THE FUSE

“My mind becomes blank, I feel a surge of warmth overtaking my body, my heart races, my breathing almost stops, and my muscles become weak.” This is a description offered by a seasoned musician of the physical experience of anxiety during a performance. “The baffling thing is, some performances I am completely calm and unaffected, other performances I feel the dread of being judged by others. I can’t identify what causes it to happen in some situations and not in others.”