Have you read Performing in The Zone?
Click here to write a review!

"You don't know how much these techniques helped me"
-- Ionel Cristea, clarinet soloist

"The best book on mental training since the Inner Game series. Highly recommended"
-- N. Schacherer, musician and lifestyle coach

"Gorrie has tackled head on what many in the music business consider a 'White Elephant'. 'The Zone's' strongest attribute is that it deals with a difficult and largely ignored topic in a clear, concise fashion. Recommended reading for beginners, amateurs and professionals alike."
-- Andre Cavanagh, musical performer, conductor, and teacher

"This is a very thorough treatise on performance preparation. I would recommend it to anyone working along these lines." Read more.
-- Nick Drozdoff, internationally renowned trumpet performing artist, former trumpet player with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra.

"I think what you have put together in your book "Performing in The Zone" is going to be a great gift to performers in every venue. I am so happy to see that you not only tell performers what to do, but also give them the tools and skills that show them how to do it. That is rare indeed. Thank you for your contribution to the music industry"
-- Carol Kirkpatrick - author, Aria Ready - The Business of Singing

"Life involves a series of performances. This book is essential reading. It offers a wise path through the noise of ego toward the clear communication between souls."
-- Enid Wood, violin teacher

"YOUR BOOK IS STELLAR!!!!!"
-- Judy Hages, Voice teacher - The Art of Bel Canto

"I'm presently half way through the book and I have already found it very helpful. Returning to performing after a break of over 10 years has made me quite anxious and nervous and this book is certainly helping me. Thank you."
-- Sherine Prins, Voice Student/Teacher

"This is not just a book but a workbook, a true workbook. It has questions to answer, goals to set, journals to write and more with clear and easy directions for everything. The book really involves the reader which is an absolute necessity for authentic and lasting change... I feel it can benefit anyone looking to make a positive change in their life." Read more.
-- Peter Tambroni, double bass player and educator.

"Your book 'Performing in the Zone' had a profound impact on me, and helped me to get past debilitating anxiety when dancing in a performance arena...Thank you for being a guidepost along the way of this journey."
-- Deborah

"This is an awesome book that really helps with performance anxiety and a host of other issues that hold me back from performing at my full potential. I wish I had this book, when I had my "big" audition for bass player in the National Symphony in Washington, DC back in the late 70s.
The techniques in Jon’s book, Performing in the Zone have already helped me and have motivated me to use this technique in my work environment when preparing for meetings, in addition to performing music. Thanks, Jon."
-- Jim Ford

Have you read Performing in The Zone?

Click here to write a review!

Bass Musician Magazine

Have you ever gone to a concert, a play, a sports event or even your favorite restaurant and just been blown away by how amazing it was? Superior performance in all aspects of life is much more that a mere coincidence! Performing in the Zone by Jon Gorrie was written to help you take a thorough look at yourself and take your performing (and anything in your life) to the next level.

First we are presented with the 'Theory behind this Process where we get acquainted with the parameters of performance. Next we are given the many techniques we can use to get situated where we need to be for optimal performance. Next, we formalize the process by establishing a program to accomplish our goals. Lastly, we are given the keys to dig even deeper in the pursuit of that "Zone"

All in all, the clear and concise text and numerous exercises make this an excellent "workbook for success". Anyone can apply the many lessons here to achieving a superior result in anything they choose.

Want to maximize your potential? Read this book!

-- Raul Amador, Bass Musician Magazine

Pan: The Journal of the British Flute Society

Any book that offers effective techniques to help overcome performance anxiety is always welcomed by flutists and the greater musical community. Performing in the Zone: Unleash Your True Performing Potential by Jon Gorrie is an excellent new resource. Gorrie guides readers through a large number of both basic and innovative techniques and presents a Twelve Week Performance Success Program that provides a structured format to help readers apply them.

Gorrie is a professional trumpet player originally from New Zealand who currently lives in Sweden. Writing in an easy-to-read, conversational style, Gorrie shares his own story of struggling with performance anxiety. He talks about important issues such as breathing, time management, body language, feigning confidence, avoiding negative people, and practicing performance. His discussions overflow with sound techniques to help performers of all kinds build confidence in high pressure performance situations. These techniques are presented thoughtfully and based on sound principles.

Gorrie begins by expanding on the Performance Equation first introduced by Barry Green in his book, The Inner Game of Music. While Green’s parameters include actual performance level, best performance level, and performance with (internal) interference, Gorrie’s Alternative Performance Equation ingeniously incorporates a number of vitally important factors: cognitive and physical attributes, external interference, and the appropriateness of the player’s performance arousal level. Integrating these factors gives much greater depth to our understanding of the outcome of performance.

...For anyone who seeks more control over their performances on stage, Performing in the Zone is highly recommended.

-- Helen Spielman, Pan: The Journal of the British Flute Society

The Strad Magazine

I’m not a big fan of self-help books – although does anybody ever admit to being a fan of them? – but the more I read of this one, the more I liked it. It’s aimed not just at musicians, but also actors, public speakers and sports people, to name but a few, and is trying to help you to get into the ‘Zone’ – a place where optimal performance is possible.

Inevitably, browsing the contents page would be enough to put off the fainthearted: references to ‘laughing yoga’ and ‘visualisations’ made my heart sink a little, and it was impossible not to give in to a smutty snigger at the constant references to ‘performance arousal’.

But suspend your disbelief for a while and press on – it’s worth it. The book is written by New Zealand-born trumpeter and fellow at London’s Trinity College Jon Gorrie, and cherry-picks from different schools of thought as diverse as neurolinguistic programming and sports psychology to compile a raft of different techniques for performers to try in order to get into a positive frame of mind, in a way that is sure to have an impact not just on performing but on life generally.

It opens with a chapter on the theory behind the techniques, but suggests that if you’re not too bothered about the research you could dive straight into the second chapter, which focuses on the techniques themselves.

Gorrie explains that ‘performance arousal’ is a phenomenon that can have positive effects by improving our level of performance or combatting negative effects that can prevent us from performing to our full potential. The book offers practical exercises to learn how to control these effects. There’s a lot of repetition in the theory chapter, but the techniques portion has some very useful suggestions, for example on breaking the cycle of anxiety about performing; the importance of feigning confidence in speech and body language; ways of practising performance; and meditation to help you into a relaxed frame of mind.

Then there’s the twelve-week programme, which is a bit like a be-yourown- life-coach method. It builds from initially spending 30 to 60 minutes a day making sure your diet is right and working 30 minutes of moving and stretching into your daily routine, to week twelve, in which you should be spending two to three hours a day on exercises that include doing qigong or t’ai chi and ‘free writing’ to help free you from emotional barriers. This might sound tough to fit into your day, but Gorrie emphasises the importance of intelligent time management: locking the TV in the loft is one of his suggestions. Tough talk! But the techniques section in particular is great to dip into and covers so many different approaches that you’re bound to find a few that work for you. There’s also a reference section at the back listing a bibliography and online resources to follow up. If you ignore the occasional bit of psychobabble then this highly readable book could be of real value.

-- Catherine Nelson, The Strad Magazine, Nov. 2009

Vocals Magazine

Has the mathematics and sciences taken center stage in your fundamental learning? Wondered if your anxieties ever affected your ability to perform in front of a crowd, or even one person? When performing, do you feel something is just not quite right? Does it rack your nerves wondering if you were a any good at all in your delivery?

Then get your copy of Jon Gorrie’s book, Performing in the Zone. This Performance ‘Wake-up call” can unlock your anxieties, grease the skids, and help you land the performance consistently. But really, what is the zone? How do I know if I’ve really entered the zone? Have I really mastered and have full control of when I want, more importantly, when I need to get and stay in the zone?

Jon’s extensive background in international study of music, theatrics, and performance, takes the guesswork out and delivers what every performer should have in their toolbox. This is a book that explains the physiological, psychological, and mathematical understanding of a ‘nailed’ performance.

Get your copy now, learn the techniques that have driven the success of performers around the world. From tinkering karaokes to 10,000 seat audiences, this book will answer all the 'What If's?'

Inside this book is a 12 week Performance Success Program. Success strategies are laid out in a chaptered ladder to your success. Overcome your fears, diminish your self-criticism, and accentuate your bravado in this pearl of the seven seas. Are you ready to get your dreams underway and live the life you know you have within you? Then what are you waiting for? The written invitation?

Well, you’re reading it here. Find it on amazon.com

-- Vocals Magazine December 2009

Performing in the Zone contains concrete exercises and tips on how to handle your nerves and balance your energy when performing and auditioning. Many books of this type can be a little `flakey', but this book is hands on and to the point. If you are having problems with performance anxiety I definitely suggest ordering this book! I'm very happy about having it and see it as a godsend.

Thanks to the exercises in the book I recently experienced my first audition as an opera singer where I was in the driver's seat and not a victim of my nerves. I look forward to my upcoming auditions for the rest of the Autumn with excitement!!!

-- Soprano. Review sourced from amazon.com

As a teacher and performer I thought this book had such specific and practical tools to help with 'having to be perfect during a performance'. It has made a difference to me as well as to my students.

-- Operatic. Review sourced from amazon.com