A Miracle Pill for Stage Fright?

Everyone knows the fear of the goalkeeper facing a penalty kick, of the trombonist in Boléro, of the trumpeter in Zarathustra, of the horn player in Tchaikovsky's Fifth. Stage fright is widespread and must have many a fine career on its conscience.

It is, however, a quite normal response by the body to sudden and unusual stress. From the physiological point of view the vital functions of our body are kept in operation and adapted to requirements by the autonomic nervous system, which is independent of our conscious control.

When fear seizes us for some reason, when we have to play a very exposed difficult entry in a piece of music for example, the hormone adrenalin is liberated by a signal from the brain and deposited at certain nerve endings of a part of the autonomous nervous system. A receptor in the affected organ (heart, skin, etc.) takes in the adrenalin, causing the organ to react in a particular way: the heart beats faster, the sweat glands work at full tilt, the pupils become dilated etc.

We notice the fast pulse and the moist hands and become frightened, which increases the physical reactions even further, often resulting in an unintentional vibrato or a missed entry.

This stress reaction can be characterised developmentally as a sensible defensive or flight reaction but for a brass player it is extremely inopportune.

There have recently been many reports of a miracle pill to combat nervousness. These are not tranquilisers (of which the best known is Valium) which are sedative and have the great disadvantage that they make the subject sleepy and reduce his faculties of detachment and self-criticism. At least then he is not irritated by the fluffed note.

Some players also make frequent and pleasurable use of alcohol for its generally soothing effects, apparently leading some to become alcoholics; they may play with less stress, but certainly not better.

The "new" wonder weapons, the so-called beta-blockers, on the other hand, have two distinct advantages: they cause no physical dependency and they do not impair important brain functions. They merely reduce the physical stress reactions, above all the fast pulse rate.