Help! I’ve got stage fright!
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Performance anxiety, a.k.a. stage fright, happens to performers the world over, and at all levels of experience, including international superstars like Andrea Bocelli, Stevie Nicks and Adele.
But there ARE ways to help reduce its impact. Here are some of them:
Preparation
Guided meditations: there are many guided meditations available online specifically geared towards alleviating performance anxiety, very often focusing on visualisation. It’s not simply enough to imagine the song going well, in a general sense - the more details you focus on, and the slower you go through the build-up to the performance, the performance itself going brilliantly, the reception being warm and enthusiastic and the glow you feel afterwards, the more effective it can be
Don’t forget the obvious things! Be well-slept, hydrated and NOT hungry. If you can, avoid excess caffeine or sugar
If possible, familiarise yourself with the venue where you’ll be singing. Hear your voice in the space, get a feel for the acoustics, and know where you’ll be standing
Plan to look your best! Do everything you can to make it a good hair day, if you’re a makeup wearer, choose the look that makes you feel fabulous. Wear nice underwear. It all helps!
Practice! Know that you are vocally solid. Ask for help with that from a singing teacher if you need it. If you’ve sung the song 100 times and you KNOW that your voice knows what to do, those neural pathways are ingrained, and you will have a lot more trust in your ability to repeat what you know
Performance is a SKILL - the more you do it, the more practice you get at coping with the nerves that inevitably come, and learning about and tweaking the strategies that work best for you.
In the moment tips
These practical strategies can be very individual - some may work better than others for you.
Use your instinct. Trust your body to know what it needs: that might be stillness and calm, that might be shaking hands and feet to release nervous energy, or any number of other things. Most people feel butterflies and need to go to the loo!
5-4-3-2-1 is a nice strategy for getting out of your head and getting present. Slowly and methodically, in this order, notice 5 things you can see, and label them in your mind. For example, ‘I can see the leaves on the tree branch waving outside the window. I can see a grey carpet. I can see a green fire exit sign on the wall…’ and so on. Then, you notice 4 things you can hear, such as ‘I can hear the traffic go past on the street outside.’ Then 3 things you can feel, perhaps the clothes on your skin, your feet in your shoes, a breeze on your skin. Then 2 things you can smell (hopefully pleasant smells but they don’t have to be) and 1 thing you can taste. By the time you’ve done these, you should be feeling present and further away from anxious thoughts about your imminent performance
Roll your feet on the floor, from heel to ball, side to side. Try and feel all points of your feet making contact with the ground. Again, this can help to ground you and take you out of an anxious thought cycle
Breathing - different people will need different things, but generally breathing out more than breathing in will relax and calm you. The Calm app has a fantastic guided breathing section
Finger breaths are another way to get present and to slow our breathing and calm ourselves down. It’s an exercise designed for children but it’s great for adults too. Click here to watch a video explaining how to do them
Another very personal strategy is making use of eye contact (or not!) Do what works for you: you can connect with a friendly-looking or familiar person, some people prefer to connect with a stranger in the audience, and some people prefer not to look at the audience at all, but instead focus just above people’s heads, or at a spot at the back of the auditorium.
Tips for your mind
When we are anxious, it’s common to get repetitive thoughts going through our mind, often negative ones, like an annoying, mean parrot on your shoulder telling you all the things we don’t want to hear - that we’re going to make a mistake, forget a line, mess up somehow. But we need to get rid of the inner chatter! Here are some ways to think about your performance that can help you to shift perspective.
Sing in service to something bigger than yourself - make it not about you! This may be singing for somebody else, for a cause, for worship, for a celebration - whatever it is, don’t make yourself the centre of the story
Become a character - another way to make it not about you! Use your acting skills to tell a story and make communicating that the focus. You are the channel through which the audience learns what’s going on
Often, just knowing that the nerves usually go once you start and get into the swing of things can be a comfort and can reduce some worry in the first place
Revisiting the visualisation and imagination elements - feeling the energy of the whole planet coming up through your feet and shining out of you like golden light is a lovely, meditative and calming way to find a greater purpose and quieten the anxious thoughts
Reframe - nerves are normal! And useful. When we’re nervous, we experience some of the same physiological symptoms as being excited. Tell yourself that you’re excited to show everyone what you can do, and trust that the nerves will help!
Remember you’re only a part of what’s going on. When you sing, when that moment of art is being created, you’re only a piece of the puzzle… the composer, lyricist, musicians, and the audience are all there with you in that moment, creating it with you. When we’re nervous it feels like it’s ALL about us but it’s always a collaboration, so take the pressure off! The audience is responsible for their enjoyment and their part in the performance as well.
I hope you find some of these tips helpful - some will work for you and some may not. But the more you get out and practice performing, the easier it will become.
Happy, free and confident singing!
Laura x
Recommended resources:
