Most of us have been nervous playing in front of an audience at some point or other. Sometimes nervousness manifests itself as heightened awareness and racing thoughts. Other times our hands shake and sweat, and we can barely play our instrument. It's a natural and evolutionarily essential response, and therefore can be tough to control.. When we're the object of numerous attentive gazes, it triggers our primitive instinct to flee a potential predator (or pack of predators). The instinct is called the fight or flight response, though I've never heard of any performer feeling compelled to fight the audience -- only to flee.
Check out the explanation of the response and list of physical effects of this response (under the heading 'Reaction'). Do any sound familiar to you? Do your nerves ever keep you from playing your best in lessons? A lot of my students have dealt with lesson nervous in the past year. It's frustrating to many that they can play something pretty well on their own, but when lesson time comes, they freeze up and make silly mistakes.
A few years ago, Liz Turner wrote this article on Performance Anxiety.
I wrote this article on Lesson Anxiety a few months ago.
What situations make you most nervous? Lessons? Performances? Auditions? Are you one of the few lucky ones who actually play better with an audience? Why do you think that is? If you've gotten better at playing through your nerves, what tips and tricks have helped you the most?
Thanks for sharing your article about lesson anxiety. I can really connect with it, especially the part about "acknowledge your nerves". When my children and I play at a local music shop (mostly just for fun), sometimes I can tell that one of them is a bit nervous. My general response is to smile and tell them, "It happens. Don't worry about it. Just do the best you can." When they realize that that anxiety is nothing "bad" they typically calm down instantly.
The other thing that we do is to practice around other people and in different environments. We play outside with the gate open and wave at the neighbors as they pass by (does that make us hillbillies?). We play at a friend's guitar shop. We play when friends come over. We play upstairs, downstairs, on the porch. We are always playing somewhere different. Initially, we were more nervous, but the more that we do it, the easier it gets. Glory, my daughter who takes guitar lessons from Leah is the most comfortable with being thrown a guitar in any environment and asked to play, but one would not expect that knowing that she is not naturally out-spoken. I think a lot of it is being put in that situation enough times. Certainly, when one of the younger siblings asks to come along and play with us (in public) they are initially nervous and make more mistakes than usual, but by the 3rd time, they start to lose that anxiety.
~TaylorH
Thanks for sharing you and your family's experiences, Taylor! That's really interesting, I like how you guys share your music in all sorts of contexts and environments. I'm sure that helps a lot with getting comfortable.
Older students should note that what Taylor described doesn't just apply to young players! Students of all ages get nervous, and students of all ages tend to find that the more we play for people, the easier it gets.
Likewise, professionals get nervous too! I still get pretty nervous for particularly big or important performances. I've gradually learned how to manage my nerves so that they affect my playing minimally. I acknowledge them, but instead of dwelling on them I focus on being energized by the environment and people. I probably still have my most flawless run-throughs of pieces in the safety my home, but I have the most fun when I'm connecting with others and sharing my music.
I think we should consider our playing as one small game. Sometimes we spend a whole day in front of the computer, doing something funny, playing a game, and we are not scared or nervous. In that way, we should take our playing on concerts in front of the audience. For sure, music is a very important part of us if we chose to be musicians. We practice every day and all guest around us used there time to listen to us, so they are not in the hall to search for mistakes. Another important thing is not to be in the "other side" of the scene, and think what people think about us, instead of what we need to play. Just think what you want to hear, and you will play much better in tough moments. Enjoy!
I really like these approaches, Andrija!
If you're a serious music student or a professional, we can get swept up in taking music very seriously. It's important to be able to disconnect from that. It is, after all, 'just' music. If we mess up, nothing terrible really happens.
I gave a performance a few months ago that was disappointing on a personal and musical level. It made me feel a lot better to think about who was in the audience. The audience was composed of (1) students of mine who came to hear me play and be inspired (2) my friends and other performers' friends who came out to support us and (3) strangers who just wanted to see a flamenco show. As far as I know, everyone in the audience got what they came for that night. I know it could have been better, but it wasn't just about me.
What you said about audience members searching for mistakes reminds me of a quote by (I think, though I couldn't find the exact quote to reference) classical guitarist John Williams regarding playing the famous concerto 'Aranjuez'. There's a lot of pressure that goes with performing a famous work that people have heard hundreds of times. He said that some people come to hear him play brilliantly, and others come to hear him make mistakes. And he likes to think he gives a little to both sides at any given performance. This makes me laugh and helps remind us that we can't be too concerned with what the audience thinks. When it comes down to it, we have to play for ourselves and no one else.
I play my best in front of stuffed and live animals. It’s the homo sapiens that scare me!