„Musiker wirst Dein Leben kaner!“ – Stress, Druck, Lampenfieber und Neuro-Enhancement in der Musik

Abstract

In recent years the ‘classical music scene’ has come under increasing criticism regarding neuro-enhancement and the use of drugs, including Ritalin, beta blocker, caffeine, LSD in microdoses or alcohol. Pressure to perform, touring, stress and performance anxiety are part of musicians’ everyday lives. I assume that the phenomenon of overwork in the field of music is not new. Performance limits for professional musicians existed much earlier. The text is about music education, violence in education, child prodigies, and the dealing with fears of failure and stressful situations. The increased thematization of stage fright is due on the one hand to the emergence of large concert halls and the accompanying expansion of the audience, and on the other hand to the possibility of preserving and comparing voices and artistic interpretations of works on data carriers. Autobiographical texts as well as concert reviews and articles in historical- medical journals are used as sources.