How to overcome stage fear by playing or singing
The nerves don't completely disappear, even with experienced musicians. The goal is to play well with them, and that's how they train.
The stage fear isn't eliminated: it's trained. It's advanced with three tools that work together: a production that goes beyond "at home goes out to me," small presentations before great and concrete resources for the body (breathing, releasing tension) and for the head (what you put care about).
To feel nerves before playing or singing is normal, even with musicians with many years of stage. The difference is that they know what's wrong with their body and have a plan for when they appear.
To sum up
- The nerves are a regular reaction of the body, and the goal isn't to feel them but to play them well.
- A work prepared with a margin, that you can start from several points, is the best defense against fear.
- Exhaling longer than you have inhales and releasing shoulders and mandible helps to lower revolutions before they leave.
- The stage display goes up: record you, play for a person, family and then an audience.
- If you're wrong, go on: public remember the music, not the bad note.
What's wrong with your body when you get nervous
To face a situation that the brain perceives as risky, the body prepares to react: his heart accelerates, his breathing becomes short and high, his blood concentrates on his big muscles. It's useful to run, and not so much to make fine movements with his fingers or to control his air. To know every symptom allows you to have an answer for each one:
| Symptoms | How it affects how you play or sing | What help? |
|---|---|---|
| Cold or sweaty hands | Piano and guitar clumsy fingers, light arch | Warm your hands with warm water and do a short technical exercise |
| Temblor | Unstable arch in violin, an embocture that vibrates in winds | Long notes, feel the arm's weight rather than tighten |
| Dry mouth | Songs and wind instrumentalists lose control | Drying during the day and have water close |
| Short breathing | Phrases run out of air | Low and slow breathing before starting |
| Fast lung | Trend to run the tempo | To think about the first sentence's tempo before playing |
| blank mind | memory lagoon | Anchor points prepared at work |
Be ready with some room: half the work goes by earlier
That's why the play has to be more solid than it looks necessary. These are signs that it's ready to appear:
- The complete and continuous touch, even if there's an error, several times in a row.
- You can start from the start of any section, but not just from the first bar.
- That's how you get at a tempo a little slower and a little faster than that.
- That's how cold you have been with her, but she doesn't get hot, as can be the day of her presentation.
- If you play [piano]](/clases/piano)you have been tested with an instrument different from yours: every keyboard and every pedal responded differently.
- Can you sing the melody or say the chords without the instrument.
If you are to play by memory, work with several memory and not just with his fingers. We explain how [how to memorize a musical piece]](/blog/como-memorizar-una-pieza-musical).
Respiration and body: what to do in previous minutes
While you're waiting for your shift, this isn't the time to go through the whole work.
- He breathes through his nose with up to four and drops his air through his mouth with up to six or eight. He repeats several times: exhales more long than inhales helps many people to calm down.
- Gently scattering arms and hands, put your shoulders up to your ears and drop them.
- Open and close his jaw slowly and his face's tension goes straight to his voice and his mouth.
- Feel your feet put up at the ground and body weight. It looks simple, but it's bringing you back to the present.
- Do a short warming with your instrument or with your voice, without trying to fix anything at the last hour.
If you're singing, air control's even more important. singing classes The breathing works technically and serves you both to better sing and to get more quiet onto stage. breathing exercises to sing.
Gradual exhibition: from your living room to stage
Fear goes down as the experience of playing with others ceases to be new. The key is to step up and repeat each step several times before passing to the following:
| step | To whom | What do you practice? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Your cell phone's filming | Play complete and complete without stop, knowing that there's a record |
| 2 | A person with confidence | That someone looks at you and hears |
| 3 | The family or a group of friends | To introduce and say hi and play |
| 4 | A video call or a short transmission | Touch for people who don't see well |
| 5 | A school audition or a student recital | A real public, in a friendly atmosphere |
| 6 | An open event, a mass, a high school stage | Play under conditions that you don't fully control |
Your class is also a stage: ask your teacher to let you play the complete play, from first to end and without interruption, as if it were the presentation. Then they talk about what happened.
What to think before and during the presentation
Before we start
Change the question "What are they going to think about me?" by "what do I want them to feel about this music?" Take care of the character of the work and mentally sing the first sentence at the right time before playing the first note. A clear start commands everything else.
It also helps to name what you feel otherwise: the advanced heart and extra energy are activated, the same as you feel before something that gets you excited. Do not have to convince yourself to be quiet and simply do not fight with the sensation.
If you're wrong
Keep going. Do not repeat, do not conduct gestures, do not apologize with your face. Jump to the next anchor and continue with your pulse. Most mistakes pass by unnoticed to the public and what you do notice is stop.
After playing: how to learn from each presentation
- Before we judge you, write down three things that went well. Your memory tends to stay with mistakes alone.
- Choose only one thing to get better at next performance.
- Look at that tape the next day, and you're barely going down from the stage and it's been better than you felt.
- Tell your teacher what happened to your nerves to get ready next time.
If your next challenge is to first introduce you, follow our guide to [prepare your first recital]](/blog/como-prepararte-para-tu-primer-recital): That's how you'll find the trial schedule and what to do about the day of the presentation.
Frequently asked questions
The stage fear gets out with the experience?
It usually goes down a lot but rarely goes completely. with every presentation you learn how your body reacts and what works and your nerves move from blocking to giving you power.
Why do my hands tremble as I play with them?
It's part of the body's alert reaction. It helps to heat your hands, to breathe with long exhalations and to think about the arm's weight and to tighten with your fingers. With gradual exposure, the tremor usually goes down.
What do I do if I get blank midway through the song?
Follow his pulse and leap to the next point you have prepared to retake, as the choir or start of a section. That's why we have to rehearse starting from several locations of the work, and not always from the beginning.
How do I help my child if they give him nerves before a performance?
Normalize what you feel, practice entrance and greeting together at home, and after you play talk first about what went well. Avoid phrases as "don't get wrong," that put fair attention to the error.