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Oliver Sacks on Stage Fright

Neurologist Oiver Sacks, a best-selling chronicler of disorders of the brain and mind, describes how he copes with stage fright.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Neurologist and best-selling author Oliver Sacks, about whom I’ve recently written two posts (here and here), has been a public figure for decades now. He has given countless lectures and interviews, including one at my school in 2008, when I asked him about his book Musicophilia and other topics. Sacks was nervous at the start of that event, although he soon relaxed and performed splendidly. I subsequently wrote him a letter to thank him—and to ask for his thoughts about stage fright, which once afflicted and still fascinates me. Sacks responded with characteristic eloquence:

On the matter of “stage fright” I am somewhat ignorant, despite (or because) I suffer from it myself - perhaps less than I did, but nonetheless significantly. That is to say, I find my heart is racing a bit, my palms sweat, and my fingers and toes get icy. But within a minute or two of actually facing the audience, I (nearly always) feel different - and start to enjoy myself. Though people sometimes recommend beta-blockers (or do I mean alpha-blockers) for the anxiety and the autonomic effects, I have never taken these - partly because I feel that this sort of tension, unpleasant though it is, is (for me, at least) a prerequisite of performing well. I do, however, need to be alone, or with a supportive and congenial presence, for half an hour or so before any talk or “performance.” I can't bear moving straight from a social situation to a performance one. My sentiments are exactly those of (the younger) Bragg:

"A good lecture is a tour de force; a good lecturer should be keyed up to a high pitch of nervous tension before it and limp and exhausted after it . . . If a sensitive lecturer is to give of his best, he must be left in peace for a period before the lecture starts. It is the refinement of cruelty to expect him to be social."


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And I find I need - as perhaps we all do - a strong basic structure, along with the freedom to improvise at any point.

Best, Oliver