Why Musicians Often Play Worse in Auditions Than in Practice
The Audition Paradox
Many highly trained musicians encounter a frustrating experience: passages that feel stable and controlled in the practice room become unreliable in auditions.
Technical preparation may be excellent. Practice sessions may be consistent. Yet during auditions or juries, the performance can feel unstable or unpredictable.
This phenomenon is widely recognized in the research literature as part of music performance anxiety (MPA), a complex interaction between physiological arousal, cognitive evaluation, and attentional control during performance situations (Kenny, 2011; Brugués, 2011).
Understanding why this occurs can help musicians respond more effectively to performance pressure.
The Psychology of Evaluative Performance
Auditions differ from practice environments in several important ways.
While practice settings typically involve privacy, control over pacing, the absence of judgment and opportunities to repeat passages, auditions, by contrast, involve evaluative observation, which activates psychological and physiological responses associated with social threat.
Research in performance psychology shows that situations involving judgment by experts can activate the brain’s threat detection systems, increasing physiological arousal and altering attentional processes (LeBlanc, Jin, Obert, & Siivola, 1997).
If you ask any musician, they will tell you that there was no need to create a study to prove this! Its a well-known fact!
The more interesting question is: Does it have to be this way? Is there a way to perform as you practiced?
When the brain’s threat detection systems have activated, the response may manifest as a tremor or loss of fine motor control, disrupted breathing, narrowing of attentional focus and/ or increased self-monitoring of technique. These changes can interfere with the automatic motor processes musicians rely on during performance. The skills needed to perform are not practiced in the practice room. The performance space is a completely different environment.
Automatic Performance and “Choking Under Pressure”
Like many professional athletes, highly trained musicians develop complex motor skills through years of deliberate practice and over time, these skills become automated procedural behaviors, allowing performers to execute passages without conscious monitoring of every movement.
As we place these skills under intense pressure, performers may begin consciously monitoring actions that are normally automatic. This process has been described in performance psychology as “explicit monitoring”, a key mechanism underlying choking under pressure (Beilock & Carr, 2001).
When attention shifts toward controlling movements that are normally automatic, performance efficiency can deteriorate.
In musical contexts, this may appear as over-controlling technique and increased hesitation, even by fractions of a second. These timing variations lead to even more disruptive timing and finally a loss of expressive flow or even a loss of technical execution itself.
Physiological Activation and Motor Precision
The extremely precise motor control needed to perform can be derailed by even small changes in physiological activation. When this happens it is common for activation of the sympathetic nervous system to increase the heart rate, create muscle tension and heighten adrenaline levels. These changes may influence stability and coordination.
This helps explain why musicians sometimes experience shaking hands, unstable bow control, or changes in breath support during auditions.
The Role of Catastrophic Thinking
Even with the increase in difficulty that the physiological changes bring during performance, it is the phycological changes that most performers find to be the most disturbing. As a performer feels the changes bodily changes, a mental struggle begins to emerge as any inconsistencies between practice and performance are evaluated bringing cognitive interpretation of mistakes.
In evaluative environments, musicians may experience intrusive thoughts such as:
• “If I make a mistake, the audition is ruined.”
• “Everyone will hear this error.”
• “This determines my future.”
These cognitive patterns can increase perceived threat and intensify physiological responses.
Research on performance anxiety suggests that catastrophic interpretations of performance errors significantly amplify anxiety and reduce performance stability (Osborne & Franklin, 2002).
Why Preparation Alone Does Not Solve the Problem
Musicians often respond to audition anxiety by increasing practice hours, but while preparation is essential, performance anxiety is not simply a preparation issue.
Practice strengthens technical skill, but performance anxiety involves additional psychological systems. These systems are a part of the performance but they are often not addressed. To prepare for the performance one must consider threat perception, attentional control, emotional regulation and the interpretation of mistakes.
For this reason, musicians may feel technically prepared yet still experience instability in high-pressure environments.
Psychological Approaches to Performance Stability
Evidence-based psychological approaches can help musicians respond differently to performance pressure, and we are lucky to have a great deal of research in this area in the last 20 years.
Two approaches used in performance anxiety treatment include:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT focuses on psychological flexibility, helping performers remain engaged in valued action even in the presence of anxiety.
Rather than attempting to eliminate anxiety entirely, ACT supports musicians in developing a different relationship with performance-related thoughts and sensations (Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 2012).
Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT)
I-CBT is a treatment modality originally developed to address OCD, but which can be very efficacious for performers. It focuses on the reasoning processes that sustain doubt and catastrophic thinking patterns.
In performance contexts, this may involve learning to distinguish between imagined outcomes and evidence-based expectations.
Together, these approaches help musicians develop greater cognitive and physiological stability in evaluative settings.
The Long-Term Goal: Performing Under Pressure
The goal of performance anxiety treatment is not to eliminate nervousness completely.
Moderate physiological activation can enhance focus and energy during performance.
The aim is instead to help musicians:
• maintain attentional control
• interpret activation more accurately
• respond to mistakes without escalation
• sustain performance consistency in evaluative environments
Over time, many performers find that auditions begin to feel more similar to performances rather than fundamentally different experiences.
Support for Musicians Navigating Performance Anxiety
Breakthrough Performance Center provides specialized telehealth therapy for musicians, performers, and high-achieving students navigating performance anxiety.
Treatment integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in a framework designed specifically for performance environments.