Resources

Useful and inspiring performance books

• Psychology for Performing Artists, Glenn D. Wilson. This was the source of most of the stage-fright related information on this blog. Other chapters also quite useful and interesting.
• A Soprano On Her Head, Eloise Ristad. Wonderful resource for singers and performers, and coaches who work with them.
• The Art Of Possibility, Rosamund and Benjamin Zander. A very inspiring book for performers and teachers.
• Audition, Michael Shirtleff. A classic for actors who want to work. Very practical advice and understanding that is applicable to all performers.
• Free Play, Stephen nachmanovitch. A book about improvisation that really opened my eyes to the true nature of performance.
• True and False, David Mamet. A heretical, truthful book about acting that turns everything on its head and makes an awful lot of sense.
• An Actor Prepares. Stanislavski. The first in his trilogy on method acting. As the back cover says, the only comprehensive theory of acting we possess.
• Stage Performance. Livingston Taylor, 2000. A great book about how to be a performing musician, with lots of anecdotes and philosophy that will be useful to anyone who performs on stage.