MikeZito wrote: "... I think the key to forgetting about the TV cameras was to look at somebody in the studio who seemed to be enjoying the music - ... "
That works.
A personal sort-of-example, although not on TV: One of the first times I was on stage, playing lead fiddle no less (fiddle is really easy to screw up! lol), after walking out onto the stage I was so nervous that I might play wrong notes or play out of tune (no frets on those darn things) or screw up the bowing and get screechy sounds... When you're the only fiddler on the stage (I had a guitarist for backup), if you make a mistake, people *are* gonna notice, there are no other similar instrument sounds to 'hide' behind or blend in with. But I tried to focus my concentration on the rhythmic aspects of my playing, of course the rhythm is *the* most important aspect of a fiddle tune anyway, gotta have that 'bounce' for the tune to work right... so with that thought in mind I started on my first tune...
A few seconds into the tune, I saw some people in the front row tapping their feet in time with the music, and I was like "Aha, I got them," just knowing that someone was enjoying the music, was all it took to make the nervousness go away. After that, I wasn't worried about screwing up, I could relax and "just play", it went good.
I should also give credit where credit is due, that backup guitarist I happened to get that day, was fabulous, he could have probably made almost anyone sound good or at least better than usual. Good backup makes a world of difference both in improving overall sound as well as helping the lead player to feel more confident.
(Incidentally, this is one of the reasons why nowadays I like to do my home-practice playing along with backing tracks, they serve sort of the same functionality as good backup musicians do, to help the player relax and "just play" - even while learning a new tune IMO it's still easier when playing along with some sort of backing.)
So anyway, yeah, I agree with what Mike wrote, sounds like good advice.
Kevin Stueve wrote: " "No, I don't drink anymore", do you drink any less? sorry, i can't help myself"
Lol! But we might have to invent a new word: "anyless"... or something like that...
A trivia tidbit that I just learned today:
Seems that the one-word usage of "anymore" = "any longer", is a historically-recent U.S. thing; apparently it isn't used in the UK... at least that's what someone wrote at a StackExchange page:
[Question] "I wonder if it could be a US x UK issue. I have always learnt and used 'any more' (two words) in all contexts, and come from a British family unit, attending a British School. So we would have: John doesn't live here any more (UK) John doesn't live here anymore (US)"
[Answer] "Yes, I believe this is a US / UK difference. I've never seen any Brit use the one-word form "anymore" (except for when MS Word's grammar checker has "corrected" it, IMHO incorrectly)."
[Commenter] "The single word form... seems to be quite a recent Americanism"
Anyway, I always enjoy word puns, so thanks Kevin for the chuckle.