. Beginners, pros and everything in between are all welcome. (Musicians under 18 are welcome with an adult chaperone.)

Also, no prior experience with Integrative Alexander Technique is required. If you’re new to it, you’ll get a taste of what the work has to offer. And for those with experience in chair-and-table Alexander Technique, this workshop will help you apply the core principles directly to performing.

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Reports from Past Workshops

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An Invitation

There’s a quote I love from one of my musical idols, Bobby McFerrin:

Transcendence. Joy. Freedom.

That’s what we’ll be exploring together.

If that calls to you, I hope to see you there!