On stage anxiety

[rossidearstoned1a]

Hi all. Ok, here it is in a nutshell. I have been playing mando for about 16yrs and would say in a jam I can hold my own and then some. Problem comes in when I get on stage. I completely fall apart. My hands sweat like nobodys business and I flub my licks. Friends say things sound fine but I know I'm flubbing the breaks, mostly on the fast tunes that I can crush in practice. I guess what I am asking is, does anyone have any advise on how to loose these jitters when playing in front of a crowd? Thaks all.

Chris

2000 Dearstone D1a
1916 Gibson A-1
94 flatiron cadet

[Steve G]

My wife makes an herbal tea for me that consists of valerian root, scullcap, and passionflower. It works well but be careful and don't drink too much, just a small cup a half hour or so before you go on. I only need it in high stress situations like live radio shows, large listening audiences, or backing up a fiddler at a contest. Yea there's my stage fright, contest accompanyment (guitar). The tea might make you a little sleepy which you won't notice until you're done or on break but it won't space you out either. It will calm you so you can concentrate. There's also a prescription but I can't think of the name of it. Popular with some big names I hear. I like herbs.

[woodwizard]

Sounds like nervious jitters/stage fright. Hang in there Chris you'll get over it. We all have them one time or another. The more you get up on a stage the easier it will get. And welcome to the cafe.

[rossidearstoned1a]

Thanks guys. All info is much appreciated. Wife keeps telling me I need to relax and that I am my worst critic but she just doesn't get it. Or does she, I just dont know. But dang I hate those sweaty hands, not hers, mine.

[Fred Keller]

I still suffer from this. My mind is my own worst enemy and thinking is bad. I can whip the material like a rented mule in practice but on stage I start thinking. It lessens with repetition. It's worse if I haven't played on stage for a while.

There have been other threads on this with all kinds of suggestions up to and including psychotropic (prescription) medication. All I know is that for me, I need to keep getting on stage and doing it until I can stop thinking about it. That's when I start playing music.

[rossidearstoned1a]

Thanks Fred, I hear that alot and thats probably what I need. Any other advise is greatly appreciated.

[MikeEdgerton]

Losing one's inhibitions is a hard thing to do but it can be done. Generally it comes with more experience on stage. When it gets to be second nature and you actually are able to relax it's a lot more fun. If you mess up a break that's just part of playing live music. Just go have fun.

[the_mahout]

You could discuss this situation with your family doctor. Often beta blockers are prescribed for this. Google search "Beta Blockers Stage Fright" and you will find lots of information and opinions on this topic. If nothing else it will provide you some understanding of what is occurring in your body when you get these bouts on stage.

[rossidearstoned1a]

Mahout, I was going to put you in the "questionable" column but after the google, I have to say that perhaps you are on to someting here. I have my anual comming up in a week and I will def see what Doc (not watson) has to say. I have been battling this for about 2 years now with little success. I also believe, as Mike said, I need more time. Two years isn't that much time, I think.

[Patrick Sylvest]

The situation will improve with more experience onstage. That is not to say that you won't benefit from some of the remedies that have been suggested.

I'd say from your comments that you're so focused on delivering a good performance that it distracts you from doing so. If you can 'crush' 'em in practice, you will be able to 'crush' them onstage at some point. Be patient with yourself. Have a good time playing and one day you'll be enjoying yourself so much that you won't be thinking at all......ZEN!

Best of luck and happy pickin'!

[Dick Wade]

Chris, I haven't seen you play for a few years or more, but you played mighty fine with "Two Drunks and an Italian". I am not much for pills to over come this kind of issue, although I'm not opposed to a shot of good Irish whiskey before a show. I have stage fright every time I play out. It doen't matter if its a small club or on a festival stage. The more you play out the better you get using it as a tool to help the performance. Stage fright is a hyper alertness that channeled right is and asset. When our band does a show we put out our best and hope it pleases the audience and I will always nervous about how our music is recieved. Thats something we are all concerned about. It drives us on to be better musicans. Im sorry I missed your show in Donegal last weekend, I would like to hear you again, Lauri said you guys did a good show.

[Eddie Sheehy]

Beta blockers might be the thing. They work pretty well on my claustrophobia when I go for a scan in the tube thingy.

[Jim Rowland]

In the course of a lesson session last year,I told Sharon Gilchrist that I thought I might be such an egoist that I feared doing anything at which I wasn't competent in public. She told me that this kind of shyness is just another form of egotistical demonstration. I thought that was worth remembering,although I haven't overcome it yet. I finally managed to clank out an abridged version of Red Haired Boy. She managed to smile beautifully.
Jim

[Dan Voight]

Just focus on the music and forget where you are or who is watching. Thats what its all about.

[MnRoss]

I've had it a bunch and all I can say is the more you play out the better it gets. To relieve it these days I tend to concentrate on my mando to mic position and really try to feel the groove of the band all the time sort of forget about the audience for my breaks and just go with the groove or flow of the music. If I screw up the break I just sort of smile it off and try to end in some sort of wild, big, mad flury having fun all the way. I find that having fun with the whole thing makes a big difference and feel that's what it should be is fun. I've learned to let loose a lot more even playing in front of some of my mando hero's. Moving around and getting in a groove and being goofy helps me relieve the tension..

[Jack Roberts]

I am not a very good player. I can chop along in G for the most part, and take a few breaks, but that's about it. But I have no problem playing in any gig I am asked to play. The last one we did, we performed an original piece by our banjo player, and he was so nervous he was shaking. But I haven't been nervous since about the third gig we did, since I realized that the audiences we play for are much easier on us than we are on ourselves.

I cannot play a break in a jam, however. If I make the tiniest mistake in a jam, my whole break falls apart. If I made the same mistake in a gig, I would just keep on going. Go figure.

[mandozilla]

Chris, first of all, welcome to the Cafe!

From 1968 to about 1989, I played in 4 or 5 bluegrass bands on a lot of stages in SoCal...I don't recall being nervous ever...the way I figured it was;

1.) The audience almost always didn't have a clue what bluegrass music was or whether or not one or all of us made mistakes...sometimes wishful thinking perhaps, but it worked. :grin:

2.) I concentrated hard on doing my parts right to make the band sound the best it could be...I was too busy to be nervous.

3.) The audience was on my/our side and wanted us to do well or they wouldn't have been there in the first place.

4.) The audience was there to have a good time not to wait for me/us to make a mistake.

5.) Don't forget to breath! It will help you relax better than booze, drugs, herbs or whatever, especially when taking a lead break.

6.) Look for a friendly face or faces in the crowd...don't fixate and stare at him or her or them but make that the person, or persons, you can make eye contact with now and then...as for the rest of the crowd, look 'through' them...in other words, don't be looking for approval or disapproval...kind of pretended they're not there. :)

7.)Smile, keep loose and move around a bit...don't be a bluegrass statue. :))

As the others have said, in time you will get over your stagefright. :redface:

:mandosmiley:

[GRW3]

Smarter people than me, the staff at Camp Bluegrass, said the biggest issue with stage performance is lack of experience. You don't know how to use a mic. You don't know how to EQ your voice or your instrument. Your not used to working with monitors. Etcetera, etcetera. Sounds like you're in a band. Can I assume your band has it's own system? If so, set it up and practice with it. You don't have to turn it up to 11 but you do need to appreciate how it works and become comfortable with the process and presence.

[mandozilla]

I've known folks whose sound systems were set up as good as they could be and knew how it all worked and had been on the stage numerous times and still have high anxiety on the stage. :grin:

I think I might have told this story before but anyway. There was this fella years ago who was an aspiring flatpicker. His idol was Clarence White (pre T.Rice). He could do quite well backstage but the minute he was on stage and behind a mic he was a train wreck. :))

One of the guys got him one of those Groucho glasses with the eyebrows, nose, and moustache and told him to try wearing them the next time he picked on stage. Sure enough, he wore them and did just fine...he wore it a few more times and then was able to perform without them. :cool:

The bottom line here is people get intimidated by the audience which leads to anxiety. Not being familiar with the sound equipment or having to use faulty equipment only adds to the anxiety. :confused:

:mandosmiley:

[Tim Bowen]

Be prepared, know your parts, know your gear and tools, know how to improvise. That's "prep".

At shows, you need to find a way to be comfortable with the way you're hearing yourself and others within an onstage mix, which is a subject unto itself - it can deal with monitors, or it can be a matter of moving physically inward or outward of those that you're playing with to find a sonic vantage point that's comfortable, or any number of variables. A personal mix that feels right is key to digging in and enjoying oneself in both stage and recording environments; I only really got over "red light fever" in recording studios when I started becoming aware of how big a deal that the way I perceived mix played into it as a factor. That said, onstage sound can be a total crapshoot for which the onstage musician sometimes has little control; you have to learn how to find a way to enjoy yourself in less-than-optimum conditions as well.

There are always the occasional gear curveballs and gremlins at shows. I've dealt with just about everything that can go wrong at a live a show. The tendency is to wig out, and I have done so plenty of times. But after a point, it's a bit like a mechanic changing a tire at an Indy race; you troubleshoot, re-route, pick up a different tool, whatever you need to do, shake it off, and get back in the game. Take a deep breath, find the groove.

Finding a way to be relaxed at shows is really the thing. What I try to do is to be thankful that I have a job playing music, and when, for whatever reasons, I get a case of the nerves, I just think about how much I really love playing music, and allow that feeling to carry me through. Before shows that are sort of a big deal, I envision myself playing music that I love and I picture myself doing well; more often than not, this visualization-in-advance follows me to the gig. Some folks drink water, some drink tea, some drink a beer. Whatever allows you to relax and maintain focus is fine; you alone are the gauge. I'm not without my personal share of voodoo - I'm not "anti-social" before gigs, but my preference is to get outside and away from distraction and noise before shows, which allows me to get my game together in my head. And I always have an oscillating fan at my feet for pure comfort.

Experience is certainly a factor. I think I had the heebie jeebies knocked out of me at my first gig in the 70's. I was with the opening act at a theatre bill, and our 'encore' was "Freebird" (a relatively new tune at the time); well, right about the propitious moment of that bombastic guitar solo, somebody tripped a breaker, and the bass, rhythm guitar, and Hammond organ was gone. It was just me and the drummer. Longest four minutes of my life, and I was sweating bullets for sure. What I thought was, "I've practiced this for months, and I'm gonna play it". So I did, and the room went nuts. After that, I realized that I could withstand any sort of onstage curveball that came my way. When I opened for Brad Paisley, I felt like carrying my gear backstage and burning it after hearing his soundcheck. But I believed in the tunes I was playing, went out and had a great set, and Brad came back and introduced himself after my set and we talked for a while. I popped a string within ten seconds of my set in opening for Buddy Miller, who's one of my fave musicians on the planet. I re-wrote my part for the opening number on the fly, and picked up a spare for tune #2.

I've had loads of great gigs and several lousy gigs, with hopefully many more to come. The thing that I try to take away from each of them is that I enjoyed the music, regardless of caveats. The best rules of thumb for performance are to breathe, and to treat everything like a casual living room jam, even if the living room in question contains 12,000 people.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Chris - are you like that all through the set or do you gradually calm down ?. If you play a second set,do you feel more calm ?. I ask because i used to be exactly the same. The first few numbers i'd dissolve in perspiration & i shook like crazy,but i know i played ok.After a while i'd be fine & if we did a second set (we normally did) i could have played in front of the whole world with no problems.
I've always heard it said that sportsmen/musicians NEED the rush of adrenaline (which is what it is), in order to be ready & to perform their best. I used to find that if we were able to have a good workout before playing,i could get rid of the majority of my nervousness by playing 'all out'.
The big thing to realise is that what you're feeling is NATURAL !. As long as the other members of your band feel you're playing ok,don't worry too much,at least you have a band to play with.With experience,you'll gradually loose your nervousness to quite a degree - but it never really goes away 100 % - when it does,that's called 'complacency' & may the good Lord forbid you get to that stage,that's a 1000 times worse than nervousness could ever be - just hang on in there,
Saska;)

[Bertram Henze]

If fright prevents you to do what you intend to do, your chance is to intend to do the wrong thing - just intend to blow it on stage, and you will fail that intention and play correctly instead. Just like Douglas Adams described the knack how to fly: you throw yourself to the ground and miss.

Now despite the current date (fools day), this is not kidding. I got along much better in fright situations since I allow myself to fail, accept failure as a natural part of performance. Everybody fails, perfect performance is a myth. What is more, trying to fail intentionally will prevent failure; paradox as this may sound, it is true. A deeper explanation is found in Barry Green's book "The Inner Game of Music", which I do recommend. It boils down to that in a fright situation, another part of your mind takes command which didn't do the practising, and allowing yourself to fail withdraws that command and gives it back to your playing self.

Bertram

[rossidearstoned1a]

Dick, great to hear from you. Haven't seen you in quite a while, hope all is well and thanks to everyone who posted. Lots of great ideas here.I've been comming here for many many years but never posted, go figure.:mandosmiley:

[Randi Gormley]

I find that i'm less paralyzed if there's background noise from the audience; then I figure I'm just playing to myself in a crowded place and no one can hear me screw up, and I do generally fine, with that little edge of speed a faster heart-rate gets you. My worst cases are dead silence, when i feel deserted by everything: skill, intelligence, muscle memory and kindly looks. Fwiw, i can't remember anybody who actually died on stage from fright, or whose life was completely ruined by missing an A in a triplet; when i blow something, i just give myself about an hour to feel humliated, and then move on.

[sgarrity]

I find I'm a little more relaxed if I talk to my good buddy Johnnie Walker before getting on stage. :cool:

[Doug Hoople]

Experience, prep, relaxation, etc. are all good things, and all will help to improve the ability to play freely onstage.

But the inability to play onstage is often tied to the inability to stay in the music, and that's a matter of being able to direct your focus.

Kenny Werner's 'Effortless Mastery' covers a lot of this ground in detail.

But here's a quick diagnostic. Try meditating. Yes, meditating. Most meditation practices work by focusing attention on something... breathing, a mantra, a blank slate. And the trick is to stay focused while concious thoughts arrive. If you're meditating, and you find yourself wrapped up in your newly arrived concious thoughts instead of your original point of focus, then there's a very good chance that you'll also fail to play well in public. If your concious thoughts arrive, and you can let them drift off without engagement, and, at the same time, stay tuned to the original point of focus, there's a very good chance that you'll be able to play well in public.

So that's the diagnostic. Meditation will also be the technique that, with practice and over time, will improve your ability to stay focused and ignore the distractions.

One other thing to try... do you have a bongo board? You know, one of those boards that balances on a cylinder? You might want to play your beater and not your Loar for this. Can you play your music and stay balanced on the bongo board? If you can, there's a good chance you can fight off your stage distractions.

[Alex Orr]

Losing one's inhibitions is a hard thing to do but it can be done. Generally it comes with more experience on stage. When it gets to be second nature and you actually are able to relax it's a lot more fun.
Agreed. Try to play out more often, but do it in places where there is no stress. Have you tried busking? How about open mics? In both cases you may have a small audience that really isn't listening very close, or particularly cares what you sound like. If it's like a lot of open mic nights that I've been at then the audience is probably at the place for some coffee or beers and basically is tolerating the performers rather than paying attention to them. The point is, these are great places to just get used to being on stage because there is absolutely no reason to feel any pressure. If you can get used to being on the stage in a place like this then when you have an actual gig that may mean something, the stage may be more comfortable for you, leaving you more relaxed.

The funny thing is, I actually feel more stress at the local jam I go to than I have the last few times I've been on a stage. Me and a couple of buddies have played at the same bar a few times now and I feel fine because I know folks aren't too critical and they aren't really paying us a lot of attention. At the jam, the folks are gooood, they know what it sounds like when someone is flubbing a break or is singing way off-key, they know when I've lost my place in a song I'm trying to lead. They're forgiving, but still, the fact that they're all listeing closely, are better than me, and are all fellow pickers makes me far more nervous than playing in front of a crowd of generally good natured folks who are half-drunk and fairly uncritical.

[mandroid]

I'd feel better with the fee in my pocket before starting, myself.

[Don Grieser]

One breathing exercise that helps is to breathe out twice as long as you breathe in. The fear/flight physiological reaction is to breathe shallow short breaths. By breathing out for twice as long as you breathe in, you trigger the relaxed physiological reaction. Take 5 or 10 minutes before you hit the stage and do this and continue it through the first few songs. Any time the anxiety starts appearing, restart the pattern. Easy to do while playing rhythm to keep you in a good state.

There's a great book called "The Inner Game of Music" done by the same guy who did the sports books. It has some great exercises and really explains what is happening mentally/physically that impedes your playing.

www.theinnergame.com/html/Inner_Music_home.html

[BradyK]

Hey Chris -

This is a less than scientific approach, and may sound silly, but have you tried chewing bubble gum while you play?

I did hundreds of shows playing in a rock band and would tense up in front of a crowd, too. Then I tried bubblegum in rehearsal one day and it relaxed me some. Intrigued, I tried chewing at our next show and I was much, much more relaxed. I would seem occupied with the gum in my mouth rather than my playing. I relied on it so much that I would not play without a pack of Bubble Yum, original flavor. My gig bag still smells of the stash I kept. I'd blow bubbles during guitar solos and people thought I was completely at ease with the instrument. They were impressed and they would comment. Little did they know...! Try some gum.

Also, remember that most people don't know much about the performance of music and won't notice most of your mistakes. I always figured maybe one out of ten people in the crowd were musicians. The odds are in our favor as performers.

Good luck.

[Nolan]

Force your shoulders to point to the ground...
Play lots of shows, it will get better.
Like other people have sad, I just come to the understanding that I am going to make mistakes... and there's no such thing as a perfect show. Another thing that works is to just pretend that you're a hired gun that they just flew in to play a show. It's just another job in the never ending string of gigs and you're just doing it for the money.. and once the gig is over you'll never see these people again.

I'm not a fan of beta blockers... I have friends that take them and they can't play a show unless they have them.

[thirdstation]

Hey Chris -

This is a less than scientific approach, and may sound silly, but have you tried chewing bubble gum while you play?



This made me laugh. I couldn't help picturing the guitar greats blowing bubbles mid-shred. I think I'll try it :-)

[mandopete]

I once took Alpha Beta blockers and I found I couldn't go grocery shopping for a week!

<sorry>

The thing is just to try to feel comfortable wih what you're doing. I find that often times we do one thing in rehearsal and then a totally different thng when we perform. Try to practice as though you are performing and in that way it won't be so much of a surprise.

[mandolirius]

<Agreed. Try to play out more often, but do it in places where there is no stress. Have you tried busking? How about open mics? In both cases you may have a small audience that really isn't listening very close, or particularly cares what you sound like. If it's like a lot of open mic nights that I've been at then the audience is probably at the place for some coffee or beers and basically is tolerating the performers rather than paying attention to them. The point is, these are great places to just get used to being on stage because there is absolutely no reason to feel any pressure. If you can get used to being on the stage in a place like this then when you have an actual gig that may mean something, the stage may be more comfortable for you, leaving you more relaxed.>

This is very good advice, imho. Long-term care hospitals and seniors homes are also good bets for low stress gigs.

[Bertram Henze]

Long-term care hospitals and seniors homes are also good bets for low stress gigs.

I cannot confirm this. One of my worst gigs ever was in front of approx. 50 coma patients in wheelchairs, all intubated and breathing loudly. Creepy. I had a distinct feeling that they hated the music but had been forced to hear it with no chance to run away - I might have been imagining it, but they were not a responsive audience, that's for sure. It felt like that Michael Jackson video of "Thriller".

Bertram

[mandolirius]

I cannot confirm this. One of my worst gigs ever was in front of approx. 50 coma patients in wheelchairs, all intubated and breathing loudly. Creepy. I had a distinct feeling that they hated the music but had been forced to hear it with no chance to run away - I might have been imagining it, but they were not a responsive audience, that's for sure. It felt like that Michael Jackson video of "Thriller".

Bertram

But were you nervous? :)
Seriously, you can always do a bit of research...talk to someone to find out if they have musicians come in on a regular basis, what the response has been etc. I've had some great times playing for seniors. Once my partner and I played a seniors home in Calgary. One of the residents came up to us afterwards and said how much he like the music and that we should meet his son, who was really into banjos. We took the number, with no real plans to use it. But it was a two-week stint in a little town in Southern Alberta and by the second week we were so bored during the day that we called. It turned out that the son was a very warm, friendly, generous guy. He insisted we come over for dinner that night. We met his wife and lovely family, had a fabulous home-cooked meal saw an incredible collection of mostly old, open-back banjos and made a life-long friend. So, you never know.

[Ken Sager]

Vitamin B and Mandozilla's tips on page 1.

[Dave Schimming]

Since playing in a band since last June, one thing that keeps me more relaxed on stage is knowing that the rest of the band is there to keep the overall song going even if I mess up. Also know that the audience is there to enjoy the music you got to offer and not to find fault with you (generally).

[banjoboy]

You are experiencing the ol' "flight or fright" issue. Since your stuck on stage, there's no running away. I used to have problems, but my doctor prescribed beta blockers. They don't make you feel funny, fuzzy, or different in any way. Used to be that if I made a mistake on a song, it would ruin the rest of my set. Now if I make a mistake, I don't care...I just move on. Good luck.

[mandolinplucker]

We aren't pros. We play local opreys, church functions, rest homes ect. When I first started playing in front of people my hands shook so much I could barely play and my voice got so shakey singing was out of the question. The audience is there to look at me but what I started doing was to look at them. They seem to like the eye contact. I find them entertaining too. I check out the pretty ladies, catch folks picking their nose or digging in their ears or scratching various places. A couple of times I have been so distracted that I missed the lead in for my break. We don't make any money so It is all in fun. Remember that most of the audience don't know when you screw up. The only ones that knows are musicians too and they have blown a lead or two themselves. Like others have said, Find a way to make it fun. Part of the fun and a reduction of pressure is the fact that we all have affection for each other and enjoy playing together. We laugh at mistakes and jump in to take up the slack if someone blows his break, or forgets a verse.

[yoshka]

A few things that have helped me (suggested by folks here to me):

Practice as if you are on stage, in front of a mic on a stand.

Have someone video you and watch it.

I just played an open mic and I know I messed up a few times. Watching myself on film, I can say: all in all the performance came off really good, and the mistakes, taken as a part of the whole, were a very small part of the whole song. The audience enjoyed the songs, the mistakes didn't take anything away from the good experience they (and I) had. Understanding that lowers the anxiety level. In addition, watching yourself allows you to make an assessment of the whole, to make improvements (slower, faster, louder, more changes etc.) and that will give you more confidence. You"ll be pleasantly surprised watching the film, and anxious to get up there again with the changes you have decided to make.

Yossi

[Bertram Henze]

Have someone video you and watch it.


Yes, that's good training. What worked even better for me was to do the recording myself, alone with the cold oblivious eye of the camera - no audience can be more cruel than that; because behind the camera, eventually, lurks your worst critic ever: yourself.
When you reach the point where your hand no longer trembles when pressing the Record button, you're ready to be easy with any audience who'd care to hear you. :mandosmiley:

Bertram

[Bertram Henze]

But were you nervous? :)

My throat was as close as if someone strangled me. My voice was hoarse and high-pitched, far from my normal bariton. My hands were shaking.

Was I nervous? If those are symptoms of nervousness, then I guess I was. ~:>

I am a bit susceptible to strange situations, maybe more than average. The music I play is supposed to spread a sense of comforting, reassuring normality, which just didn't fit that environment.

I am quite sure your senior home example was different - good on you.

Bertram

[mandolirius]

<I am a bit susceptible to strange situations, maybe more than average. The music I play is supposed to spread a sense of comforting, reassuring normality, which just didn't fit that environment.>

Now I'm curious. What kind of stuff do you do, Bertram?

[Bertram Henze]

Now I'm curious. What kind of stuff do you do, Bertram?

Glad you didn't ask "what kind of stuff do you smoke?" :))

But no, I am doing just normal ITM + Irish/Scottish songs (you can hear much of that on my website http://www.hologence.de). Anyway, nothing to justify curiosity, but hard to do when the demons close in on you.

Bertram

[Dan Johnson]

if you're not nervous maybe you don't care... give yourself a break!

[craig.collas]

Hi Chris
I would like to back up what Don said about 'the inner game of music'. For me this book threw light on what was going on in my head and from a point understanding (not much)I found I had leverage and could think about what was happening.
Have a great dat
Grace & Peace

[Jerry Haynes]

Chris, Try your best to keep it fun ! We all make mistakes, make those mistakes fun. I really messed up in front of a crowd of 3000 or so, afterwards I walked up to the mic and said " folks.. you just witnessed the worst mandolin brake possible , and I really struggled to make it sound as good as it did , thanks for being here to hear it " They laughed, I laughed, and we went on. Don't worry about... " is there someone out there in the audience a better picker than me ", because there usually is. They will make their share of mistakes too. Hope this helps ya out. Jerry

[OldSausage]

I don't believe it's the performer's mistaken ideas of what the audience might be thinking that causes the problem. There's a visceral physical reaction for most people when they stand in front of a crowd who are looking at them, as well there might be. Your body starts pumping round chemicals that prepare you to run, affect your brain and reduce your fine control mechanisms. No doubt that is why a certain amount of goofy behavior can help performers - it lets you exercise out some of the escape response that's been triggered. Laughter is really good at helping you get rid of the effects of these chemicals.

[8ch(pl)]

I started performing publicly about 8 years ago. I was Ok as a player, but was really nervous. I had a feud with a keyboard player in the song circle because he could not keep the volume down on his instrument, to a point that I could not hear my mandolin. He also could not get the idea oof not accompanying every song. I left because of it. It was throwing me off.

Now that I am more confident, I am in a group with this same fellow. It is smaller and he does back off when asked, but now he is playing guitar with some of my singing and playing. He is really good. Because there are only 5 of us, (when everyone shows)we are more able to balance the sound. I have told him that I need to hear the chords while I sing and it is all OK so far.

Nervousness is normal and should pass with confidence. When other musicians tell you that they like your efforts, it will boost things.

[Mike Snyder]

OldSausage has it down in spades. Got to avoid that rush of catecholamines that speed the heart, vasoconstrict the vessels of the skin, and numb the higher functions of the brain. As a paramedic, in a former life: Three rules 1. Never run 2. Never raise your voice 3.Never hesitate. You know your job, do it. Much the same on stage. It's hard to regain control after your hands are shaking and your guts rolling. Unfortunately, the black humor (very black) that works so good in the back of an ambulance is unacceptable in a performance setting, unless you have a good stage voice and a mic with a dead spot. If you are happy to be there, well rehearsed, and are in a venue where you are comfortable, you're in. The chicken wire is almost always a bad sign.

[Tim2723]

From an entirely different angle: Do you have to get on stage? If you enjoy playing by yourself and have no problems in a casual jam setting, then why worry about the stage? Way more players enjoy a fulfilling musical life without ever setting foot on a stage than there have ever been professional performers in the history of the world.

I've been on stage since I was eight years old and love every minute of it, but if someone stresses out about it, and certainly if they've got to resort to drugs and booze to do it, maybe it's just not for them. There ain't no law that says every musician has to be a stage performer.

It's your life. Enjoy the gifts you've been given and don't worry about the ones you don't have.

[Youda]

Stage fright, performance anxiety...

This is something I've been wrestling with lately. Serendipity, I found this article at Mandolin Magazine awhile back that really helped...

http://www.mandolinmagazine.com/articles/stagefright.html

My biggest problem is perfectionism. I expected every note to be played with clear perfect tones and fretted exactly in the right place, and all my technique had to be perfect from holding the pick to proper pick directions, and the exact placement of my left hand on the neck, and every chord played perfectly, and the timing had to be perfect...

Being addicted to perfection and afraid of mistakes, the first thing I did was make a mistake every time I played in front of anyone. So since -- in my own mind -- I couldn't make a mistake, every mistake just made the stage fright worse. I was getting paralyzed. It was getting so bad that I'd start having the shakes the day before I played for anyone, while just practicing alone. I couldn't do a tremolo in public, ever, because it's nearly impossible to do a tremolo when your hands are shaking so bad the pick is about to fall into the sound hole...

I got over it by deliberately playing songs I didn't know well enough to play for anyone, in front of friends and family, and made mistakes and more mistakes, and had a good laugh at myself when I realized that the world didn't end, and no one laughed at me, and no one put me down. Then, I played the songs I know well...and that's when things started to go smoother and I actually stopped making mistakes when I gave myself permission to make mistakes.

Well, my point is that some introspection can give you the clue to what's behind your particular phobia about performance that is causing you problems, then work on overcoming it.

I liked the article's viewpoint that practicing in front of people is just as important as practicing the piece you intend to play in front of people.

[Dan Johnson]

I recently was asked to play some tunes for a family gathering... You would have thought that would have been really easy (especially if you know how much they'd had to drink)... but it bugged me out... Weird... When I left I started into thinking about something that's been on my mind, which is this: "How important is music to me?" And the answer is looking something like this, which kind of relates to the thread John McGann posted recently, essentially saying that music is important... When I saw Alison Krause at Merlefest a couple years ago I was struck by how focused she was... I could only see her on the video screen, but man, was she intense... So that's something I've been trying to cultivate, is a kind of a reverence and respect for what I'm doing... Like when I'm working on the Bach Sonatas, I try to think about the man who wrote the pieces... And try to get the spirit of what I'm doing and let that guide me... It's even "okay to pray!" But stick with it... Remember, "if you're gonna make a mistake, make it loud so we can all share in it!"

[Bertram Henze]

that's when things started to go smoother and I actually stopped making mistakes when I gave myself permission to make mistakes.

That's exactly the way out of the corner you've painted yourself in: getting your feet wet with paint.
And that's exactly the way Barry Green recommends in "The Inner Game of Music".

Bertram