How to handle audition-day nerves without medication

About 30% of orchestral musicians use beta blockers (propranolol, mostly) for auditions. They work. They blunt the physical symptoms of adrenaline. But they have a hidden cost: they also blunt your capacity to bring intensity to a phrase. The pros use them strategically. The amateurs use them as a crutch. There is a better default, which is to teach your nervous system that the audition is not actually dangerous.