Performance Anxiety Dismantling

1. The “One Note” Ritual

• Begin every session (teaching, jamming, collaborating) with:
  “Let’s each find just one note that feels alive right now—no context, no right or wrong.”
• Let the “note” be lingered on, repeated, explored—show the beauty in one simple sound.

2. Playful Echo/Imitation Game

• You offer a short, spontaneous phrase—no pressure for harmony or technical skill.
• Invite the other person to echo it back as they wish—spoken, sung, instrumented, modulated, or even just by tapping or moving.
• Focus on celebration: “What did you notice? What did you like about your version?”

3. Shared Listening/Feeling Moment

• Play a brief sound, chord, or piece.
• Together, take 15 seconds to each name or write one word or feeling the sound gives.
• Affirm that all responses are valid—build a vocabulary of sensation and permission.

4. Curiosity Sparks

• Before working on any technique or piece, ask:
  “If you could make any sound with this instrument, what would you try—no matter how ‘weird’ or unfamiliar?”
• Experiment together with unconventional sounds, using humor and curiosity.

5. Permission to Not-Know

• Establish a norm that “not knowing” or “making mistakes” is not only allowed, but the most creative space.
• Share a quick story (personal or famous) about a musical “mistake” that led to a new discovery.
• Invite the learner to show you their accidental sounds.

6. Micro-Composition/Improvisation Invitations

• “Let’s invent a two-note song—together or separately. What story can it tell?”
• Repeat with three, then four notes, gradually building comfort with creative risks.
• Finish by affirming the beauty of each “micro-composition”—however simple.

7. Celebration Ritual

• End every session, no matter how much was accomplished, with: “Name one thing you’re curious about or proud of from today—tiny or huge.”
• Voice your own, demonstrating that growth and joy are ongoing, not fixed outcomes.

8. Color/Sensation Association

• Play or listen to a short piece together, and ask: “What color, texture, or temperature does this sound feel like to you?”
• Listen for wild answers and affirm—music is bigger than notes and rules.

9. “Musical Postcard”

• Invite learners to create or record a tiny piece (10 seconds) that “sends a mood” to a friend or past self.
• Share with each other or simply savor privately. Frame it: “Each musical message counts; it doesn’t have to go anywhere big.”

10. Sound Hunt

• Pick an object or environment and make music from “non-musical” sounds (keys, bottles, feet shuffling).
• Build curiosity and permission by asking, “Can we make music with what’s here and now?”

11. Mood Shifter Routine

• Choose one emotion—joy, longing, restlessness.
• Explore how one instrument or the body can express it with as little technical demand as possible (a hum, two notes, a rhythm).
• Celebrate expressiveness, not mastery.

12. “Mistake of the Day” Spotlight

• Start by making a deliberate mistake and laughing about it, modeling lightness.
• Invent a rule: whoever makes the “best mistake” in a session gets a round of applause or a tiny reward.

13. Partner Game—Reverse Leader

• The learner chooses one note or phrase; you, the “advanced one,” must build music around their seed, showing humility, play, and gratitude for simplicity.

14. Dedicated “Wonder Minute”

• Reserve one minute each session to do something totally new—exotic tuning, toy instrument, playing with eyes closed, inventing a rhythm from steps. The only rule: enjoy.

15. “Music as Landscape” Visualization

• While playing, invite the other(s) to close eyes and describe what internal or imagined landscape the music evokes—forest, city, coastline, memory, dream.
• Affirm: there are no wrong “scenes;” every evocation is a valid response to sound.