Barbra Coco Laurré has 30 years of experience working with musicians and artists, and one of her core areas of interest is stress management. She also works as a psychotherapist and teaches many professionals in the health and cultural sectors. Laurré is trained in acting and other stage skills and psychotherapy and several additional areas within different types of mental and physical treatment. Since 2020 she has taught the subjects Instrumental Practice, Performance Preparation and Stage Techniques as a university lecturer at the NMH.
Laurré is interested in helping musicians to develop their talent in the best possible way. The feeling of inadequacy or defeat is something that many people have experienced in a field with high expectations of achievement from both themselves and others. She tries to transform the tendency many people have to compare themselves with others into something positive in the life of a musician, which will help them develop.
“Comparisons, and not feeling good enough, are things most people probably recognise in themselves, which we can teach them to use constructively by asking questions, learning and being inspired,” she explains.
She also focuses on the expectation that musicians are supposed to love what they are doing at all times. Even in regular times, the pressure to always be enthusiastic can impact one’s motivation.
“We must learn to practise our instruments in ways that are not based on anxiety or create negative stress patterns.”
