Today I'm going to talk about a very common thing that I believe every musician and human being has experienced at some point of their life. For us musicians, it's like our enemy, our worst friend.
Common questions are: what is stage fright?, why do we have stage fright? and how to stop it?
Well, first of all I'm not an expert or a professional; I'm a student. But for the past two years I've learned how not to think about it and at the end not feel it which improved my performance in all aspects.
Stage fright is a fear or an anxiety that we experience, in most cases, when we are doing something that is very important for us, something that we care about and at the end something that might even determinate our future.
Having stage fright is nothing wrong, in fact it's a normal thing. It can even help us and make our performance better. However, in some people it can be very expressed and present whenever they do something that matters, for example when having a concert.
How do we know when we have a stage fright?
It's definitely not a hard thing to recognize. The one's usually feeling nervous and scared at that time, the symptoms the person experiences are usually the ones that include shaking (voice, hands, legs, etc.), racing heart, blushing, stiffness (hands, fingers, legs, etc.), nausea, rashes, excessive sweating (face, neck, hands, etc...), cold hands, sudden warmth, dry mouth, dizziness and even fever in some cases. If you experience(d) any of these symptoms on your important day or event, it means you have a stage fright. And don't worry because you are not alone in this. Even some great artists still suffer from it.
Why do we have stage fright?
In my opinion it's because you care about what you have to do/are doing at that very moment. It's something that's important to you, you want to show your best self, but also because you, in some cases, have a respect for the audience that's listening to you. If you didn't care about them or about whether you'll make mistakes or not, most likely you wouldn't be so scared about it. In the other hand, sometimes we have stage fright because we feel like we didn't prepare well or not worked enough on the project we are representing. Well, being nervous can just make things worse so I'm going to give you a few tips and advices on how to get rid of it.
How to stop it?
First of all, always prepare yourself to the maximum, for us musicians it's all those hard places such as passages, double steps etc. You have to make it all very secure so be sure that you practice enough and effectively. Next thing is that you have to have in mind that the mistakes might and can always happen, you have to extra prepare yourself on things such as those. (Tip: Whenever you don't practice but you are doing something else, take a 1 minute break, hands on the instrument and play once just that one or few risky and hard bars. After you've done it you can go do something else again.)
Last thing is to act wisely and steadily on the scene (or before). Do not chat with others too much, especially if they are showing how nervous they are. It will just make you feel worse. Always have a bottle of water just in case you get dehidrated because it does happen sometimes. Do not, under any circumstances, overpractice right before your performance. This can actually ruin everything you've ever done with that piece. Last 15-30 minutes before your performance should pass without playing, being at a quiet place where you can stay fully concentrated. Before that you can go through your repertoire (only critical places!!!) very slowly and calmly one time, do not play too quickly or else you might end up messing it all on the scene. Before you get on the stage, remember - it's just you and your instrument. Your time to shine. Your time to create. Your time to show everyone your best, how much you can do. Do not peek or count how many people there are in audience, you shouldn't care about it. You play for them, to make them entertained, but you also play for yourself, right?
I know this might be the hardest thing to do but really try to focus only on music. And remember: A few mistakes do not make your performance bad - playing it with no pleasure and no feelings makes it bad! We are human creatures, not machines.
Good luck!
