Playing Scared: My Journey Through Stage Fright

by Sara Solovitch

Stage fright is one of the human psyche's deepest fears. Over half of British adults name public speaking as their greatest fear, even greater than heights and snakes. Laurence Olivier learned to adapt to it, as have actors Salma Hayek and Hugh Grant. Musicians such as Paul McCartney and Adele have battled it and learned to cope. Playing Scared is Sara Solovitch's journey into the myriad causes of stage fright and the equally diverse ways we can overcome it. As a young child, Sara studied piano and fell in love with music. As a teen, she played Bach and Mozart at her hometown's annual music festival, but was overwhelmed by stage fright, which led her to give up aspirations of becoming a professional pianist. In her late fifties, Sara gave herself a one-year deadline to tame performance anxiety and play before an audience. She resumed music lessons, while exploring meditation, exposure therapy, cognitive therapy, biofeedback and beta blockers, among many other remedies. She practiced performing in airports, hospitals and retirement homes. Finally, the day before her sixtieth birthday, she gave a formal recital for an audience of fifty. Using her own journey as inspiration, Sara has written a thoughtful and insightful cultural history of performance anxiety and a tribute to pursuing personal growth at any age.

Genres: Music

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 2, 2015

About the author

Sara Solovitch was born and raised in a little town in southern Ontario, Canada. She studied classical piano from the age of 7 and attended Eastman School of Music's preparatory department in her last two years of high school.
A former reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, she has been a health columnist for the San Jose Mercury News and worked as a medical writer at Stanford University. Her articles have appeared in Esquire, Wired, Modern Farmer, Outside, and Politico Magazine, among other places.

Reviews

[Nori Fitchett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Personally this book was disappointing and boring
The writing didn’t flow but seemed more like disjointed anecdotes mixed with stories of other famous athletes and musicians that suffer from stage right with that seeming to be there only connecting link.
I’m sure some would love this book but I did not.

[Vadim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initially, the book was interesting in how the author, a great pianist is held back by the fear of performing in front of fellow humans and the life stories that come with it. Also, as someone who hasn't had such a muscial adolescence, it was interesting to read how such activities shape a person.

However, the book rambled on with the author engaging with a new teacher in each chapter and how they progressed a little further towards her goal. you would also need a certain amount of knowledge about the piano world to truly understand what the author is trying to convey.

I would definitely recommend this book to someone who is highly keen about the piano or an instrument similar to it.

[Sara G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and unexpectedly helpful.

[Jaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are interested in stage fright (or suffer from it), read another book.

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this as I thought it looked like a useful and interesting read.

Sara Solovitch was a budding young pianist but used to suffer from terrible stage fright so quit and didn't play for many decades. At the age of 59 she decides to set a goal of playing a recital to an audience in a year.

This tells her story of her youth and of her journey of finding teachers/mentors/other people who suffer from nerves and coaches who help her reach her aim of not playing scared.

A really interesting book with some useful tips and information about why we all suffer from nerves on big occasions.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my "piano book" collection. The author would have been a concert pianist if not for her stage fright that she was never able to fully conquer. Though I of course never even came within a thousand miles of her abilities, I can relate to the stage fright, which I, alas, have never been able to overcome either.