Combat Stage Fright
No one is immune from stage fright. Even the most seasoned of performers experience some stage fright. Stage fright is not a rational decision, it is an irrational emotion. The good news is you can make a choice about what you will listen to in your head; what you concentrate on; what you respond to; and what you energize.

Stage fright is an adrenaline rush – all this frenetic energy going wild inside of you. It’s good for you to be excited. The key is to use that wonderful energy instead of trying to quash it. Put that raw energy into your performance. Don’t be afraid of it, use it! You never know where it will take you. That is the fun – for you and for your audience.

Release that energy into your performance – great performers do. The key is to focus on the right things. Concentrate on the music! Respond to the music, to your character, to the emotions of the song that are coursing through your body at any given moment.

Maintaining focus and calm requires consistent practice and just plain getting out there and doing it! Experience will teach you that you will not die from stage fright. The following are some more suggestions for conquering stage fright.

Triggers
A trigger is a stimulus that sets off an action or a process. Triggers can be established for anything, such as to calm yourself when you are on stage. Like Pavlov’s dogs, you too are trainable.

One idea for a trigger is that for every time someone says your name, you assume your superhero posture and persona. Or perhaps you might associate a calming breath with the color red. Train yourself to take a calming breath every time you see something red. Play this little game with yourself over a period of time to install red as a trigger to inhale by soothing and opening your body. When you are performing, take something red, place it within your sight line and then look at it when you feel the nerves taking over to calm yourself.

Fred Fear
Create a fictional character who personifies your fear. Mine is Fred Fear – a skinny, slouching wimp. Before a performance, I tell Fred to sit down outside the room and leave me alone. Amazingly enough, he obeys. I can actually feel the fear leaving my body. Create your own character and feel the freedom as you tell your fear to stay away.

Conjure your nemesis long before you walk onto a stage and attempt to use him. Become familiar with every pore on his face, what he wears, his facial expression and so on. When you have a very strong mental picture of your Fred, then and only then can you use his presence to your advantage – by telling him where to go.

Pre-performance Ritual
Most performers have some strange pre-performance ritual. These range from a specific sequence of jumping jacks and calling out the names of your dead relatives to meditation to looking out from the stage in your minds eye and seeing the adoring faces of your audience.

Being prepared is your best relief for pre-performance anxiety. You will find your own ritual that makes you feel calm and comforted. Try various things that feel good. Forget about how silly it may look or sound. If it works – do it!

Breathe
Three slow deep breaths – inhale and exhale – can lower your heart rate. It does not take much time at all to circulate three breaths through your system. You can do it during your introduction to each song.

Breathe to stay aware your body, your instrument. Focus on the internal instrument to steer your mind away from the butterflies in your belly. Don’t concentrate on calming the flutters, concentrate on getting the nasal passages to open high and wide. Stay focused on the positive.

Be Real
Fear not the audience. It’s actually painful for them when you are obviously nervous. They want you to succeed. They want to be entertained. Be playful with them and take them along on your journey.

Mistakes made and acknowledged with honesty, grace and humor are perfectly acceptable. Besides, mistakes make you human and accessible. No one is there to hear perfection. An audience usually wants something they can relate to, and we can all relate to mistakes.

It’s painful to watch a struggling performer. Take care of your audience – breathe and enjoy. Fretting about how you used to look better in the suit you’re wearing will not help your performance. However, joking about a wardrobe malfunction will get the audience to rally round.

Bottom line? You have fun and your audience will too!

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About the author

Sally Morgan is a professional vocal trainer with over 30 years of experience. Sally is also the creator and author of SingLikeYouSpeak(TM)!

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