Optimal Experience

Performance is the ability to communicate musical and visual emotion, energy, and integrity of that which is being presented. You do this through the use of concentration, energy, passion, presence, and technical proficiency. In order for the ensemble to excel in musical and technical abilities, every individual must be at peak performance levels At All Times. How do you beat the elements of the activity such as exhaustion, thirst, pain, etc? You learn to accept them; then you forget about them.

The idea that perfect practice makes perfect performance is fact. Perfect practice is essential to you understanding your musical and visual roles and responsibilities as a performer, and will inevitably enable you to communicate during your performances. What is natural for you in rehearsal will be natural for you in the performance. Use your current talents to build upon and allow your commitment to greatness motivate you to excel in your skills, thus giving you a consistently growing opportunity to perform to the best of your abilities at Every Given Moment.

Confidence is such an enormous part of your ability to perform well. Without confidence, it is difficult for an individual or a group to truly achieve a respectable level of performance. Possessing the knowledge of your responsibilities in every aspect of your role will allow you to increase your level of confidence. Presence is the art of being composed and bearing confidence. The ability to generate energy and focus that can be seen, felt, and heard by those in the ensemble, as well as those in the audience. Lacking energy, concentration, and presence, as well as lacking the correct technical and emotional approaches to the instruments, will produce a weak and under-achieved performance thus creating a break down in musicality.

Once you reach the point where all of this is ingrained into your being, optimal experience soon follows. Optimal experience occurs when the individual feels a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark for what life should be like. Optimal experience is based on the concept of flow, a floating euphoric zone; the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it for the sheer sake of reaching the zone; even at great sacrifice; even if it is just for a brief moment.

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