Anticipation as motivation
We are the happiest when we are on stage performing, and we think that is enough. We believe that all our hard work preparing and rehearsing is absolutely worth the brief moment of bliss after achieving a successful performance.
What are we feeling the rest of the time when we're not on stage? Is it important? Or does it only matter that we feel happy when we are performing?
If we only care about and focus on the latter, 1) we are not capitalizing on the potential of happiness we could have on a daily basis and 2) we may be delaying our feeling of happiness and fulfillment unnecessarily.
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Rehearsal is hard work and can sometimes be frustrating. We must overcome challenges, uncertainty, anxiety, and fear. We must feel motivated to keep going.
What motivates us? Both carrots and sticks. We can be motivated by fear of failure and punishment. We can also be motivated by the reward of a promotion or praise. In addition, we are motivated by the simple anticipation of a pleasurable performance.
We often think to ourselves, "We can finally have fun at the concert," "All the suffering getting there is worth it," or "I'd feel so good if we could just do an amazing job at the performance."
We feel good when we achieve a goal. This is because the neurological feel-good chemical dopamine is released when we achieve the goal and we feel pleasure. So, as a result, we can think that this is the only time we get to feel the happy effects of dopamine, at the end when we achieve the goal.
In fact, that is not the entire story.
James Clear writes in Atomic Habits, "Dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it… Whenever you predict that an opportunity will be rewarding, your levels of dopamine spike in anticipation… Interestingly, the reward system that is activated in the brain when you receive a reward is the same system that is activated when you anticipate a reward."
I wonder: How often do we purposefully anticipate a concert would be rewarding in the preparation phase? How often do we utilize those thoughts as a strategy for motivating our musicians? What if we replaced our traditional carrot and sticks with dopamine-eliciting anticipation of rewarding experiences geared toward motivating musicians?
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Also, how do we define "rewarding"? The key is for it to be rewarding for them in order for them to feel that motivation kick in.
It is part of the conductor's duty to articulate how an experience may be rewarding when the musicians are unspecific about their definition of "rewarding" - sometimes, "having fun" or "feeling good" simply are not specific enough. Instead, it could be articulating the way a seemingly unimportant part is crucial to the building to a climax. It could be articulating the impact the performance would have on a specific audience member because of their life story.
Specificity allows us to see the thing, as if we can reach out and grasp it. When we can see the thing and anticipate feeling good when we grasp it, we are naturally motivated.
Clear adds, "It is the anticipation of a reward, not the fulfillment of it, that gets us to take action. This is one reason the anticipation of an experience can feel better than the attainment of it. Scientists refer to this as the difference between 'wanting' and 'liking'…. Your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them."
If the anticipation of that reward itself elicits pleasure, we can use that biology to our advantage in strategizing what we do and say in rehearsals to keep everyone highly motivated. We can focus on creating conditions that maximize anticipation of the collective reward like specific musical goals or the promise of impact on another person's life (as opposed to a personal reward, like a promotion). We can do this every day on small and large scales. Even one little comment in a rehearsal can trigger the anticipation that motivates.
We don't have to wait for the attainment of the goals to feel pleasure. Clear actually warns that "goals restrict your happiness" because we habitually put off happiness until we've achieved a milestone. We don't think we can have it until our hard work pays off. In fact, we can accept the feeling of happiness from anticipating that our hard work is going to pay off.
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