The taboo tablet

More and more string players rely on beta blockers, but few are open about using them. Catherine Nelson talks to musicians and medical experts about the drugs’ risks and benefits, and why their use is still such a sensitive subject

‘I use a beta-blocker every time I play a solo or first violin in a performing chamber group. Without it I don’t have control over my vibrato or my bow because my hands shake. I still hesitate to play solos but do not fear them as much as I used to.’

Violinist Dottie Goldfarb, from California, is just one of many players who have an intense, adverse reaction to performance stress, and for whom beta-blockers are a godsend, allowing them to conquer their fear enough to perform. A 1987 study showed that 27 per cent of US professional orchestral musicians were taking beta-blockers occasionally to control their nerves. In a US report in January this year, a senior violin tutor from the University of Minnesota School of Music suggested that between 80 and 90 per cent of professional musicians take them before orchestral auditions. Evidence is anecdotal because there have been no recent studies in the US or Europe, but the trend for musicians to reach for the beta-blockers when under extreme stress is clearly on the up.

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The taboo tablet

COMMENTS (3) Add Your Comment

As an amateur violinist, I don''t often face stressful performance situations. But I do have a slight tremor, called "essential," "benign," or "familial," depending upon the doctor I''ve talked to. Propranolol does seem to control this tremor, and I can work through Sevcik Opus 3, which is one of my favorite pastimes. I''m thankful for Scottish scientist James W. Black for developing this medication.
David Fowler ( 04 August 2010)

The Strad''s sensationalist headline ''Drugs in performance: we expose the truth'' epitimises the problem perfectly. In fact, nothing was exposed at all, several musicians were interviewed discussing the well-known status-quo that some people take them, some don''t, and it''s generally a personal choice which people prefer to keep that way. The ''taboo''will take a long time to break if discussion is invited through tabloid-scandal style headlines!
Anna Hamilton ( 11 August 2010)

I am a medical doctor and a violinist. There are two untruths in your article about beta-blockers that I wish to debunk right away. Firstly, they are NOT performance enhancing drug, and secondly, they are NOT addictive. They do not make you a better musician, do not give you technique that you have not got, but they do help you to play the way you want to play, if you are unfortunate enough to suffer excessively from the side effects of adrenaline.
John Au ( 28 August 2010)

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