Method to get rid of stage fear

[Payul]

Hi All,

In the past I had extremely problems with playing in front of an audience.
I red a lot about it, sport books, music books, etc, asked it to performing people, and I "developed" a way to get rid of stage fear.
It helped me a lot, last autumn I played for more than 500 people solo!
So I wrote a litle article, and want to share that with you.
It really works if you train this, and it helped a lot of people allready.
Maybe one of you will benefit from it!
( the article is in the attached file )

If you do not understand anything, pleace ask me, I be glad to help you out.

Payul

[Chiste de Gales]

Interesting method. Its true- you have to visualize to make it work.

One method I like is to record your playing. To me that offers similar
pressures as an audience. You know that every mistake will be detected.

[deteresa]

Hey,
Thank you for this very insightful article. I love that mantra, "Play beautiful". It reminds you to just simply put your heart into it and play what you feel, rather than trying to impress people with your technique or mastery of Flamenco. 99% of audience members will still connect with what you are expressing and recognize the beauty even if you, say, break compas once or make some technical errors.
For me, the best way of getting rid of any stage fright that I may have had, was to play a lot for audiences that honestly weren't paying attention. I get a lot of gigs at restaurants and private dinners and receptions where you are just there to provide background music. In these situations I actually play at least 10% better than I do at home because I'm exhilerated but at the same time relaxed, plus (hopefully) I'm getting paid It just feels good to see people enjoying themselves and know that you are adding to that and making the night really special for them.
Anyway that's my $.02 on the matter.

[Black Sheep]

I occasionally lecture students in presentation skills and public speaking. None... I repeat none... of my tips and tricks work for playing in public.

I am not good enough yet to play for my dog let alone an audience. But the only piece of advice I can offer come to me from a friend who is a professional musician. He says to always remember that your audience has no idea of what you are trying to play. The can only hear what you are playing. If you make a mistake, keep going. they will love it in ignorance.

Desensitising by joining a group of players or play as part of a group accompanying dancers. Get some stage time in and you might get used to it. But it is possible solo performance is not for you. It is not for everyone.

Me myself, I'm am an introverted show off. I like public speaking as long as I know my subject... But I have a lot more practice to do before I know the guitar well enough to inflict it on others.

[Payul]

[In these situations I actually play at least 10% better than I do at home because I'm exhilerated but at the same time relaxed, plus (hopefully) I'm getting paid .]

@ Deteresa I have experianced that too, it is a strainge situation

@ Chiste de Gales, recording yourself is also a good alternative for performance.

@ Black Sheep,the frend gave a good tip! I think solo playing in front of an audience can be learned, if you take the time for that too, if you study that, just like you study a difficult picado.

[Estanislao]

Although I haven't played solo music before an audience I've given public speeches for decades.

My wife has as well. We both have our own ways of dealing with the fear. My wife follows some advice she got in school from a teacher. The teacher told her to imagine that everbody in the audience was naked; and she the only one clothed. That way she sort of fools herself into thinking that she is not the one making a fool of herself.

I learned to make the fear a welcome part of the experience. If I am a little worried about how I will be received, then I won't come on as arrogant. Added to that the high I feel when I've finished and done a good job makes all the fear worth it. So I end up anticipating the whole experience, fear and all.

I think focusing on the music is the best advice of all. After all, it is all about the music and creating something beautiful from our work. Or at least I hope so.

[deteresa]

Originally Posted by Estanislao

Although I haven't played solo music before an audience I've given public speeches for decades.

My wife has as well. We both have our own ways of dealing with the fear. My wife follows some advice she got in school from a teacher. The teacher told her to imagine that everbody in the audience was naked; and she the only one clothed. That way she sort of fools herself into thinking that she is not the one making a fool of herself.

I think it was John Hodgeman who took it one step further and suggested imagining your whole audience naked and crying

[Black Sheep]

My problem with the naked thing is that invariably my audiences are college design students and there is always a cute girl somewhere near the front... and the whole 'imagine them naked' has a kind of reverse effect...

Very distracting...

[Payul]

LOL
_ A naked crying audiance - that woul really scare me!

I hink we all develope one way or the other to coop with our problems...
But if the nerves are so bad that you prefer not to do what you "supposed" to do, or you start shaking so bad you cannot hit proper a string, the methode is perhaps a succesfull way for you.