Julie Jaffee Nagel

Susan Geffen

January/February 2019: Book Reviews

Managing Stage Fright: A Guide for Musicians and Music Teachers, by Julie Jaffee Nagel.  Julie Nagel possesses a rare combination of skills. She has two music degrees from The Juilliard School, three psychology degrees from the University of Michigan, and further training at the Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute. I often joke with st...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

May/June: Perspectives

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Change When you think of the word "change," what comes to your mind? Without trying to think too hard, or second guess if I am after something specific, find a piece of paper and a pen/pencil (remember those?), or go to your computer or other device of choice (haven't we all changed to rely heavily on electronics?) and make a list of what come...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Jan/Feb 2018 Mind Matters: Stage fright and symptoms: cause or effect?

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When you think about your stage fright, what are two or three fears or anxieties that come into your mind? When musicians contact me about this painful problem, I typically hear two prominent complaints among many others. These are anxiety about having (1) memory slips and (2) technical failures. As we talk about these anxieties other topics evolve...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind Matters: Thinking about thinking

What do you think about when you think about performing? Take a few minutes before reading further and make a short list. Below, I have listed some frequent responses about performance that I have heard from teachers and students:• I am afraid I will make mistakes.• I will feel embarrassed if my performance does not go perfectly.• I freak out about...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind Matters: Stage fright on my mind

Stage fright is on my mind for various reasons. I have spent my entire life dealing with it since my first memory slip at age six, and it has continued to arise in my career as a performer and subsequently as a psychotherapist. Stage fright is not a topic that is easily discussed or admitted, because shame is an embarrassing component of this anxie...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Reflections on music's life lessons

I imagine that, in one way or another, you are caught up in the drama of politics these days. My feelings have been impassioned and vocal around the proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). It is not unusual for me to write when my sensitivities feel challenged, as is cur...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Music enhances our quality of life

I doubt that any musician (and many non-musicians) reading this article would argue that the survival of music and art is critical to our nation's well-being. The final words in the previous sentence are the title of an article I wrote in 2008 and just rediscovered when going through some files in my office.1  In writing an opinion p...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Rethinking the master class

Recently, my husband Louie and I presented a joint master class at the Mississippi Music Teachers Association State Conference. We have developed a different format for these educational, and sometimes intimidating, sessions where a student performs before an audience of peers and teachers, and an invited guest teacher, by reputation a "master," ma...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind Matters: Retirement

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Imagine this: for many years you and your students have created many personal memories and memorable musical moments. You have contributed to your profession and felt emotionally enriched and, sometimes, financially rewarded. You have established a home, found a satisfying personal and family life, and planted roots in your community. You have atte...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Why do you play the piano?

For years, I have written about and counseled many people regarding their performance anxiety. I have lectured on the topics of symptoms and symptom reduction, as well as deeper psychological issues that fuel stage fright. I have heard numerous comments about "wanting to play perfectly," "wanting the audience to like me," and "not letting...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind Matters: Less is more

Full disclosure: I have repeatedly tried to write this column for a couple of weeks. I have thought about it for much longer. I usually have my Clavier Companion column completed long before it is due. I do not like last minute crunches. I have legitimate excuses. In the past couple months, I have been busy attending meetings, writing papers, and p...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind Matters: The Odd Couple

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When I returned to graduate school in psychology, writing papers was a typical assignment. This was often the case in courses dealing with clinical material. I remember being assigned a paper in a class on Family Dynamics; we were asked to describe a family we were treating and discuss how the work was progressing. At the time of this assignment, I...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

To use, or not to use?

Peter Serkin uses it. So do Emmanuel Ax and Richard Goode. Sviatoslav Richter started using it. As a faculty member in 1980, Gilbert Kalish promoted a policy about it at Stony Brook University; it was ok to use it during degree recitals. Many top competitions prohibit its use. Its use has been discussed and debated at great length in recent ye...
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What happens in Vegas should NOT stay in Vegas!

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I am writing this just after returning from Las Vegas, where I attended some wonderful programs at the 2015 Music Teachers National Association Conference. I also presented sessions as part of a Pedagogy Saturday track that explored the psychological and physical health of musicians.  Las Vegas is a city of sights, sounds, foods, and a tw...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Do perfect performances exist?

Do you remember how old you were when you started playing the piano? How old were you when started lessons; when you played in your first recital? I recall picking out tunes on the piano when I was four years old. My first piano was a little white toy with twenty-four keys. By the time I was five, my mother had bought me a large upright piano, and ...
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Julie Jaffee Nagel

Mind matters: Perspectives

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I am delighted to inaugurate this regular column. As both a musician and a psychologist/psychoanalyst, I have dealt with many varied and complex issues that music performers and teachers of all ages struggle with. This obviously includes stage fright, but it encompasses so much more. I am sure that all of you have known students like Robin, wh...
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Nancy Bachus, editor

How do you deal with "stage fright" or performance anxiety?

Anyone who has ever walked on stage and performed a piano solo by memory has had to deal in some way with "stage fright" or performance anxiety. I remember walking toward the piano as a child and thinking, "I don't know the first note of my piece. I hope my hands can find it." Fortunately, they did, but it was very unnerving. I also remember feelin...
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Piano Magazine is the leading resource for pianists, piano teachers, and piano enthusiasts. We bring you informative, interesting, and inspiring ideas on all aspects of piano teaching, learning, and performing. The official name of Clavier Companion magazine was changed to Piano Magazine in 2019.

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