Play In The Zone - Unlock Your Performance Reviews 184

I have just joined, and have been working on the course material. I have noticed an improvement already!
Also the community forum is very friendly, supportive and helpful.
Part of the sign up is a six week bootcamp. I’m looking forwards to starting that this weekend.
There are also regular emails from Mark which are very thought provoking and enjoyable.

'Unlock your Performance' is helping me to perform better under pressure and to perform to the best of my ability. It addresses the mental aspects of performing rather than the technical aspects of making music and I am not aware of any other similar courses. Making weekly recordings puts what is learned to the test and Mark Morley-Fletcher gives regular feedback and ideas for further improvement.

The material is comprehensive and presented very well. The videos and downloadable materials are top notch! Mark is very responsive and takes an interest in his students. Now I understand why I feel the way I do before performances and better yet, how I can get past it and play my best!
I cannot recommend this course enough!

I am very pleased with this course - although I was aware of some of the concepts before, this has put them into context with very clear aims and objectives, and weekly assignments. Mark keeps in touch with us via email very often, to make sure we are on track. I know I have improved my musical skills and possibly life skills as well. I would certainly recommend the course, if you are looking to overcome mental obstacles to your becoming a better musical performer.

Love it love it love it. As a performing regularly performing musician this really helps you to focus on the right things and disregard the wrong things. Preoccupation with things that are not relevant to playing creates a lot of attention a lot of pressure consumes a lot of time. But one point I do want to make that is worth mentioning, make sure you get your tone right from the start because if you don't you're going to be preoccupied and fighting your tone controls all night long wondering if you sound good and that in and of itself creates pressure tension and stress.

My experience with Mark’s programs have been amazing. He truly cares about musicians getting the most out of themselves.

Mark’s course is exactly what I was hoping for and more: an evidence-based, thoroughly researched series of modules that work together to tackle, in a realistic and practical way, the mental aspect of performing music. There are no magic solutions offered, you have to put in the work, but I found the 6 week bootcamp challenges very manageable (I work full time), and rewarding.

The series of talks are professionally delivered and offer plenty of inspiration and the accompanying PDF’s are extremely well put together, densely packed and well worded with concise information. I will return to this material many times as I develop the various skills Mark teaches.

Much of the course takes an analytical approach to engaging the non-analytical, creative side of the brain we use when performing music at our best, which is a fascinating and fairly elusive endeavour, but something you CAN practice. It also gets you to take a very no-nonsense look at your fears around making mistakes as well as building on past achievements, all of which I found genuinely freeing and useful. It’s about mindset as much as anything else and developing positive self-talk in a thoughtful way, not merely offering you glib affirmations.

I’m very sceptical about dodgy psychology or magical thinking and you’ll find little-to-none of that here. The course is peppered with inspirational quotes but of the practical variety, nothing pumped up or vacuous. You will be encouraged to adopt relatively straightforward centering and breathing techniques but again this is for practical purposes and quite a long way from some of the more fluffy mindfulness practices currently floating around.

Mark was very responsive and thought provoking to the Bootcamp emails and community posts which I found really helpful and lifted this course above a one-way self help product.

Finally, I found the process of filming, uploading and thinking about performances incredibly important and the community of musicians (at all levels) quite lovely and definitely inspiring. If you are tired of seeing nothing but flawless musicianship posted on social media this is quite a tonic!

I came away fortified with a useful array of techniques to practice, adapt and amalgamate into my musical life as well as my personal life. There is a lot here to contemplate and build one’s confidence with for many years to come. It is also helping me to rediscover some of the joy of playing in a group which I had lost through a persistent frustration at myself which I now see as quite needless.

"Unlock Your Performance" is a really wonderful tool, very, very helpful for me! Mark Morley-Fletcher's ability to teach is great! I appreciate the logically well thought out structure of his course, which is easy to understand and also to apply. And I also appreciate his ability to listen out, what each single one of his "pupils" really, really needs. I feel personally very well "looked after". I may ask questions, whenever there is a need for me and I always get back very helpful personal answers from him. Mark is a very kind, competent, responsible and experienced teacher, and as I can see and hear, his teaching success is generally great, not only for me but also for so many of his pupils!
My playing cello is improving enormously! Thank you, Mark!
Annette Hackenberg from Munich

Great Course! I've learned a lot and I will work on transforming many of the things Mark teached me. Mark - thank you very much for this course - I am very pleased to meet you and learning from you.

Still at the beginning, "Unlock your Performace" turned out to be a mind changer in improving my instrumental and mental skills. For me, as a hobby to semi-professional musician, I already learnd a lot and I look forward to the ongoing course and valuable information in Mark's "Play in the Zone" platform. Great value, worth to spend your time and effort, thanks to Mark's clear and useful explanations !

So far, for me, the 6 modules of the course has been the best source of information, topics to think about and strategies to practice.
My experience is not a criticism of the course, it's just that I haven't been able to keep up the pace. Besides that, understandably a course like this assumes you can navigate the IT side of things which is not so easy when you're nearly 80 with the most basic of computer background. While I'm still thinking about 'self belief' and 'centreing' and putting them into practice, several more emails arrive which I haven't been able to deal with. Also, I haven't yet got the hang of engaging with people in the Community Forum, and haven't made the time to check in. It's like I'm a bit lost in a new school.
Then, I inadvertently found myself on the receiving end of Bootcamp emails, before I'm ready to do that. I'm concerned about getting altogether too far behind.
What I am most impressed with is that if you make a comment, it is appropriately, helpfully responded to.
I'm sticking with this programme - I like the content and good ethical management and I'll get my IT act together.

I had skipped the YouTube advert several times in order to get to music tutorial I was actually interested in. Then one day I listened to advert and signed up for the masterclass. Mark Morley-Fletcher's delivery is calm and engaging. He doesn't teach you how to play your specific instrument, but rather the tools how to perform to your highest level, which is very unique. I'm part of a recorder group, and although I'm new to the instrument (let's not include primary school years!) someone recently said I have a gift for playing, and I can attribute this to UYP. I've now signed up for Bootcamp, and I'm looking forward to one day playing at a virtuosic level.

Most excellent program! I feel more confidence already. I made a video yesterday and felt much more relaxed and confident about doing it. Thanks Mark! Mark is an excellent trainer!

Superb course. So much of what Mark says makes sense of what seemed to be random events. And the references he gives to the people who did the research and analysis behind what's going on are just as interesting and transformative.

Mark has done an amazing job of breaking down the process of performing. He provides a set of exercises that develop the skills needed to perform at your best. Don't expect to master these skills by the time the course ends, but you will have all the tools necessary to continue to progress on your own.

I had to do an important gig after only 5 weeks of the course, and I performed at higher level than I had ever experienced before. I was better able to manage the nerves and excitement that go along with performing, and I felt confident to take more chances. I know that things will only get better from this point on.

Thank you, Mark!

I am very much enjoying the Unlock Your Performance course. I can only go quite slowly because of life's demands, but this course is very flexible and allows me to go at my own pace, and go back over previous modules if I want to consolidate them.
The course is full of helpful tips and encouraging advice. I like the emphasis on the need to develop mental skills as part of learning to play music, which is not usually taught on music courses. The tone is uplifting, with inspiring quotes and examples, and the regular emails are also very supportive.

Mark course is greath. Do it. This stuff can change your life, not just your music.

I leave 4 star because 5 would mean it's perfect and, has Mark say's it self, perfection is a illusion. There always room for improvement. ;-)

This course is a valuable help when it comes to the topic of mental strength for musicians. Much, if not all, of the relevant content is covered. For me, some of it was already known, but I have dealt with the whole topic before. So I am happy to recommend this course to those who want to take their performance skills to a new level.

Innovative, effective and fun course with great, accessible support. Although it is a self-paced course, the daily inspiring emails make sure you stick to the course and, in fact, look forward to the next day's email.