Dealing with tremors

[lwl]

When I am nervous, my hands shake -- violin or not. If I'm stressed out, my hands will tremble very slightly if I try to hold them straight, horizontal, palms down.

One of the most frustrating things I've encountered in the last month is finding that when I am even a little physiologically worked up -- even if my state of mind is calm and controlled -- my vibrato becomes nearly uncontrollable. Whether I just allow the vibrato to 'occur', or I deliberately produce it, the result is very fast and uneven -- it is an uncontrolled tremor primarily produced by the wrist. (Even if I try an arm vibrato, the fact the wrist must be kept loose allows the tremor to begin.) The tremor can be stopped deliberately with the same mental/physical action that stops a normal controlled vibrato. This obviously has a tremendous impact upon tone quality, as it prevents normal control of colouring the sound with an appropriate width and speed of vibrato. (And though I don't vibrate that much, it's still a critically important expressive device!)

I can control the bow tremors by deliberately using more bow and more speed -- basically creating as fluid of a motion as possible and using the big muscles rather than the small ones. Tone-affecting but less noticeable and much easier to get under control.

Anyone experience this kind of problem? Any solutions?

[Stephen]

I often get slight tremors as concerts approach, but I've usually chalked that up to fatigue-- late nights rehearsing, being keyed-up about learning parts, plus the usual day job, 2 kids sort of grind. For me, the cure is sleep.

Have you thought of doing some sort of stress-reduction exercise-- something all-consuming like sailing, or more mindless like the exercise bike?

[SteveLaBonne]

Well, I'm not exactly recommending this (I don't do it myself, though given the very modest level at which I can perform maybe that doesn't mean much) but- my wife (a pianist and teacher) takes propanolol when she has to play, or even speak, in public. She seems to tolerate it well and at least three doctors have had no problem with it.

Actually, I remember now that I _did_ try it once, at her urging, when I played in our church. I didn't like the weirdly detached feeling it gave me. But your mileage may vary (as hers evidently does).

[lwl]

Playing the violin IS my stress reduction.

[gypsyfiddler]

One of the most potent natural remedies for nerves that I know of is the herb lobelia. You can make your own tincture to keep for these musical (or other) emergencies. You're far better off making your own mixture than buying stuff in the health food stores, as these are usually of inferior quality. With these simple instructions you can make an herbal mixture 10 times better than what you buy in the health food stores. Quality is very important so I buy my herbs from a very reputable dealer in Oregon. Their website is http://www.pacificbotanicals.com/

Everything is sold by the pound.

Here's how to make the tincture which is simplicity itself. You'll need only 4 items; a medium-sized jar, very cheap vodka, apple cider vinegar (from health food store), and lobelia. First, fill the jar near the brim with the lobelia, then pour in vodka till jar is half filled, then fill rest of jar with apple cider vinegar till lobelia is completely covered with liquid. Screw on top, shake, and let sit for a minimum of 2 weeks in a dark place. Periodically shake the mixture. At the end of two weeks strain mixture and keep out of light. Put liquid in dropper bottles (the small brown bottles with droppers sold in most pharmacies).

You can experiment by putting a few drops on your tongue, or maybe take a dropperful at one time. Just one precaution though: Be careful not to take too much as it will make you nauseous, or even vomit, as it has very strong emetic properties. I usually take a dropperful or two at a time, and within 20 seconds can FEEL the tension melting away. It's THAT potent. With a little fine-tuning you'll soon guage how much is right for you. I keep a bottle with me in my backpack and another at home.

I've taken this mixture off and on for several years and it works like a charm, and have never at any time had ANY negative results from using this tincture.

Anyway, good luck and I hope this helps.

[Guest]

I've had problems speaking or performing in front of people most of my life (started in grade school). It got to the point where it became a phobia and I couldn't speak in front of a group - major tremors. I got fed up with living so many years with this problem. I recently joined a local chapter of Toastmasters International and I now feel almost 'normal' in front of a group/audience. It has helped me tremendously.

[lwl]

Okay, a slightly different approach to this question:

Let's assume my hands are going to shake -- it's a physiological reaction that is unlikely to be controlled by anything short of a beta blocker, in all likelihood.

Given that they're going to shake, what should be done to compensate? I doubt I'm the only one who experiences this kind of problem under stress, and older players might experience tremors in general.

i.e.: What can be done technically to avoid movements that would set off tremors, or reduce their effects tonally, etc.?

[farmerjohn]

Lydia, have you tried kava? It is perhaps the safest, natural anxiolytic (anxiety reducing) botannical known. And it has a long Pacific cultural use with no indications of any long term health effects. I can't say that it'll be sure to reduce or eliminate your tremors under stress (FDA requirement re herbals). Yet there is a lot of info, esp. early material from the Germans, that document its effectiveness. Some salient points are its purported attributes of enhancing concentration, mental clarity, and memory (which are hypothesized to be adversly affected by stress), and as a skeletal muscle relaxant. It is non-addictive, non-tolerance building (don't have to drink more each time) and safer than prescription drugs. I have to be upfront though about the taste -- it's quite disgusting to some people.

Here in Hawai'i, it's a traditional crop we grow that many enjoy for its social, therapeutic, and religious aspects. And Hawaiian kava is "da bestest" (supreme in quality and effectiveness, no chemical treatment for export).

Probably the most effective way is to drink it as a beverage. This way it acts quickly, say within five minutes, and the amount of drink can be increased, if necessary. If you drink too much you might feel too relaxed that you might feel like going to sleep. I've had positive comments for its use in performance with musicians and teachers.

Anyway, I guess that subject had to come up on stress and its effect on performance. As a Hawaiian kava farmer I'd be happy to discuss more you or others. I also have a website at http://hawaiiankavacenter.com

Best regards,

jy

[D_A]

Lydia, I've experienced what you describe, but only in the right arm. My vibrato remains completely unaffected by it (although I do have that feeling in the left arm as well). What I found that helped the right hand/arm was a lot of work playing sustained double stops (like slow scales in 3rds). For some reason, what you do in producing that even sound across both strings (turning the hand into the bow like you're pouring water from a pitcher if you use the Russian grip as I do) helps to counteract the involuntary "right hand vibrato" that the nerves cause.

I did notice something interesting about this though -- I played a recital once where this struck me for the first 15 minutes or so, and felt disgusted enough about it that I didn't listen to the tape of the recital for 6 months. When I finally listened to it, I was amazed at how GOOD I sounded. The tremor was NOT audible (it was a fairly high-quality recording) -- i.e. it did NOT detract from my performance. And I'm my worst critic, so if it was there, I would have heard it.

A few years ago, I took a series of auditions. At the first one, this struck me badly, and in the spiccato passages, things were really out of control due to the extreme shakiness of my arm. My teacher advised that I play for a lot of people before the second one. I played for several people, though not a lot. At the second audition (which was in many ways much more threatening, since it was a national audition) I was still pretty nervous, but the shakiness simply wasn't there, and I played pretty close to my norm. At a later audition, before which I didn't play for anyone, my arms again were very shaky -- so I've concluded that playing for people should be a part of my performance preparation, since it seems to help me.

[Oldbear]

Just a few observations here, in case they are helpful:

Too much caffene can induce shakiness. Do you drink much coffee or soft drinks?

A short period of exercise before playing might help. I refer to mild stretching and limbering-up type of excercise, not anything strenuous which might actually increase shakiness.

I think tremors are caused by an inability to keep a perfect balance between the tension of opposing muscles. To me it seems to be most noticible at very low muscle tension which, unfortunately, is where most violin playing is done. Perhaps by slightly increasing tension in your fingers and/or arms you might bring it under control. Another thought is to focus your attention to some other part of your playing. For example if you're left hand is giving you trouble, a mental focus on your bowing might help.

[fuchen yang]

quote:

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Originally posted by lwl:

When I am nervous, my hands shake -- violin or not. If I'm stressed out, my hands will tremble very slightly if I try to hold them straight, horizontal, palms down.

One of the most frustrating things I've encountered in the last month is finding that when I am even a little physiologically worked up -- even if my state of mind is calm and controlled -- my vibrato becomes nearly uncontrollable.

Anyone experience this kind of problem? Any solutions?

---

That's a typical flight-fight reflex. Even you managed to get calm, the over cast of the excessive adrenaline still works on your body, thus the tremor didn't go for a while.... Sometimes you will feel that the knees do the same thing as well.

People are different somewhat from each other in the sense of control such reflexes. I know at least one thing you can probably do at early stage before you find it go full blown is to control/cease(or inhale/exhale as slowly as you can) your respiration. i.e. trying to imagine you are swimming under the water in a pool, and "feeling" the stillness of the lower portion of the belly. Or you can try some yogic/qi gong kinda drills to gain the type of control.... Usually, when you try this when you are stressed, you may hear your own heart beats, and the ear drums hums as well, but if you managed to calm down by doing this, your body will listen. Good luck.

[bob kogut]

I'd go with the above posts that advocate things like exercise, stretching, deep breathing, mental focus; and stay away from the potions, chemicals, drugs, etc. It could be a dangerous road to embark on, especially if you end up playing professionally.

Tremors while playing is a light form of Focal Dystonia.It is usually instigated by emotional nervousness/stress, and carried over into the physical reaction. Things like Lactic Acid and Histamine build up in the muscle fibers and creat a feeling of loss of motor control.

Again, the most direct and effective treatment for it is doing some good gentle stretches to the neck, shoulder,elbow, wrist, fingers; followed by deep slow breathing. Also, regaining control of your mental focus while playing.

[Beaven]

Welcome to the normal LWL. As you noted I teach public speaking and have taught it since l963. What happens to you is another manifestation of stage fright which strongly effects almost everyone. For many people it is the number one fear. Worse than dying. It can be caused by multiple factors, which if I were lecturing might take up to an hour or so to illuminate. Here some quick ones. We are fearful because we are perfectionistic in all of our lives and fiercely evaluate every one and everything. We internalize our own impossibly high standards. Others are fearful because they are doing an activity only rarely. Others internalize the fears of friends and family.

Many people are unaware of the degree the heart rate, sweating, etc., increase whenever we stand or become the focus of presentation. My resting heart rate is in the fifties. When I teach it ranges from 120 to over 200. That is normal. Many people imagine that those who appear not to nonplused feel as if they are relaxed watching a laid back movie. If you hooked them up to monitors you would find that is not the case. It is normal to be aroused. I could go on and on, but this extremely brief introduction must suffice.

Cures. Many and each must be tried and tried to find what works best for them. Number one, be very prepared. Next, lots of presentations before live audiences. Lots means ideally every week year in and year out. Video tape and have other fine critics evaluate what they see and contrast to what you feel. There are lots of other things that can be done, but these are the most important in my opinion. The more you do the better. Period. Don't expect miracles. Growth in incremental. Don't give up. Do do do do.

[Andrew Victor]

Fascinating that this is entirely mental - it's all in our heads. But even if you close your eyes, the audience does not go away.

A really well adjusted person, could take a beta blocker, just once, see how well it eliminated stage fright, and subsequently realizing that it IS ALL MENTAL, never have the problem again.

Personally, I'm not that well adjusted, and have depended on the beta blockers for every exposed performance (no matter how low-risk the venue is) since I first discovered it 24 years ago. Before that, I was often a musical mess from age 17 - 43. Before that - no worries at all. I only use about 5 mg of Inderal, having found this dose to be sufficient for control, and relatively free of side affects.

For public speaking, which caused me unexpected GI problems, I solved the problem by teaching adult evening courses - after the end of the first week of teaching that problem went away and remained cured for the next 40 years (so far) - but it didn't help my music playing at all.

For me, the big problem was my right hand and once it starts to shake the left hand stiffens up.

Andy

[MrWoof]

Drink a glass of wine before you play.

Don Crandall

[SteveLaBonne]

quote:

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Originally posted by MrWoof:

Drink a glass of wine before you play.

Don Crandall

---

Wow, if you can do that you're a better man than I am. Even a small amount of alcohol seriously degrades my playing ability. Perhaps if I were in better practice my technical control would be less vulnerable to disruption.

[lwl]

I think realistically, we are all nervous when we perform.

At the very least, we are somewhat keyed up -- and arguably we *should* be; adrenaline is part and parcel of the performance experience, and it is part of the "charge" of live performance. (This is why people who take beta blockers sometimes complain that it makes them feel detached from the performance, I suspect.) The problem is merely getting the *right* level of adrenaline -- enough for the charge, not enough to have physically negative impacts.

Interestingly, bow tremors don't seem to be audible at concert-hall volumes -- I suspect the way the sound goes out and bounces around smooths out any roughness (the same way it smooths out a Galamian-style scratch). Tremors in vibrato amplify though, given the way they change the characteristics of the sound way.

[lwl]

When I was a high schooler, a lot of the high-school-age students of the Vamoses that I knew (all superb players, many of whom now perform professionally) took very small doses of Valium prior to auditions and performances. (The first time I saw this, I was sharing the back of a van with a bunch of them on the way to IMEA District auditions, and I was rather shocked.) Theoretically, they'd gotten used to taking small doses in the past, so gotten somewhat desensitized to the drug -- sufficiently so that their playing skills weren't much hampered when they took it under before entering performance conditions. (I don't know why they didn't just take beta blockers -- I didn't know about the existence of those at the time, but I can't believe that my friends' teachers did not.)

I don't think I'd ever dare to do what they did. Ditto alcohol, or any other sedative or barbiturate. Way too much of a risk of slowing your reactions.

[Beaven]

I have a relative who semi-pro raced cars for awhile. He claimed he could tell a difference in skill if he took alcohol or anything else with two weeks of races. For you who are chemists or have studied the brain I am sure you know that effects are always there regardless of whether you yourself perceive them. Since they effect the device measuring(yourself)one's self discriptors will be suspect. Tests of alcolol consumption related to driving in a measured situation show how self perception is not an accurate measure. For myself, whether speaking to classes or large groups, singing before small churches or large, and playing the violin the crucial thing is to play often with a live audience. The more you do the more comfortable you become with balancing the amount of "up" you need to do an outstanding job and too much worry and a poor job. As a teacher the general rule is those who fear the most if the will work long and hard enough are generally better than the tiny amount of people who do not really care about the performance or the audience and transmit non-verbally their opinion to the audience. It takes energy to care. The balance takes practice at presenting not just solo practice at home.

[HuangKaiVun]

I don't use drugs to enhance my performance, and neither do my teachers.

The role of violin TECHNIQUE and PRACTICE HABITS in reducing tremor/nervosity cannot be underestimated.