One of the blogs I follow religiously is the one written by Dr. Noa Kageyama, a sports psychologist who is on the faculty of the Juilliard School of Music. His blog, The Bulletproof Musician, addresses performing strategies for musicians so that they can overcome stage fright and performance anxiety. I really liked reading today’s post, called “How to Get People to Come to Your Next Performance.” As my husband, Carl Crosier, has said for years, it’s a crying shame if you work really hard to create a great performance and nobody comes to your concert. Even though Carl is probably talking about doing the publicity right, it’s of even greater importance to present a product that is worthy of someone’s attendance.

Dr. Kageyama, though, was writing about preparing the audience to hear the ensuing performance and included a video by Eric Booth. Watch it here.

I would like to add that in order to make a connection with the audience, the performer must “play with the heart,” and not sound like a robot. You may remember from a post I wrote about hearing Marie-Claire Alain play a private recital for Carl and myself, that what made her performance so memorable was that she made the music sound so expressive and heartfelt, like she was telling a story. Yet she didn’t give us any verbal program notes or say anything to us before playing.

Someone asked me recently what I’m working on, and if you had asked me a few days ago, I would have answered that I’m still looking for a project. The dates haven’t been been confirmed yet, but here’s what is on the not-too-distant horizon:

• A concert at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Kula, Maui, to celebrate the restoration of their Oberlinger organ. The program was postponed from last fall due to personnel transitions. I plan to play several selections from Bach’s “Great Eighteen Chorales,” in addition to music by other composers.

• Another Bach MasterWorks concert, except that in addition to me playing the organ, Carl will also play works for harpsichord. I’ve been working on Bach’s Canonic Variations plus several large preludes and fugues.

• A Mozart chamber music concert with Carl at the fortepiano, plus strings and clarinet. The inspiration for this was a concert we attended at last year’s Boston Early Music Festival.

• As the artistic director of Early Music Hawaii, Carl is involved in their season’s programs. He is planning to present a program next fall with all women singing music by women composers.

We are also tentatively planning a trip to music festivals in England and France this summer, as listeners not performers. Now, that will be the most fun!