The Power of Smiling on Performance

Before I was involved in organized sports, I was involved in organized music. I sang in my school choir, and I played the cello in our school orchestra. My early music teachers felt I had some talent, so I was pushed along. When I was in 6th and 7th grade, I attended Ainsworth School in Portland, Oregon. The music program there was led by one of the best teachers I have ever had in any subject at any level -- Doris Schlichter. Mrs. Schlichter was a slightly round, extremely energetic and enthusiastic leader of our school band and orchestra as well as K-8 music teacher. Her rehearsals and classes were the most memorable part of my otherwise forgettable Middle School career. In 7th grade, she picked me to play a solo -- a Vivaldi Cello Sonata -- during one of our large seasonal concerts. I still think of it as one of the largest audiences I have performed for and was quite nervous.

There are several lessons I learned from this performance. One of the things my father had insisted on was that I smile when I finish no matter how I felt at the end of the performance. I did not understand at that time the power of smiling, but since that time it has been a point of interest for me no matter if I am performing musically or athletically. I made a fairly sizable mistake while I performed that day back in 1975. I forgot where I was in the piece. My musical amnesia probably lasted no longer than a couple measures during which I made notes up. But it was pretty frightening. However, I bore down, soldiered on and the rest of the piece came back to me. I finished then smiled as if I was quite satisfied with my performance. 

The amazing thing I discovered that day was other than my parents who had heard me play the piece hundreds of times and Mrs. Schlichter who was accompanying me on the piano, everyone else seemed to think my performance was flawless. At the time, I felt my smile had deceived the audience from focusing on my errors. But since that time, I have begun to believe that the smiling had an influence on me not just my audience and will have an influence on all performers.

After my sophomore year in high school, I attended the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan. This eight week summer program brings together many of the most talented young musicians and artists in the country. Most of that summer I was in awe of the talent that surrounded me. In this community, there were many who were more talented than me. I took many lumps, but learned a lot about excellent performance by watching others. Interlochen used to have a summer long concerto competition amongst the best high school musicians. Being a sports nut too, I loved watching competition and as a camper you could go watch the potential performers advance through the rounds in evening performances. The winners would perform at the end of the summer with the camps top orchestra. 

I got hooked on going to these evening preliminary rounds as I was so impressed with the technical expertise of these high school musicians and I wanted to see who would win. One thing all the performers had in common is they were all able to perform their pieces without error. However, it became very clear who the best performers were. The best had a charisma about them that others did not have. The best were able to share their energy with the audience, and the best all smiled a lot before the performance, during the performance and after the performance. The best pulled their audience along with them and by the end the audience and I am sure the judges were pulling for these performers too. 

I still have vivid memories of one of the winners a violinist who attacked his concerto with so much energy, it seemed he would jump out of his seat. He smiled a lot and as an audience you had to enjoy everything about what he was doing. 

Since that time, whenever I play my cello in public, I try to remember to smile a lot. When I do, the reaction to my performance seems to always be positive. 

I think smiling can influence successful sport performance too. My personal sport experience with smiling's influence was during my first marathon which I ran in November 1981. If you read my November 10th Post, you know that I entered the Baltimore Marathon in 1981 on a lark. I was in very good shape but had not run more than 10 miles at any one time previous to the race. So all I wanted to do was finish. I was carried along, though, during much of the race by the fact that I kept seeing people around town that I knew. When I saw them I smiled. I smiled so much I remember people on the sidewalks who did not know me start pointing to me and commenting on the fact that I was running with a smile when most of the people I was running with looked pretty grim -- they were running a marathon after all. That was a near perfect race for me as I ran 2 hours and 38 minutes for 26.2 miles at 19 years of age. 

Did smiling help me that day. I believe so although I have never really put this theory to a rigorous test. But  I found out today others have. On author of The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle's blog post The 1 Second Method he sites the work of Nobel Prize winning scientist Daniel Kahneman who was able to show that our facial expression matters even when we do not feel the underlying emotion. Smiling made people behave "in swifter, more intuitive ways" and "frowning made them more deliberate and rational." Since behaving in swifter and intuitive ways is more important during performance than being deliberate and rational, Coyle and others conclude it is important to smile especially right before starting a performance. 

So when you are faced with your next performance, no matter how you are feeling about it, smile a little. My real life experience and now research on brain chemistry suggest it ought to help.