Performance psychologist Bill Moore will present seven performance-geared sessions on campus this week.
Moore said he had never visited TCU’s campus, but was excited to meet TCU students.
The interactive sessions will teach audience members to perform better under pressure, Moore said. The sessions would also show how to transfer practice quality to performance.
“Dr. Moore is passionate about the topic,” Ann Gipson, director of Piano Pedagogy Programs and associate professor of music, said. "He’s enthusiastic. He’s engaging.”
Moore’s three focuses are courage, trust and acceptance, Gipson said.
Anyone who engages in an evaluated performance feels a level of self-doubt and needs courage, Moore said.
Trust involves letting go of control and a perfectionist mindset, he said.
Nonjudgmental acceptance allows the performer not to evaluate and to accept mistakes or an excellent performance.
The audience could apply the sessions to test-taking, speaking, writing, singing, athletics, music and other performing situations, Moore said.
The sessions will have a music emphasis but can be useful for other subjects, he said.
All of the seven sessions are open to the public.
Moore works with the University of Oklahoma Athletics Department and the OU School of Music.
There is a connection between music and athletic performance techniques, training, practice and performance culture, Moore said.
Moore said he encouraged audiences to attend the “Performing Your Best When it Counts” session on Wednesday night. The session will give the public an overall look at performance psychology in real-life situations.
Self-instruction and repetition during practice are skills that would translate into a better performance, he said.
Moore brings a different outlook to counteract the musician’s perfectionist mindset, Gipson said. She said she hoped that audience members would be enlightened and would learn strategies for practice and performance.
Gipson said she attended Moore’s lecture at a piano pedagogy conference and felt inspired. She said that the session changed the way she taught music students and that she thought Moore would be perfect for working with students on performance.
Gipson said the three foci helped her teaching abilities and could give the faculty a new teaching approach.
“[Faculty] will get some strategies and some tools to help their students think differently about the issue of performing,” Gipson said. “I am quite confident that our students and our faculty and anyone outside of the campus who visits and attends any of his sessions will be inspired.”
According to the School of Music website, there will be a live webcast available for each session.
Wednesday, Sept. 21
3-3:50 p.m.: Overcoming Mental Barriers to Performing Your Best – PepsiCo Recital Hall
7-8:30 p.m.: Performing Your Best When it Counts – PepsiCo Recital Hall
Thursday, Sept. 22
11:30-1 p.m.: Sandlot Performance Studio Class – PepsiCo Recital Hall
2-4 p.m.: Incorporating Performance Psychology into Your Teaching – PepsiCo Recital Hall
7-8:30 p.m.: Strategies for Playing Your Best When it Counts – PepsiCo Recital Hall
Friday, Sept. 23
11 a.m.-noon: Fireside Chat – Ed Landreth 122
3-5 p.m.: Performance Psychology Studio Class – PepsiCo Recital Hall
