Sieger Roorda: the importance of mental preparation for performance

Sieger Roorda, mental performance consultant

Text : Véronique Gauthier

Photos : Marianne Charland

It’s something we regularly hear in the field of opera: “Classical singing is a vocal Olympics.” Similar to a high-level sporting event, singing on stage requires rigorous training of one’s instrument, and also solid mental preparation.

Most sports teams seek the guidance of a mental preparedness coach. In music, this practice remains somewhat marginal, though it is increasingly (and thankfully!) gaining ground. The young artists of the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal are fortunate to draw on the expertise of Sieger Roorda to guide and help them develop tools throughout their journey in the program and beyond.

A KAYAKING CELLIST

Born in Holland and raised in Montreal, Sieger was exposed to the worlds of sports and music from a very young age. His mother was a professional violinist, and he grew up surrounded by music. For 20 years, he played the cello, including in youth orchestras, as well as guitar, as part of a band that travelled across Canada.  

Concurrently with music, he played soccer, basketball, and trained in swimming and diving, before cultivating a passion for canoe and kayak at age 15. He soon became deeply committed to the sport, training six days per week and adopting a way of life that had long enticed him, that of an athlete. “It was truly in the sports world that I developed an interest in mental training. I had a knack for it, and I knew immediately that I wanted to become a coach so I could help others.”

A BOOK THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

After digging into In Pursuit of Excellence by Terry Orlick, a book that a trainer had lent him, the young kayaker found his path. “In the 1980s, Terry Orlick was the first in Canada, even in North America, to speak about sports psychology. He is very well known in the field, and I had the opportunity to meet him. It’s thanks to him that I kept going in my studies.”

Around the age of 16, he was persevering in the sport with the certainty of going into psychology. “I wanted to gain experience, expose myself as long as I could to the reality of being an athlete, and learn everything I could.” After completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology in Montreal, he embarked on a master’s in human kinetics in Ottawa, specializing in mental performance.  

“Even while it was very sports-oriented, my research is applicable in any performance-related field. I always knew that working with musicians was also something I wanted to do.”

THE PRESSURE OF THAT CRUCIAL MOMENT

Like Olympic athletes, opera singers work very arduously for months to perfect what they will perform during an evening, or even for only a few minutes. Tremendous pressure rests on this one moment in which the fruits of their enduring efforts must crystallize.  

“The danger of minimizing mental preparation lies in giving disappointing performances, or what we call choking. When the moment came, we were not able to put forward the best version of ourselves. The risk is one of disappointing ourselves and disappointing others, because we know we were able to do better.”

Mental preparation is, thereby, essential, like physical training for an athlete. “We go to the gym because we want to improve our fitness and get stronger. And that’s just what we do with our brains in mental preparation. Understanding how we can enter a situation comfortably and confidently, and give the best of ourselves, takes work. But what we achieve in this respect can be applied in all areas of our lives.”

A TOOLBOX FOR PERFORMING ONE'S BEST

Sieger’s work with the Atelier lyrique happens through individual consultations and in group workshops, he latter once a month. “Very often, I will try to bring something concretely applicable to where the artists are in their trajectories, and that connects with what they have on the horizon. At the start of the year, I present them with concepts in more of a lecture format, but as we advance, the workshops become more collaborative. I want the artists to feel comfortable sharing with each other, and for each person to be invested in their own process. My approach is to convey that at some point, we all become performance pros.”

IdentifY WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL

A key tool is to clearly distinguish what is within our control. “We often view stress as a negative factor, while it’s only natural to feel it. Stress helps us to survive. Our aim is never to eliminate or escape from it, but rather to experience how we can exercise a certain control over our bodies: we can lower our own heart rates, focus on our breathing, and come back to an optimal performance zone.”

Understanding the sources of our stress can also have a calming effect. “If we know why something arises, we are better equipped to manage it accordingly. If someone doesn’t know why they feel stressed during a performance, my aim with them will be to try to target the cause. If we can pinpoint the source of our stress, then we can develop a plan to better manage it as a result.”

InternaliZe YOUR CONFIDENCE

When we are younger, it is often by comparison with others that we come to discover our particular abilities. (“Hey, I think I am good at singing, so I’ll continue to take lessons.”) Accordingly, comparison becomes a benchmark for building up our confidence.

“However, the more we excel at something, the more the competition intensifies, and our confidence becomes more fragile since it is fuelled by this relativity with others,” explains Sieger. “There is where we have a tipping point. We need to figure out how to compare ourselves only with ourselves. How to give ourselves goals for improvement, focus on our own progress, and internalize our confidence such that it doesn’t depend on the outward gaze. This is another aspect that I work on with artists.”

collaboration OVER compEtition

What this consultant especially enjoys about his work with the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal is the camaraderie that develops between singers, that palpable absence of competition within the dynamics of the program. “In the sports world, internal competition runs high within teams and clubs. Some athletes even look upon their teammates as rivals. But that isn’t what’s encouraged here, and I’m truly lucky to work with artists who seize the opportunity they have to support one another and collaborate.”

IT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN

Does he see himself continuing this adventure with the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal, on into the future, after being welcomed to its own team only last year? “Absolutely! It’s a joy to work with such motivated people. It’s important to me that we normalize the process of preparing mentally to perform, and I was really welcomed with open arms. As soon as I got here, I felt at home.”