Performance anxiety?

[Ptarmigan]

I found - First you take a drink then the drink takes a drink then the drink takes you then it's chaos! But we had some fun- I think. I was living the life of Riley but Riley reclaimed his life and walked out on me!

 

I agree, drink only makes you THINK you are playing better, but in my experience it's all an illusion!

 

 

In my opinion, Chris here has the right idea ...... Drinkwater!

 

{ sorry Chris! }

[Gusten]

The thing that has worked for me is to simply perform alot, and play lots and lots of errors. Perform really lousy, in front of the biggest possible crowd.

 

Out of context, it doesn't sound like very good advice, but that's how I've learned to overcome any performance anxiety. Both my parents are music teachers, and I have therefore played on different stages from the age of... well 5 or 6. I'm not a very skilled player on any of the many instruments I've taken up, (I'm the family black sheep, as I studied civil engineering instead of music) in fact I'm surprisingly bad given my background. On the other hand, I've made a fool out of myself oh so many times that it doesn't bother me anymore. I know that it's not the end of the world, and with a little charisma you have the audience on your side no matter how badly you perform. If all fails, at least you can get some sympathy. (I'd love to go listen to the San Francisco Sympathy Orchestra!)

 

So, my point is to seek comfort in all the times things have gone bad, and remember that it still wasn't a total catastrophy. That's how I do it, and I haven't been nervous about performing in many years. Might sound like bad advice, but it's worked for me. Less anxiety leads to more relaxed playing.

[Fergus_fiddler]

Well, I said a couple of pints, not get totally pissed off ...

 

But, seriously, busking is a very good exercise. After a while, you get accustomed to play in public and don't feel embarrased or inhibited anymore.

 

This is me & my friend Alex busking a sunny day:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVT-Qhl2ZNw

 

Cheers

[michael sam wild]

We could end up with drug tests at music competitions after all prizes or money can be won so is it unfair competition?

 

On another thread I mentioned a long discussion on The Session about the way drug takers can mess up sessions , but so can boozers.

 

Many famous artists have sought creativity in mind altering substances, but I suppose that's differen from performance anxiety

 

Just off to Xanadu and the Pleasure Dome for a nice cup of green tea! Then it's get stuck into those reels.

[Pete McLaughlin]

I like what Ratface had to say about getting mentally ready to play in front of a crowd. Stagefright is a mental problem.

You can take the ToastMasters solution. Practice and play in front of audiences who at first are easy to confront like a few children. Then in front of persons who are friendly and then gradually work up to a paying and critical audiences.

You can read the book "Games People Play" by Doctor Eric Berne. He spells out how the compusions and inhibitions we have now are the result of the emotionally charged things that happened when we were children. A hyper critical parent or teacher or fellow students who laughed at you in class could leave you nervous at any public performances now.

 

If you seriously want to find the souce of this problem and fix it go to the site www.tromhelp.com and download and read the free book "The Resolution of Mind" by Dennis Stephens. He provides a self administered therapy to solve the compulsions and inhibitions like stage fright. The therapy does not focus on a specific problem like overeating or stage fright but treats all compusions and inhibitions in general. Stage fright will eventually come up and get handled.

 

Recognizing the problem is half of the solution

 

Pete

[LHMark]

Time and practice are showing themselves to be the key. On the 14th, St Patrick's Day parade day, I dragged my 'tina out for the first time, microvox mics attached, to play with my 'celtic style rock' band in front of 400 wasted plastic paddies. The attached pic shows the audience we had to work with.

 

I was nervous, but got through my numbers with nary a problem. It's a big confidence booster for future performances.

[Pete McLaughlin]

Well Done! LH Mark

[Pete McLaughlin]

I should expand on the ToastMasters Approach.

Get an audience you can confront like a group of 5 year olds. They are very uncritical. Play till you are comfortable with them. Then find an uncritical group of older kids or people in a rest home or kids and their moms. Maybe try playing at the park were people can listen or leave as they like. Only you can judge what audience will make you nervous and what will not. Work your way up to what you consider a tough audience on a gradient.

 

Keep at it, you can do it.

 

pete

[David Levine]

This is a good thread that addresses something important to most of us: how we appear to others. And that is precisely the problem. When you play for other people you start worrying about what they might think rather than paying attention to your music. You have to get into the sound you are making and forget how it might sound to others. It's not easy to do this. As we get older we care more about how we appear to other people: are we good? are we foolish? do they love me? Getting out of this head-set and being less other-directed is, for me, an important part of performing.

 

Part of doing this is the confidence that comes with total self-acceptance. Interestingly enough, Tommy Peoples also suffers from performance anxiety, so we are in good company. And finally, it's important to keep in mind that the audience is rooting for you. They want to love you, they want you to do well and they will overlook any mistakes you might make. It is you, accepting yourself, that is your biggest problem. And me, accepting myself, that is mine.

[Rod]

This is a good thread that addresses something important to most of us: how we appear to others. And that is precisely the problem. When you play for other people you start worrying about what they might think rather than paying attention to your music. You have to get into the sound you are making and forget how it might sound to others. It's not easy to do this. As we get older we care more about how we appear to other people: are we good? are we foolish? do they love me? Getting out of this head-set and being less other-directed is, for me, an important part of performing.

 

Part of doing this is the confidence that comes with total self-acceptance. Interestingly enough, Tommy Peoples also suffers from performance anxiety, so we are in good company. And finally, it's important to keep in mind that the audience is rooting for you. They want to love you, they want you to do well and they will overlook any mistakes you might make. It is you, accepting yourself, that is your biggest problem. And me, accepting myself, that is mine.

 

I often wonder how many musical street buskers perform purely to gain self confidence, with any financial contibutions being passed on for charity.

[Chris Drinkwater]

This is a good thread that addresses something important to most of us: how we appear to others. And that is precisely the problem. When you play for other people you start worrying about what they might think rather than paying attention to your music. You have to get into the sound you are making and forget how it might sound to others. It's not easy to do this. As we get older we care more about how we appear to other people: are we good? are we foolish? do they love me? Getting out of this head-set and being less other-directed is, for me, an important part of performing.

 

Part of doing this is the confidence that comes with total self-acceptance. Interestingly enough, Tommy Peoples also suffers from performance anxiety, so we are in good company. And finally, it's important to keep in mind that the audience is rooting for you. They want to love you, they want you to do well and they will overlook any mistakes you might make. It is you, accepting yourself, that is your biggest problem. And me, accepting myself, that is mine.

 

Expertly analysed and well put, David. Indeed, as you say, part of doing this is the confidence that comes with total self-acceptance. As long as you don't rise above your station and think that you are better than you are. It's taken me a long time to reach the point of maturity in my life, where the little insights into myself, that I have gradually become aware of over the years in relation to my character, personality and what makes me tick and react, have come together sufficiently well to enable me consciously appraise myself and how I feel in any given situation and choose not to be nervous, to be relaxed, happy, etc.

 

Chris

[Simon H]

My strategy for this has been to purchase a fisherman's smock and go and sit on a bollard in a local touristy fishing village harbour and practice a few times. I'm hoping this will build the confidence.

I'm at the stage where I have good and bad times at our local friendly session, if a couple of new faces or talented musicians turn up, my playing suffers from nerves. If the friendly faces are there, I'm encouraged and things go better.

[Bill N]

You have to get into the sound you are making and forget how it might sound to others. It's not easy to do this. As we get older we care more about how we appear to other people: are we good? are we foolish? do they love me? Getting out of this head-set and being less other-directed is, for me, an important part of performing.

 

Part of doing this is the confidence that comes with total self-acceptance. ... finally, it's important to keep in mind that the audience is rooting for you. They want to love you, they want you to do well and they will overlook any mistakes you might make. It is you, accepting yourself, that is your biggest problem. And me, accepting myself, that is mine.

 

Very true. I had a lesson in perspective last night at the folk club song circle I started to attend recently. Sitting next to me was a gentleman with some sort of condition which made speech and muscle control very difficult for him. He performed a piece he had written for voice and guitar. It was halting and slow, and was obviously requiring a supreme effort of concentration on his part. The words were not intelligible, but the combination of his vocalizations and simple single string guitar melody was hauntingly beautiful for all that. Some of the patrons in the pub were visibly uncomfortable, but the members of the circle listened with patience and appreciation. Once we had the drift of his song, some gentle and sensitive harmonies were supplied by the group. He finished to warm applause.

 

I was still nervous when my time came to perform a piece with some new-to-me techniques (Northern Lass, learned from Brian Peter's album) but it was made easier by the realization that this was a very supportive group who appreciated the effort as much as the result.

[Samantha]

David Levine made a good point about the audience when he wrote "They want to love you, they want you to do well and they will overlook any mistakes you might make". Be easy on yourself and any odd mistake, and the audience will be too.

I don't mean that you shouldn't try your best, but do remember that nothing is more embarrassing for everyone than a performer being embarrassed. If you make a whoopsie, smile and get over it quickly - you may burn with shame to remember it at the end of the evening but the audience will have forgotten it if you can look as though it doesn't matter at the time. Think of any well-known live performer you have seen who has forgotten the words, or how a song or tune begins. I think we all must have seen an example of this, and they simply smile, apologise or say "durn it" or some such, and doodle along until they pick up where they left off.

As a linguist I sometimes say that the best way to appear fluent in a foreign language is to learn how to say "er ..." and any other communication fillers there are in the language you are learning. This is a similar trick - stay relaxed and in control and it will keep the flow of the performance moving along.

Samantha

PS Easier said than done, of course!

PPS I've just noticed that Gusten has said much the same thing! "not the end of the world, and with a little charisma you have the audience on your side no matter how badly you perform. If all fails, at least you can get some sympathy. "

Edited March 30, 2009 by Samantha

[David Levine]

Chris Drinkwater said:

As long as you don't rise above your station and think that you are better than you are.

 

The thing is, thinking you are better or thinking you are worse than you really are is equally a problem. The idea is not be self-conscious and not to think you are anything at all. Just play the music and hear that and not be thinking of the audience while you are playing.

 

Fritz Perls, the great psychologist, said that there are three dogs in each of us: top-dog, bottom-dog, and no-dog. Top-dog thinks we are great; bottom-dog thinks we are worthless. But no-dog doesn't think at all. No-dog just gets on with the business at hand - and that's when we are at our best. When we are not reflecting on how well or how poorly we are doing.

 

I too have performance anxiety. When I do I try to remember that all of that tension will convert to energy when I start to play. I try to see my tension and anxiety as a positive thing, in the best possible light. If I didn't care I would be 'flat' on-stage. Performance anxiety is a dual-edged sword that can help you be at your best.

[LDT]

I'm perfectly fine playing in front of a camera....just real people I can't get along with.

even though potentially more people will see the video than would watch me play.