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>> Introduction and Tips for Everyone
Special Tips for Youngsters Special Tips for Advanced Students Tips and Stories from Bloomingdale Faculty Foods to Eat and Foods to Avoid  "There are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars." —Mark Twain |
Conquering
Stage Fright —Bathsheba Marcus Conley INTRODUCTION AND TIPS FOR EVERYONE Your palms are sweaty…there are butterflies in your stomach…your legs are shaking…panic is setting in. What could cause such a physical reaction? Perhaps you are about to go bungee jumping, skydiving, or rock climbing? Maybe, but more likely you are about to perform on an instrument you usually enjoy playing. One thing is definite—we've all been there. Any musician at any stage in his or her life has had to deal with conquering nerves. Mark Twain said that "there are two types of speakers. Those who get nervous and those who are liars." Like public speaking, playing an instrument in public can be an anxiety-filled experience, and there isn't a music student or professional musician around who hasn't felt this way at least once. Why does this happen? The vast majority of us play an instrument because we enjoy it. We relish learning new pieces, exploring sounds, and challenging ourselves to experience new levels of musicality and technical ability. So why then do we sometimes have meltdowns when it comes to sharing our work in public with others? The suggestions below offer some insight as to why musicians get nervous and provide tips to help students of all ages battle their nerves and, hopefully, become more comfortable performers along the way. 1. Be prepared. This is the number one rule for calming your nerves. There is no substitution for knowing your material inside and out before a performance. It would be nice if musicians had ruby red slippers—three clicks of the heels and you're ready to perform! But the reality is it takes a lot more than that. Being nervous is a natural, normal feeling that you will most likely not get over until you have a lot of experience performing, but knowing the material really well gives you one less thing to worry about. Preparation is a hard lesson to learn and most of us will have at least one (if not more) disastrous performance before we realize how important being prepared is. Maybe you can cram for a spelling test (although most English teachers would beg to differ) but you can most definitely not cram for a concert. The sooner you gain the discipline to practice regularly in preparing for a concert, the quicker you will be on a path to overcoming your nerves. 2. Practice performing. We spend a great deal of time making sure we practice the pieces we are performing but often we don't think enough about practicing the actual performance. Doing a run-thru of the piece or pieces you are playing, complete with practicing walking on stage and bowing, is essential to being more comfortable at the actual performance. Going through the process of walking and bowing might make you a little nervous or uncomfortable, even if you are at home. That's a good thing. A little nervousness at home will help you deal with playing through being nervous rather than experiencing that for the first time at the actual performance. Schedule at least two or three run-thrus before your actual concert. Whether you play for parents, spouses, a teacher, or friends, having those practice performances will help create a sense of audience and will take away some of the mystery of how you will react at the actual recital. 3. Perform a lot. This one is short and sweet. To quote Nike's slogan, “Just Do It.” Like anything else, the more you perform, the better and more comfortable you will become on stage. 4. Know your performance space. Anything you can do to help increase your comfort level and familiarity on the day of the performance is important. Make sure you know what the space you are playing in looks like before the actual concert. If you can, try playing your instrument in the space to get used to the acoustics. If you are a pianist, make sure you try your piece on the concert instrument. Every piano is different and you need to find out what notes may be hard to press, how the pedals work, and adjust to the tone and action of the instrument. Know where your backstage is if there is one, figure out where the audience sits if it's a space without fixed seats, and try to get a sense of the room temperature so you know how to dress comfortably for the day of the concert. |
5. Prepare your body, not just your mind. We often think of being nervous as a mental state, but there are things you can do physically to help ready yourself for a performance. First of all, make sure you get a good night of sleep before the performance. Even if you are too excited to feel tired, get into bed and try to read or just close your eyes. More often than not, sleep will come. On the day of the performance, don't overexert yourself. Play through your piece(s), do some practicing under tempo, and maybe take a nap. Don't practice for hours the day of your concert—it never helps. Save the performance for the performance. Eat well, especially making sure you have a good breakfast, but don't eat a huge meal before you play. At the same time, don't play on an empty stomach either—you will be sluggish and lightheaded. Pack a snack and some water to take with you to the recital (Click the link to the left for a list of suggested foods to eat and foods to avoid). Make sure you stretch your arms, neck, and shoulders to try to relax physically before you play. And breathe. When we are nervous and tense many of us hold our breath without realizing it. Slow, steady, focused breathing will help calm any physical manifestation of nerves in your body. Take a few minutes in a calm space before you perform to quiet yourself mentally and physically. 6. Stay in the moment. Stay focused on the music. Don't get ahead of yourself and don't focus on any mistakes you might have made a few moments ago. If you make a mistake, just keep going. DON'T PANIC. Trust your hands and mind to figure things out—this is why you spend so much time practicing. Besides, 90-95% of the time the audience has no idea you've made a mistake unless you show them by laughing, stopping, making a face, or even saying something out loud. Remember, you know the piece you are playing better than anyone else in the audience. Don't think about perfection. There just isn't such a thing as a perfect performance. You are human and chances are something will go wrong. The trick is learning how to deal with wrong notes or other mishaps. Focusing on the details can take the pressure off of trying to play mistake-free. Just listen to the music and sing the melody in your head as you are playing to keep your mind focused on each phrase. And most of all, don't let your mind wander to what you will have for dinner that night, who is in the audience, or why in the world you decided to wear the blue shirt instead of the red one. 7. The audience is your friend. Instead of seeing the audience as people there to be critical of you, try to remember they are really just there to support you and enjoy the music. Try to take the thing that is making you most nervous—playing in front of a lot of people—and use it to your advantage. 8. HAVE FUN! What's the point of all this work if you can't enjoy yourself? Try to remember what it is you love about your instrument and music in the first place. You spend so much time practicing, and at the end of the day, a concert, whether 5 minutes or 2 hours, is only a short span of time relative to all your hard work. Try to just relax and have a good time. Treat the performance as a celebration of your hard work rather than an intimidating experience. A concert is a good goal at the end of a long process. If you can get to the point of enjoying the whole process from learning the first note of a piece to performing it, then the concert just becomes a final, natural step in the process of learning a program, rather than the ultimate test of your nerves.
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