WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?
What causes you to worry for days in advance, to have sweaty palms, the
shakes, to feel sick and to race to the bathroom every two minutes before you
sing? Is it the thought of forgetting your words, worrying about how certain
people in the audience may judge you or something else? If you can work this
out, you can very specifically tackle the problem head on. In the words of the
Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza ‘If you want the present to be different from
the past, study the past.’
PREPARE
Practise regularly and practise effectively by setting goals for each
rehearsal. Practise until you can perform the song with all the tricky bits consistently.
Knowing your music well gives you one (massive) less thing to worry about
during the performance.
It is also useful to learn a song in reverse order, so that you learn
the final section first working back to the opening section. This way in a
performance, you are always heading towards something you know even better than
the current section, which stops you from worrying about what is coming up.
Once you establish where you are going to breathe, how you are going to
tackle a high note etc practise it that way every single time. Repeated actions
over time create a physiological blueprint, known as memory muscle. This leads
to the performer being able to recreate these moments without conscious effort.
This also includes your mouth forming the right shape for the next word
subconsciously. If you have learnt a song really well, the words will just come
to you. This does not mean that you will produce a robotic performance, but
your delivery of the basic elements of a song will be dependable.
Although preparation is key in alleviating performance anxiety, do not start
obsessively over-rehearsing where your quest for perfection overtakes the joy
of singing.
PERFORM
The more you do it, the better you will do it and the more at home you
will feel on stage. Start small – just you performing to a recording device
with a row of teddies, then for one person in your lounge, then at a small
friendly gathering and so on until you’re in an arena with 15,000 people
watching you! Dale Carnegie said “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Actions breed
confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think
about it. Go out and get busy.”
LOOK AFTER YOURSELF
Before the performance get a good night’s sleep. On the day, have a good
breakfast, get plenty of rest and give yourself time. Do not be rushing around
or spring cleaning your house. Make sure you have been awake for two hours,
have had a good stretch and do a thorough warm up before you sing. However, do
not over do it and practise for hours so that you tire your voice. This means
that you need to ensure that you have properly prepared in advance of the day.
When it comes to singing you can’t cram at the last moment. Have a light meal
before you perform and leave enough time to spend getting dressed. You should dress
for success and wear something that makes you feel confident.
A QUIET MOMENT
Yoga, meditation
and affirmations done on a regular basis are all useful in overcoming
performance anxiety. Immediately before the performance, however, it can help
to go for a walk and to concentrate on deep slow breathing.
Take time to find a quiet corner in which to steady yourself mentally. This is
a good chance to do some visualisation, which you start working on in advance
of the performance. It is the worth the time spent as what the mind sees it
believes.
Imagine a circle
on the floor – it’s glowing with light and warmth. Step into the circle and
think of a time when you sang really well. Everything went smoothly, you were entertaining,
you communicated the song well, your voice was confident and clear, your throat
was relaxed, your posture was strong and self-assured and you were a great
success. Hear the audience clapping, see yourself smiling back at the audience
as you receive your applause and know that you were incredible. Let
your feelings of confidence amplify as they flow through you. In the circle you
are invincible.
Step out of the
circle, break your trail of thought and let the feelings of confidence ebb
away. Then do the exercise again several times – repetition is really important
with visualisation. Now visualise folding the circle in half, then half again
and half again and put it in your pocket. Repeat all of this twice
a day for a week. When you sing, focus on the spot where you know
you will stand and just before you go on mentally unfold the circle and throw
it there. See it glowing and as you step into it, you will feel the confidence radiating
from you.
If you are unable
to think of a time when you performed well, then you use your imagination or
even step into the shoes of a famous singer. Your brain cannot tell the
difference between real and imaginary, so it does not matter how you achieve
it. You just need to capture that feeling of supreme confidence and then use it
to create a very real effect.
FOCUS
Before you walk towards your circle of confidence, flick the performance
switch in your head to on and if you need to, step into your performing alter ego
who would not dream of shying away from the limelight. Think about how grateful
you are to have this opportunity to sing. Your shoulders should go back and
your head should go up as you walk onto stage confidently.
As you sing, stay focused in the moment – do not start anticipating what
could go wrong and do not get distracted if you make a mistake. If it does
happen do not give it away, just keep going and the majority of the time the
audience will be none the wiser. The more you concentrate on any little
slip-ups that you have may have made the more you are not focussing on the job
at hand and the more likely you are to make further errors. Additionally, don’t
get distracted by everyday life – thinking about where you left your car or
what weekly shopping you need to get tomorrow.
LOVE YOUR AUDIENCE
The audience have chosen to be there. They are not hoping that they will
have an uncomfortable experience watching a performer squirm on stage. They
want you to succeed. Do not distract yourself from the song by trying to
second-guess what audience members are thinking.
It is important to have someone in the audience who is on your side, who
you do not need to impress, who supports you, who boosts your confidence,
someone you can share your fears with and your post-performance discussion.
KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS
While you are building your confidence, only perform songs that you know
really well, are good at singing, that suit your voice and are well within your
capability.
INTERPRET YOUR FEELINGS POSITIVELY
This is an extract from Marisa Peer’s book Ultimate Confidence:
Feeling excited and feeling nervous are very similar feelings. It’s only
the description that is so very different… There is an often quoted story of
Bruce Springsteen describing what it is like to perform live. He described it
as the most amazing feeling in the world and said, ‘When I am performing my
heart rate surges, adrenalin flows through me. I sweat and I feel so jazzed.
It’s better than sex, there is nothing like it, it’s the best feeling there
is.’
Carly Simon also described what it felt like to perform live and
described the same feelings – adrenalin pumping, heart racing, sweating – but
she concluded that she was having a panic attack and it forced her to retire
from performing live.
KEEP PERSPECTIVE
In the grand scheme of life, how one performance goes is not significant.
Singing is something you should enjoy and it’s important to remember that a
certain amount of nerves positively contribute to your performance by stopping
any complacency and powering your performance with the incoming adrenalin rush.
You should also think of it as the high point at the end of hours spent
rehearsing, rather than as a moment of terror.
DON’T BE SCARED
You could never sing again in public - that would solve the problem
of performance anxiety, but it is not really what you want to do. Every time you get up there, it is a risk
and you might fail, but here are some quotes to inspire and tell you why you
should do it anyway:
‘Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be
overcome.’ Samuel Johnson
‘You miss 100% of the shots you never take.’ Wayne Gretzky,
‘Our greatest glory is not in never failing but in rising every time we
fail.’ Confucius
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
After singing, assess the elements of your preparation that helped and
those that did not. Reflect on your performance and note down the aspects of
your singing that went well. Watch this list grow with every performance. It is
not easy to deal with the debilitating effects that singing in public can cause,
but it is possible. It is a gradual process and if you track it, you can clearly
see how you are improving. To walk the Great Wall of China is a massive
challenge. How do you do it? One step at a time and this is no different.
