Having fear of stage is common among artists irrespective of their skill level. Whether you are a professional or a beginner piano player, it is natural to be nervous for your performance on stage. Many of the pro piano players admit that they are never away from anxiety before their performance even if they have spent years performing on stage. The main challenge is to overcome stage fright and to actually control butterflies in your stomach. Your nervousness may have varied patterns and realizing these patterns would give you a better idea of controlling this anxiety. Control over your nervousness would have positive effects on quality of your performance. So go through the tips that we are sharing here and by implementing these regularly would enable you to overcome stage fright.
7 Tips to Overcome Stage Fright
1. Know your Performance: One of the best ways to overcome stage fright is to have complete command over your performance. You should know all the pieces that you are going to play over piano in your performance really well. Practice them well regularly with varied speed levels and under various circumstances. This would make you feel much more comfortable when you will play these learned pieces among audiences.
2. Remind yourself of Parts of your Performance that you enjoy most: A certain piece that you aim to perform on stage may have different points that you enjoy most. Remind yourself of those pieces and you will be able to gain more confidence. Regroup your memory and think about scores that are most attractive. It will surely boost your self-confidence.
3. Recall that you are a Good Pianist: A voice may be coming from your inside that you may not be able to play and this is the sign of nervousness. Nervousness gives you pressure that proves to be unfavorable for your performance. Control this voice inside you and retell yourself that you are a good player and that you are really good at playing the piece that you wish to perform. At any cost you would be sharing this amazing piece that you play with your audience. This speaking to your heart will give you amazing confidence for on stage performance.
4. Be Focused during Performance: Some voices of your audiences or some acts may trigger your fear and you may lose concentration. Try to ignore them to an extent and focus on what you are playing. Enjoy whatever you are playing and you will find yourself concentrating completely on that music. Try to locate different points in your piece before performance that you need to focus more and you will find your mind to be occupied over working on those points. This way you will have no room in your mind for anxiety and for what is going on among your spectators?
5. Play whatever you are Comfortable Playing: Never overdo or stress your mind by trying to perform difficult notes and pieces for on stage performance. It would be worst case if you do not know these notes well. If you do that you probably would be making more mistakes in front of audiences out of stress than you do in your practice sessions. Always perform pieces that you are comfortable with and know well.
6. Prepare Beforehand: Don’t wait for last hours and minutes to practice and prepare a piece. You should be well prepared before the day of your performance so practice well in advance to give your best. If you leave practice for last hours, you are bound to be nervous and to be making mistakes.
7. Make a Small Group of Audiences: Before actually performing in front of a huge crowd, try to arrange a small group of people as audiences and perform in front of them. These practice sessions can have your fellow students or other pianists at the same skill level as your audience. This will give you more confidence of playing in front of people.
When you realize that you are beginning to feel nervous about your performance
- Try to remain calm and focused with a slow deep breath. Keep breathing slowly for some minutes as it would help in removing stress and anxiety. Focus only on your performance and leave all thoughts behind.
- Drink some water or take some fresh juice. But do not over do as a full bladder may even make you more uncomfortable during performance on stage.
- Stretch your body. Stress would tighten your body muscles, give your arms. Neck, hands and body a little stretch and you will regain focus with stimulated blood flow.
Let excitement overcome the fright!
Conclusion
The best idea would be to have a positive attitude and let nervousness go away with complete excitement and focus on your on stage performance. Be completely motivated for giving your best performance by playing the pieces you know well with full energy. Learn and practice songs well and play them for other small groups before you perform in a large gathering. Nervousness is natural and there is no harm in this feeling provided it doesn’t put your performance at risk. Keeping a control over stage fright would be easier by following some tips that we have shared. It may not completely eliminate your fear but would give you confidence of fighting and overcoming it.
Leave a Reply