Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top (Collection), 2/e

43. Presentation Advice from Pianist Murray Perahia: Concentration Creates Control

Murray Perahia is one of the most acclaimed classical pianists in the field. Along the career path to his acclaim, Mr. Perahia was fortunate to have had help from several giants of classical music; the most influential was his teacher, the legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz. But according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “One thing Mr. Perahia seems not to have absorbed from Horowitz is the latter’s legendary stage fright.”^F43.1.

Stage fright is, indeed, the stuff of fearsome legend, affecting the public appearances of musicians, actors, and our particular area of interest—public speakers. The cold, clammy hand of dread that grips speakers with such paralyzing ...