The Psychology of Performance and Its Implications for Deliberate Practice (original) (raw)
Elite performance often conjures up electricity in the air— intense concentration, coiled muscles, and expectation combine to create a moment of anticipation and pressure. It is easy to imagine the determination in a runner’s eyes as they verify their shoes and settle into the elasticity of the starting position. Time stands still for a minute and the spectators may even hold their collective breath. Common conceptions of elite performance in action such as this image tend to identify with Olympic athletes and professional athletes and focus on the physical aspect of the feat while glossing over the mental preparation endemic to elite performance and the various other disciplines of a less physical nature that are involved. It is less common to recall the concentration of an oboist checking the position of his reed as he refocuses in preparation for a significant solo. For this reason, literature concerning elite musical performance in the lens of sport psychology retains some novelty as the push for application of psychological skills training in artistic milieus is relatively recent. Sport and exercise psychology is considered to be the scientific study of people and their behaviors in sport and exercise contexts and the practical application of that knowledge and is generally used to both understand how psychological factors affect an individual’s physical performance and how participation in sport and exercise affects a person’s psychological development, health, and well-being.1 Sport psychology is considered to fall under the umbrella of performance psychology. While there are significant differences between the performance aspects facing musicians and athletes, sport psychology is a well-developed field and the 1 Robert S. Weinberg, PhD. & Daniel Gould, PhD., Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2015): 4. sophistication of its psychological skills training program suggests many practical applications to serious musicians seeking optimal performance as well as to world-class athletes seeking personal records. It is the task of this paper to seek out comparisons in performance psychology research, address psychological skills training, specify techniques and their applications in music performance, and discuss how the psychology of performance can inform deliberate and efficient practice.
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