Music as Energy
Last week I talked about how music can help you become a better tennis player and athlete. I talked about how music elicits emotion, how music distracts and the affect of arousal/energy on performance. As promised today I am going to talk about how music can help you get in the right mood to play tennis.
Finding the right level of energy
It’s important to understand whether you need a piece of energizing or calming music and this requires awareness. Arousal/energy sometimes needs to be reduced, at times maintained and other times heightened depending on the individual and the situation. Not only is it important to be aware of this but it’s important to know how to develop strategies for dealing with these situations.
There are four key considerations to think about when it comes to energy.
- Identify your optimal arousal and how that relates to your emotions. Think of energy as an emotional temperature and arousal regulation skills as a thermostat. Your goal is to find your optimal emotional temperature (under what conditions do you perform optimally) and then learn how to regulate your thermostat. Regulating your thermostat is done by either energizing up or energizing down.
- Recognize how your personal and situational factors interact. It’s important to understand the interaction of personal factors and situational factors (event importance and uncertainty) to get the best predictor of energy and performance.
- Recognize signs of arousal/energy. You can better understand your energy level by becoming familiar with the signs and symptoms of increased energy:
- Cold, clammy hands
- Frequent urination
- Profuse sweating
- Negative self talk
- Increased muscle tension
- Butterflies
- Feeling ill
- Headache
- Cotton mouth
- Difficulty sleeping
- Inability to concentrate
You might experience some of these symptoms on a small scale which is OK as long as it leads to optimal performance. However you still need to learn how to regulate those levels based on the your optimal performance. The quantity of symptoms depends on the individual. It’s the quality that’s important to keep in mind. Try to notice changes in these variables between low and high stress environments and learn how to make changes when necessary.
4. Develop your confidence and perceptions of control. Confidence is key to your success. Realizing where you do and don’t have control is also key. You can take control where you have partial or full control and let go when you don’t have any control (these are big, important concepts so that’s all I am going to say about them for now).
Pre-match routines
A good routine that includes the right music increases or decreases arousal/energy by helping you implement control over your environment. It provides stability in an environment that you might perceive as highly unstable. It helps you to regulate your thermostat up or down as necessary.
Pre-match routines are a systematic sequence of preparatory thoughts and activities used to concentrate effectively before competition. These routines help you to train your mind to focus on what’s important versus focusing on your increased arousal/energy. By concentrating on each step of a well thought out routine, you learn to focus on what is in their control.
Conclusion
Energy can benefit or hinder you which is why it’s important to get a handle on where your zone of optimal performance is. Think about your best and worst matches; where was your arousal/energy before each of these matches. Try to duplicate the best and eliminate the worst.
A pre-match routine is one of the most helpful tools you can use and because music helps regulate mood and distract negative emotions it is a good addition to any pre-match routine. A pre-match routine increases the likelihood that you get and stay in your optimal readiness zone in preparation for competition.
Happy Wednesday!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: commons.wikimedia.org
