Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Today many businesses operating in competitive markets offer Performance Coaching to their employees. It is an established and successful tool to enhance their performance and achieve their full potential. The same care is given to professional athletes who receive psychological support through coaching to cope with the pressure and stress of performing at an elite level. Yet, in the music world, there is very little on offer to help musicians deal with the strains and demands of their job. For over 30 years, I have worked as a section leader in world-class orchestras in the UK and abroad. This rich background of experience, paired with in-depth training and a qualification in Business and Performance Coaching, has given me an understanding of how to deal with extreme situations and achieve peak performances in a high-pressured working environment. In this article, I would like to share the knowledge I gained through my work as a performance and business coach and how I experienced the benefits of being coached. I will focus on two different aspects of our work as musicians, the individual performance as well as the performance as a collective, and how coaching can be a supportive intervention for everyone performing in the music industry.