Stage Fright

I wake up way too early.

Today is the day.

I cannot eat a thing. My stomach churns, my face burns, I feel lightheaded.

The hours pass like minutes, the moment of doom is arriving soon. I know I shouldn't practice today but I feel like I have to, for if I do not then that one part will get me. I have to make sure that I have it down perfectly. Oh my gosh. I have to get dressed! I have to get ready! I'm going to be LATE. I can't be LATE!! I have to get there early! I have to be first! I have to be comfortable, I need to warm up there, I can't be late, gotta go, where are my keys, oh god, everyone's going to get there first, I hate this I hate this I hate this.

My hands are shaking. My head is empty. It's time! I can't remember the first note! I feel sick. I can't do this. This is awful.

I step out on stage, the silence is deafening. The crowd looks up at me expectantly. For the next 7 minutes they will be watching me, waiting for any mistake, waiting for me to slip up so they can take it in and never forget it, use it for their own gain, to remember that "she messed up so now I can only improve on that!"

It is over.

What was I so worried about? Gosh, if I could do it all over again right now I would. Ugh, if only I could do it again! How unfair. I could have been so much more expressive during the andante.

De-ja vu

Glad it went well for you!

... I used to get seriously nervous, but you just have to realize they're not there to hear you screw up - no one wants to watch a crappy performance.

...and eat a banana, the natural beta blockers help!

I have the worst stage fright in history -that was actually melded summary of how I feel every time I have to perform in front of an audience, hee hee.

A banana? Fascinating. I totally have to try that.

See, this is why I like composition, I don't necessarily have to be the one ON the stage playing, but I am still a vital part of the performance. The best of both worlds! :laugh:

I don't think I've ever gotten stage fright. LOL. Ever.

My stage fright is pretty bad, especially since I have a clinical problem with anxiety. I have a whole arsenal of things I do to combat it, mostly having to do with positive affirmations and meditation.

A recurring anxiety dream of mine:

I'm standing backstage in a theatre. Stage hands are hustling around me. I'm disoriented and don't know why I'm there. I notice that I have a wig on and an elaborate 18th Century costume. Suddenly, someone I assume is the Stage Manager rushes up to me, hisses, "you're on!" and pushes me onstage. An orchestra is playing away in the pit at my feet, the conductor gives me a cue...and I don't know what opera I'm in!!!

I wake up with a start, bathed in sweat, ready to scream, yet somehow bemused. True story. Happens every couple of years or so.

That's wild, J. Lee. I can't say I have recurring dreams about such things, thank goodness.

I know they say that getting over stage fright is a combination of two things: preparation and experience. However, neither seems to do me any good. I'm just not a natural soloist, I think. Sad. Maybe I'm wrong, though...perhaps someday I will prove myself wrong. The nerves are just dreadful, though. I get so upset that I can't perform to my abilities when the time comes. I just shake and shake and get sick.

Hmm.. I found something relevant to this in an e-book i was reading just now.

I am studying to become a professional musician (French horn), and I wished to remove my fear of performing in front of people. On several occasions I placed myself in a state of self-hypnosis/daydreaming by relaxing my entire body and mind before going to sleep. Then I focused on my desire to have a dream in which I was performing for a large audience by myself but was not nervous or suffering from any anxiety. On the third night of this experiment, I had a lucid dream in which I was performing a solo recital without accompaniment at Orchestra Hall in Chicago (a place where I have performed once before, but in a full orchestra). I felt no anxiety regarding the audience, and every note that I played made me feel even more confident. I played perfectly a piece that I had heard only once before (and never attempted to play), and the ovation I received added to my confidence. When I woke up, I made a quick note of the dream and the piece that I played. While practicing the next day, I sight-read the piece and played it nearly perfectly. Two weeks (and <* few lucid dream performances) later, I performed Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony with the orchestra. For the first time, nerves did not hamper my playing, and the performance went extremely well. (J. S., Mt. Prospect, Illinois)

:w00t:

Stage fright. I think I would actually have it if I noticed where I was during the time of a performance. I have the ability to focus on one thing and only one thing. It is how I learn things quickly. I use that ability to aide me during my performances.

Most of the time, I am not aware that i'm really on stage. I just focus on the music and play. I don't notice when they clap after the performance and I only go back into a coherent state when i'm done. I don't even bow or wave. I simply play.

I wonder if that would work for me...

Yes I'm the same way as bitter. After the performance, I hate it when people come up to me and try to talk to me. It's like...they weren't really there or something. LOL...I guess I just shut them out while I playbecause I have to look at the music and the conductor, and that is multi-tasking in itself.

I also think it takes a lot of confidence in your ability. Everything I play is a solo. So If I mess up, it's all on me. I spend a long time practice a piece. Sometimes I practice for a year or so. The only thing on my stage is a stool and a footstand. Everything is done with memory. I think the fact that I have no safety net makes me focus more.

I usually convince myself that I don't care about the performance. Telling a joke before you play can really help break the ice(Unless nobody laughs).

I usually convince myself that I don't care about the performance. Telling a joke before you play can really help break the ice(Unless nobody laughs).

How about speaking in front of people? Are you guys just as nervous or less/more? I am more nervous speaking in front of people. When I perform, I know they are not there for me but for the music. However, when I speak, I know they came to hear me talk. I sometimes fear i'll get certain facets of the topic wrong and misinform my audience.

How about speaking in front of people? Are you guys just as nervous or less/more?

Somebody besides me and a friend of mine eats bananas before a performance! I met a guy last year who always ate bananas before a performance and was never nervous... thought he was stark-raving mad. Then I tried it... haven't performed in the last 8 months without eating at least one banana the day of... could be just a dumb mind game... but really seems to work. Here's another techinque I've been told and have tried... pretend you're really some incredible professional on your instrument - for me and french horn it's pretend I'm Dennis Brain.

This is interesting. Can anyone elaborate on the beta blocker bananna thing? I've never heard of it.