From: ak835@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Michael P. Burns)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical.guitar
Subject: Re: Performance, Nerves, and Right Hand
Date: 14 Dec 1992 17:27:27 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: slc10.ins.cwru.edu


In Article #659 kent@netcom.com (Kent Crispin) wrote:
.
(some deleted)
>Carrying this idea a little further, then, we might say that stage
>fright is really the reaction you have to communicating in an unfamiliar
>way -- it is the emotional reaction to losing one of the "normal" feedback
>channels in communication.
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>Of course, this is a very weak theory.  But I would be very interested in
>any other ideas people may have on the "why" of stage fright.  For example,
>are there any useful models in animal behavior?  Are there studies on the
>subject?  What are the effects of beta blockers?  How about cross-cultural
>comparisons?
.
.
I read your post with interest and I think you have a good point about
losing the normal one-on-one cues of normal human communication.
.
I can answer one of your questions: the effects of beta blockers.  These
drugs work on the part of the autonomic nervous system called the
sympathetic nervous system (SNS).  The SNS has neurochemical receptors
which have been called alpha and beta because they mediate slightly
different actions.  Basically, beta blockers block the actions of the
beta part of the SNS.  The SNS is the main mediator of what is known as
the fight or flight response.  The F or F response gets you ready for
large muscle action:  the level of adrenalin in the blood increases,
your heart beats faster, your blood pressure goes up, you sweat, your
blood sugar level goes up, your pupils dilate, hearing and vision
become more acute.  Basically, you feel like shouting and jumping up
and down and beating the ground with a baseball bat.  This state is
not conducive to small muscle coordination skills like playing the
guitar and intricate, patient mental activity like giving a speech.
Beta blockers can stop the physical manifestations of the F or F state
by blocking the SNS messages which stimulate them.  As a result, your
hands don't shake, your heart doesen't pound, your palms stay dry and
your mouth doesn't dry up.  The dosage of a beta blocker drug needed
to prevent these symptoms for most people is actually rather small.
However, A WORD OF WARNING, beta blockers can have some powerful effects
in some people, like causing severe hypotension (low blood pressure)
or very slow heart rate which can be LIFE THREATENING.  DO NOT use
these drugs without the advice of a physician.  There are at least a
dozen different beta blockers available, each with it's own dosage,
duration of action and side-effect profile. 50 milligrams can be a
theraputic dose of one and a lethal dose of another.
.
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Anyway the flight or fight response which is part of what we call
stage fright is a necessary physiological response to a situation
seen as dangerous by us.  It seems to me that the best and most
lasting treatment would be one that addresses our perception of the
concert or public speaking situation as dangerous to us and stop
the F or F response before it begins.  This is probably a simplistic
view of a complex behavioral phenomenon but it has helped me to
some extent.
.
-- 
Michael P. Burns

ak835@cleveland.freenet.edu