Tips For Reducing Your Performance Anxiety
Are you a musician who suffers from performance anxiety? Well, relax, you’re normal! Almost ALL musicians are nervous before their shows, especially ones performing their first few gigs. Here are a few tips based on my experiences to help you to face and overcome your anxieties, and learn to enjoy the show (and give your best performance)!
Tip 1: You’re not as nervous as you seem to be.
I leaned this in the classroom rather than on the stage. As a young adult I was so nervous to speak in front of people that when I returned to night school I purposely scheduled my Public Speaking class first, figuring if I could get through that I could easily complete the rest of the degree program.
The night of my first speech came, and I was a mess. After I was done with my rambling presentation, the class ‘critiqued’ my speech. Although I felt like a nervous wreck, people said that I didn’t look nervous at all.
Really? How does that work? The professor said that people are hyper sensitive to their ‘normal’ self, and feel more nervous inside than perceived by others. Lesson learned, and a game-changer for me: you can have performance anxiety , feel nervous and worked up inside, and most people won’t even notice!
Tip 2: Relax; even if you mess up, most people won’t hear you mistakes.
I’ve performed almost 1000 shows since the early 80’s. I’ve made a LOT of mistakes in shows, and can say with utmost confidence that most people never notice them, even the bigger mistakes. Sure, you’ll hear them yourself, but the important thing is that you recover and continue with the show.
I often bring new performers to play in shows with me, and sure, there’s a bad chord here and there, but when it happens they get back on track and continue on, and nobody notices. That’s just how it works for performers; occasional mistakes are ‘normal’.
So remember that EVERYONE makes mistakes now and then; that’s a fact of life. Recover and continue on. After the fact, focus on the good parts of your performances, not the 1% mistakes… because everyone really hears the 99%.
A typical open-mic event is a great place for performer to build their performance experience.
Tip 3: Perform as much as you can.
A new performer is like a passenger in a car… the trip just happens; a seasoned performer is the driver, taking control and steering his or her performance to where they want it to go.
When I was a new performer I was nervous like everyone else. It took lots of shows before I became comfortable in that role, and moved from the passenger to the driver. But the key is to perform as much as you can to make this happen. If you are taking lessons, and your studio offers recitals, go out of your comfort zone a bit and sign up for each one (our recitals are always a mix of younger and adult performers). Look for open mics and other performance opportunities. As the performances pile up, you’ll find that you become more comfortable and confident performing, and you’ll begin to perform at your best.
I have found over time that experienced musicians perform at their best because they are in tune with what their audience “sees and hears” when they perform, and that is learned through experience.
I hope these tips help to reduce your performance anxiety and become the performer that you’ve always wanted to be; now schedule your next performance and continue to build your performance experience!
If you have performance anxiety and would like coaching, NHTunes can help! Contact us HERE and we will send you more information on our coaching options.
