Stage nerves... how do you deal with it?

[DamonIRB]

Part of it is that I'm still just starting out on this little Mandolin thing. (Ok, been playing it for two years now, but still feel like a novice.) So, there's this real desire to sound better than I am up there!

A diamond wouldn't be a diamond without all the pressure on it...

One of, if not THE best course I took during my tour in college was a sightreading class. It was a 400 level class only available to juniors and seniors, so all of the folks that thought they wanted to be a music major had been weeded out long ago. We all thought we would be playing our main insturment, but the professor had different plans. The first day of class, she announced that the learning portion of the class would be 35 minutes, with the last 10 minutes reserved for 'enlightenment'. Didn't have a clue what that meant until she pulled out a hat, put everyones name in it and had someone draw from the hat. The person selected had to stand in front of the class and sing the song provided. The class was 'sightreading', so obviously we had never seen the music before - it was always some obscure Italian piece no one had ever heard of. The instructions were simple - "sing at the top of your lunch and screw it up the best you can while we all laugh at you". The problem was that only 1 person in the class was actually a voice major - we weren't singers! Scared the crap out of me the first day, but by the end of the semester, everyone WANTED to be the person up there. We learned really fast that making a total ass of yourself can be a lot of fun, relieves stress, and builds character. And, it had a nice sideaffect - I don't get nervous when I get up in front of an audience, whether it's 2 or 2,000 people. I learned that it's OK to screw up, and that folks weren't judging me nearly as much as I thought they were.

My suggestion would be to have an 'open mic night' with your friends. Let them know that everyone will have to get up and play, and that the goal is to "screw it up the best you can". The sessions quickly turn into a support group - a lot of trust and respect is built, and you become a much better musician.

Sounds crazy, but it works. I think that sightreading class taught me more about life than any other class I ever took at any level. Give it a try and have some fun with it... if nothing else, the laughter will do you some good.

Damon

[greg_tsam]

I guess that's a requirement that's so taken for granted that nobody mentioned it. Nobody can play without hearing himself, and yes, trying to do the impossible is cordless bungee jumping.

I was on stage performing and during sound check I could hear just fine but when we started I got swallowed by the rest of the band something fierce. Instead of throwing down my mando and run off stage sobbing I sucked it up and played my set using my inner ear ala Beethoven. I just imagined the notes but couldn't hear for nothing. Had some in the crowd come up and compliment my playing so it was obviously a stage monitor thing and not front speaker thing. I was pretty worried about it at the time but did my best. Now I'm confident I can play without hearing myself but I don't suggest it.

[terzinator]

It would have been most interesting to have a blind test, say, your doctor phoned you the next day to say "sorry I prescribed the wrong stuff, it's just a placebo but did it work anyway?"

Heh! He's just the kind of joker that would do that!

[banjoboy]

Has anybody ever tried hypnosis? The only experience I've had with hypnosis is to watch a professional showman hypnotize people at the local state fair. He has them thinking that they can do all sorts of things...for instance, convince someone that they're Elvis, and then have that person start grinding away with curled lip and all. Is it possible to have a post-hypnotic suggestion that would help with nerves. Or better yet, could a hypnotist plant that thought that whenever you pick up the mando, you can play like Sam Bush or Chris Thile?

[Bertram Henze]

...Now I'm confident I can play without hearing myself but I don't suggest it.

If I tried to do that it would end like this...


...can't go without sensory feedback.

Has anybody ever tried hypnosis? The only experience I've had with hypnosis is to watch a professional showman hypnotize people at the local state fair. He has them thinking that they can do all sorts of things...for instance, convince someone that they're Elvis, and then have that person start grinding away with curled lip and all. Is it possible to have a post-hypnotic suggestion that would help with nerves. Or better yet, could a hypnotist plant that thought that whenever you pick up the mando, you can play like Sam Bush or Chris Thile?

Now it's getting downright dangerous: Hypnosis...
- means letting the hypnotist chaining your soul to 4 bed posts and have his way with it.
- unhinges your will, but cannot give you abilities you don't already have.

Anyone who lacks full control of his own personality should train himself to get it; he should never give it to somebody else.

[LA Mando]

I certainly haven't mastered overcoming stage nerves, but many of the suggested strategies have helped. Know the material well; have an emergency version; play often with conditions similar to the gig; breathing techniques; watch/listen to another band member--all have helped. Another thing that took me 2 years to figure out was that I wasn't letting the mic do its job. For some reason, I had the feeling that I had to project to all those audience members and then my right hand tightened up, which sent everything else crashing. Maybe this is due to the monitors or just inexperience, but when I finally played at my practice volume and let the mic take care of the volume, my typical "crash and burn" on stage problem went away. I'm still shaky, but it's far more controllable.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions; I've learned a lot by reading how others handle this same problem.

[OldSausage]

...I wasn't letting the mic do its job. For some reason, I had the feeling that I had to project to all those audience members and then my right hand tightened up, which sent everything else crashing.

I've certainly had this problem too, and have found myself shifting into unnatural positions when just about to take a break, with inevitable poor consequences for my right hand control. I have found I need to watch myself, try to be disciplined, and perhaps most importantly, practice this moment of stepping into the mic for a break.

[Appalachia]

I just thought I would chime in here with my strange case. I have absolutely terrible stage fright. I inherited panic disorder with agoraphobia from my mother, and preforming is what sets it off for me (for her it's driving on the interstate). I talked to my doctor about it, and he prescribed beta-blockers for the short term, but suggested I go to a psychotherapist for the long term (which is a much better option than medication), and so I tried them and found them to make no difference. He upped the dosage, and I still found there to be no difference. I haven't tried using them again, as I don't like taking medication in the first place; let alone medication that doesn't even seem to be fulfilling its purpose.

Is it really strange that the beta-blockers had no effect on me?

As for a solution: play in front of people as much as you can. I'd say that although I'd still rate my normal stage fright among what most would find extreme, I do get more comfortable every time I play in front of people. It doesn't even need to be shows; play in front friends and family, go out and play in public spaces (busking or otherwise), go to an open mic. The more you do it, the more comfortable it will get. Focusing on your breathing really helps aswell; even if you're not a singer, start to breath through your musical phrases as if you were singing them, inhaling before you start a phrase and exhaling through it. You'll find that this will help to smoothen out your playing in general, but also those ridged movements that weren't there during practice.

[Bertram Henze]

Is it really strange that the beta-blockers had no effect on me?
...
As for a solution: play in front of people as much as you can.
...
Focusing on your breathing really helps as well;

AFAIK beta blockers are just supposed to calm down shaking hands and other bodily jitters, they don't take away the fear as such.

Just playing and doing it again and again is the common approach of desensitization: face your fears and they will go away (e.g. people with arachnophobia are encouraged to let spiders crawl across their hands).

Breathing is a good idea - can't live without it - but seriously, I think our breath is constantly demonstrating that life goes on, whatever happens around us.

[Appalachia]

AFAIK beta blockers are just supposed to calm down shaking hands and other bodily jitters, they don't take away the fear as such.

Yes, but they didn't do anything for me; I had just as rigid and shaky of hands as ever, still the ever present sensation of being about to faint, being on the verge of hyperventilation if I didn't keep my breathing in check, tensed vocal chords, etcetera. The beta-blockers didn't help ANYTHING; they seemed to have done nothing at all. On a side note, I had to look up what "AFAIK" stood for; I'm not too big on initialisms, which are usually associated more with my generation (I'm 21), but on this board seem to be used more by older generations than mine. Just an interesting aside.

[Bertram Henze]

i'm not too big on initialisms, which are usually associated more with my generation (i'm 21), but on this board seem to be used more by older generations than mine.

older - aha ROFLMAO

[bratsche]

Important to note that we are all different, and therefore medications can affect us quite differently. In my one and only experience with beta-blockers, I was in my 20s and extremely nervous about a solo performance at a festival. The first night, my heart was pounding so wildly I could barely control my bow, but I got through it. The second night someone offered me one of these pills prior to the performance, and I took it. My heart no longer pounded wildly, but I felt nothing whatsoever - just apathy. The performance had no "spark". It was technically better, but the first performance, nerves and all, was better and more moving musically, in spite of its numerous technical flaws.

Usually it takes me several hours to wind down after a performance, even orchestral performances where I'm just part of the group and there's little pressure. After the beta blocker enhanced performance, I just wanted to go home and sleep.

In the high tension world of symphony auditions, I have seen these pills being passed out like candy. But I would never take one again. I now avoid taking medications in the first place. I don't even have an MD type doctor to consult, and one should really have a prescription for these drugs. My blood pressure is on the low side of normal in general, and it's my understanding that beta blockers could put a person like me down to a dangerously low blood pressure, and I wouldn't want that!

So, YMMV.

bratsche

[Bertram Henze]

Bratsche's story supports what I am thinking - fear and fun are both sides of the same emotion; kill one, and you'll kill the other.

[barney 59]

The old fashioned way----drugs and alcohol---like a surprising large percentage of my musical heroes.

[Bertram Henze]

The old fashioned way----drugs and alcohol---like a surprising large percentage of my musical heroes.

[terzinator]

Bratsche's story supports what I am thinking - fear and fun are both sides of the same emotion; kill one, and you'll kill the other.

I agree that everyone is different. For me, I still feel the rush of anticipation and nerves and joy and fun, but what it has helped is the jerky hand movements I have when trying to pick. I'm able to pick smoothly as if I was in my cave, practicing.

But yes, obviously, BB's are prescription meds. I would never have tried them without consulting my doctor first.

However, I don't want to RELY on them. I don't want to be in the situation of "oh, crap, I didn't take a beta blocker! I can't play!"

So, yes, the best thing is to be free of it, and embrace the fear and be so confident that you know your material well and can play in front of others like it's second nature. Because a mistake on stage will not kill you.

[John Ritchhart]

I took Beta Blockers once but found I couldn't play in the key of B.

[Bertram Henze]

But yes, obviously, BB's are prescription meds. I would never have tried them without consulting my doctor first.

However, I don't want to RELY on them. I don't want to be in the situation of "oh, crap, I didn't take a beta blocker! I can't play!"

There might be a way to start out with the help of medication and go on without it later. All it takes is confidence and a positive attitude, useful things in life anyway.

[geeterpicker]

I typically don't get nervous at most gigs, because most people aren't paying all that much attention and mistakes fly past them, unless somebody falls off the stage or something. If I play someplace where everyone is dead quiet and hanging on every note, I can find that a bit unnerving. But I usually get over it. Soemone above already mentioned it, but I agree the worst thing to do is think about what you're playing. That takes you out of the blend of music in a band and makes you feel alone. I just try to ride the rhythm and let it take me along. Also stick with what you know. Experiment only if you are feeling it.

[Markus]

Recently I had the opportunity to play a set with one of my bands on one of the larger stages in town [theater holds 800]. It helped that the place was mostly cleared out by the time we went on, but still - it was a textbook setup for a horrible performance. Intimidation factor was huge, as I've seen so many musical heroes on that stage [Grisman, Sam Bush, etc etc + a couple hundred shows in the last 2 decades].

While I was nervous in the morning before, I was shocked at how I didn't really get nervous at gig time.

One thing that helped immensely was the pre-gig prep time [knowing material, practice with group, practicing standing in front of mic].

By far the most helpful was the fact that I've been playing a weekly gig with a different group for 7 months.

It's a sitting gig at a downtown bar - couldn't be more different conditions or music, yet after going onstage 25+ times in the last year I've got my routine so ingrained that I can relax into it. I'm used to letting the mic do the work [instead of overplaying], I've turned matching string pairs onstage to a form of calming meditation, and have learned to focus on the musicians and somewhat tune the crowd out.

After that regular repetition, I have an ingrained gig routine which really helps. For me, familiarity vastly helps my nerves - I tend not to play as well and suffer more nerves the first time I play a stage than following visits. Despite my first time on this stage, my `gig habits' allowed me to execute the first couple tunes well - and to enjoy the experience. Unlike a year ago, I was well focused and still able to look up, smile some, and play competently.

There's something about the grind of playing out weekly that really helped me get over my nerves. That said, sit a great picker next to me at a jam and I still manage to trainwreck far more often than makes sense [given I can execute at a show]. I've lost my nerves for the random general public at least ...

[OKMike]

Great thread, just had my first gig yesterday at church. I was very nervous to say the least. I tried to use positive thinking (not thinking of bombing but thinking of hitting it just right) We were scheduled to play right after the offering and when the prayer was said they mentioned our gig, that helped immensely. If the lord is with us who can be against us? I was still nervous but we made it through. Focusing on the tune and listening to my bandmates helped me turn off the jitters a little. My bandmates knew I was nervous and helped me through it. Now I'm hooked and ready to go again. It was a blast.

[Jon Hall]

If I'm not performing,in front of people, on a very regular basis I expect to get nervous. On the occasions that one of my groups performs the same set on a regular basis we all get pretty confident and relaxed through our gigs.

[smokin]

don't practise till you get it right.practise till you can't get it wrong.