Is stage fright (a.k.a., performance anxiety) holding you back from achieving your goals? What could happen for you if you weren’t afraid of making mistakes on stage? Here are 5 tips to help you get over stage fright so you can give your best performance.
1) Take the Pressure Off
Are you thinking about what other people think of you while you are performing? Have you heard how difficult it is to succeed in the music industry and that you have to be absolutely amazing to go anywhere? If so, it’s time to take the pressure off.
That’s not to say that there’s aren’t some contests you could enter or that someone isn’t tracking album sales as a measure of a band’s success. It’s just that obsessing about all the ways in which we can embarrass ourselves, make mistakes, or fail is enough to make anyone crazy. Worries are merely distractions. They make us less focused.
Take the pressure off by focusing your mental energy on your performance instead of the noise. In other words, increase the signal-to-noise ratio in your mind! Like an athlete, a professional singer or musician understands that focus is the key to excellence. Put that baggage down.
2) Think Less, Sing More
Imagine yourself on stage or recall a recent performance and write down every thought that might (or did) come to your mind. Are you thinking about emulating another singer? Are you thinking about your appearance or maybe your grocery shopping? Write down every thought you can remember and look at your list and notice all the ways in which your attention is divided.
Before you get on a stage, write down every irrelevant thought. Maybe there’s only one or two. Get them out of your head and trust that you can come back to these thoughts at a more appropriate time. While you’re at it, write down a few positive things about where you are right now in the learning process.
If you’re forgetting your place in a song, forgetting your lyrics, or just stumbling… it could be that you haven’t rehearsed enough, but it also could be that you are preoccupied with mental clutter. Think less, sing more.
3) Choose a Goal
Just accept this: You probably won’t get everything right, and if you’re trying to think of everything you must do you could be feeling overwhelmed. When you’re performing as a singer, just focus one particular goal for the event. Make your first goal staying present to the music. In other words, never lose track of where you are in the song.
Every performance is a learning opportunity. When you’re learning to sing, you are focusing on a particular lesson or a set of lessons that are present for you. As you gain experience, past lessons will be assimilated. You won’t have to think about them anymore, and you can focus on the next lesson instead. It helps to have guidance, such as working from a well-written course like eMedia Singing Method, so you can progress from one step to the next.
If you follow this strategy, eventually you will have gained enough experience and learned enough lessons to feel less like a student and more like a performer. When you feel like performer, your previous lessons will be so well integrated that your mind will be available to allow you to freely engage with the audience.
4) Be Fearless
Don’t let the fear of embarrassing yourself keeping you from living your dream life. Don’t allow yourself to be consumed by the emotion. Fear is a warning that something needs attention. Address fear either by changing your perspective or by taking action. Find a way to make continued progress towards your goal.
5) Make it a Meditation
You might not be ready to make eye contact with audience members. It’s OK. Start by choosing a few places in the back of the room so you can focus your eyes on something non-confrontational. This helps you practice looking up, in the direction of the audience, without triggering too many thoughts.
Think of your performance as a meditation. Empty your mind. Know your place in the song. Breathe comfortably as you connect with your place in your musical journey.
Photo by Bruno Cervera on Unsplash.