Playing Scared

Sara Solovitch learned to play piano as a young child and fell in love with music. As a teen, she played Bach and Mozart at her hometown's annual music festival, but was overwhelmed by stage fright, which led her to give up aspirations of becoming a professional pianist. In her late fifties, Sara gave herself a one-year deadline to tame performance anxiety and play before an audience. She explored meditation, cognitive therapy, biofeedback, the use of beta blockers and other approaches. Her book chronicles how one woman set out to overcome performance anxiety, a problem encountered by millions of people.