The Power of Positivity: Confidence, Carrots and Common sense
Jenevora Williams

We all know about the placebo effect, if a person believes that something will help them then it probably will. This works for health and wellbeing, and it works for learning. The power of their mindset will make tangible changes to their body’s functioning; this can be anything from immune system regulation to the release of opioids in the brain. Did you also know about the nocebo effect? This is the opposite, if we are only told about the risks involved in a medical procedure, we are more likely to experience those. Imagine if a singer goes to a teacher who, with a gasp of sympathy, tells them “You’ve got such a tight jaw, I’m not surprised you’re having problems”, or “well if you’ve been asked to do that, it’s bound to make you tired”. Suggestions can creep into our subconscious and have a profound effect on our behaviours.

Many students will have had their learning environment clouded by a culture of fear, failure, and guilt. This may come from within the individual, from those in their peer group, or from teachers. Students will generally undervalue their ability. They may cover their insecurity with a veneer of confidence and ambition, but this is often only superficial. Singers need kind and empathetic nurturing during their training and throughout their performing life. They need permission to fail without judgement; making mistakes and learning from them takes courage, and it can only take place if the pupil feels safe to do so. If lessons are seen as places for serious play, you and the pupil can enjoy the act of exploration. The teacher can create space for the singer to grow, supporting goals without shattering dreams.

The human brain is able to exist in a complex and confusing world by predicting what we are about to encounter. We are constantly bombarded with information, interactions, conversations and interventions. The only way for us to survive in this noise is to pay very little attention to nearly everything and assume that we know how it will turn out. Have you ever read a horoscope and been surprised at how accurate it is? Or have you read the ‘possible side-effects’ on new medication and realised how many of those you are experiencing? We map our prediction onto our experience, and if the match is good enough, we shape our perceived outcomes accordingly. This explains the expectation effect; we will assume that an outcome will follow the pattern that we have experienced before or that we have been led to believe. This predictive behaviour account for the placebo effect as well as dispositional attitudes such as optimism and pessimism. In a very real sense, this is truly ‘all in your head’.

I know that if I compliment a singer on their work, they will make faster progress. Sometimes this is difficult: when things aren’t going well, if the singer just doesn’t ‘get it’, if they are over-thinking and getting themselves into a tangle. We may need to make a conscious shift in our approach to find the positive, there’s always something you can praise, even if it’s just to reassure the student that changes can take time and they are doing better than others do. I have been known to praise the singer for singing something ‘so much better’ when I haven’t heard a change; knowing that improvement will follow with the increase in confidence.

I’m not suggesting that we flatter our students with blatant untruths, but that we try to frame everything that we say in positive language. So ‘don’t tighten your jaw’ becomes ‘let go of your jaw’; ‘that song is too difficult for you at the moment’ becomes ‘that song will be just right for you by next year’. We work from the singer’s strengths, making easy easier, making their strengths stronger, developing what they already do well into something they really excel at. Then any weaker areas or current challenges will gradually become eclipsed by the ever-increasing competence through confidence.

Have a go – I know that you’re all lovely people who wish the best for your singers; but be really honest with what you are saying and how you are saying it – could any of your comments or suggestions be framed as carrots not sticks?