Plunge into Performance Anxiety

Ginette Puylaert

About this exposition

Name: Ginette Puylaert; Research Coaches: Esther van Fenema, Susan Williams; Main Subject: Classical singing; Circle Leader: Gerda van Zelm; Title of Research: Plunge into Performance Anxiety Research Question: How can a personal ‘mind flow’ be translated to an assignment on stage? and to what extent do my nerves relate to the connection I have with the audience and my ensemble? Summary of Results: Soprano Ginette Puylaert began her research together with an ensemble to make interventions on stage as a way to cope with performance anxiety (PA). Interventions are physical or theatrical coping strategies, which can be used on stage to decrease PA. Ginette tried to create a confidential environment where there could be freely spoken about PA-related issues and to experiment with these. Through questionnaires and meetings they shared their information. The ensemble was supposed to consist solely of musicians with PA, but due to circumstances the ensemble became a mixed group of musicians with and without PA. It never came to the process of developing interventions on stage. The musicians without PA often treated the questions and meetings in a humoristic way, which decreased the sense of a confidential environment. Also, in general the ensemble lacked of cooperation, the meetings took place during rehearsals. This project could only work if all musicians joined voluntarily and worked with full commitment. Stage one ended with a concert where Ginette individually experimented with the term ‘vulnerability’ using interaction with the audience and ensemble. The recital was received as an artistic and personal performance. In the next stage Ginette using coping strategies within different ensembles and analyzed thirteen concerts using pre- and after concert questionnaires. Her hypothesis was that her nerves would decrease when her connection with the audience and ensemble was stronger, but the results indicated the opposite concerning connection with the audience. The connection with the ensemble did decrease her nerves, but not significantly. Next to that she became more objective towards her nerves as she was analyzing them, noticing that they didn’t vary much throughout her concerts. One concert was considered an outlier, as her level of nervousness was extremely low. She had to support a sick colleague, which might have forced her into the role of a rescuer, with a positive effect on her nervousness. This research helped to develop the original format for the PA ensemble project. Future plans are to realize this project. Biography: Soprano Ginette Puylaert studied with Lenie van den Heuvel during her Bachelor of Music at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague and graduated in 2013. She continued her master in The Hague with the same teacher. In the summer of 2014 Ginette participated in the Lucerne Festival Academy where she performed with young international musicians ‘Coro’ by L. Berio conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. In 2013 Ginette joined the Britten-Pears Young Artiste Programme where she sang the role of 2nd Woman in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas. She also sang in master classes by Jard van Nes and Meinard Kraak.

type	research exposition
date	01/01/2015
published	28/05/2015
last modified	28/05/2015
status	limited publication
share status	private
license	All rights reserved
url	https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/136830/136831
published in	KC Research Portal
portal issue	3. Internal publication

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Plunge into Performance Anxiety (2015)

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