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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Overcoming Stage Fright.
Overcoming Stage Fright.
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tookatooka
3757 posts
Oct 09, 2015
10:40 AM
This may help those affected, me included.


Rontana
192 posts
Oct 09, 2015
12:36 PM
I've had this, to an immense degree, since I was a kid. I've probably tried everything possible - practice, meditation, therapy (cognitive behavioral and other types) booze, anti-anxiety drugs, and on and on and on to deal with it.

Back when I did newspaper columns I had to occasionally speak in front of crowds. I do rate public speaking as a fear right up there with death. Practice does help, as the vid suggests, but not as much as downing large amounts of hooch. However, since I value my liver, I crossed that form of coping off the list long ago.

Drugs like klonopin or xanax are of some benefit, but they're not always as effective as people think. If I'm going to be in front of people, for any reason, I won't even feel the drugs unless I'm on a massive dose.

I've felt very fortunate and appreciative I could support myself via my freelance scribbling. I'd probably have had a pretty tough time of it in a non-solo profession


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Last Edited by Rontana on Oct 12, 2015 7:14 AM
nacoran
8738 posts
Oct 09, 2015
12:59 PM
I get excited when I'm going to go up on stage but it never really turns to that sort of negative panic sort of thing. It's funny, because I've got pretty severe social anxiety. Talking to new people in person freaks me out, but as long as there is that invisible social barrier between me and them as performer/audience I'm fine. I can perform my songs and get off stage and go sit in the corner again (or with a small group of people I know well). The one thing I can't do on stage is go up and jam. I think what is going through my mind is that when I'm performing in front of an audience at an open mic if I screw up I've only screwed up my set (or my band mates, but I know them well enough to know they won't get mad), but if I go up to jam with people I don't know I worry I'll screw up their set, and then they'll have a negative opinion of me.

Xanax made me sleep all the time. Paxil works to take the edge off.

Even going new places can cause anxiety for me. I think a lot of the same tools I use for dealing with that probably would work for stage fright too. I show up early and get to know the place. I look for friendly faces (take a friend if you can), make sure I've got my set list ready, including harp keys, and on newer songs the starting hole (I had one song in first position that I used to always start on the wrong hole). If you have a chance, step outside a couple minutes before you go up to get your songs in your head and then put on your stage persona. For me, that involves having a little banter or a joke. Sometimes a really bad joke is better than a good one. If you can get the audience to groan at your joke then you know they'll like your music better. (Just don't offend them. Stay away from politics).

"Why was Popeye always so grumpy?"
"Extra Virgin Olive Oil"

Focus on the non-scary details- the keys, any cables you'll need. Your brain only has so many things it can keep track of. If you can fill it with little things you can push the big things out.

I know there are a lot of performers who have a particular schtick. Sometimes it's to enhance the performance, but I think a lot of times it's a way to put someone 'else' up on stage in your place. It's like putting on a new suit. If people don't like the suit, you can change it and wear a different one next time.




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Nate
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Mirco
320 posts
Oct 09, 2015
5:05 PM
Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker, tells a story about two performers he's worked with. One was maybe Carly Simon (I forget...) and one was Bruce Springsteen.

Carly Simon told Tony Robbins about how she felt before going onstage. Sweaty hands, upset stomach, heart racing, etc. She expressed how difficult it was for her to get on stage, with such bad stage fright.

Bruce Sprinsteen told Tony Robbins about how he felt before going onstage. Sweaty hands, nervous stomach, heart racing. He talked about how, whenever he felt that excited and pumped up, he KNEW that he was ready to get onstage and play.

Perspective has a lot to do with it.
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Marc Graci
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Last Edited by Mirco on Oct 09, 2015 5:06 PM
Harp2swing
213 posts
Oct 09, 2015
5:35 PM
If I had to go on stage solo I'd probably freeze, but in a five piece band it never worried me.

Last Edited by Harp2swing on Oct 09, 2015 5:40 PM
bigd
598 posts
Oct 09, 2015
9:46 PM
Whenever I used to public speak I'd open with "Alright everyone: Tighten your anus". "Now you know how I feel being in front of you right now!" Standing in front of people playing: whoo - my peripheral nervous system would light up like a x-mas tree...Until I did it again and again and again: the challenge was more psychological than musical....but now I'm always under the lights....Now dating!!! An IV anti-anxiety infusion and an anti diarrheal would help!
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Rontana
193 posts
Oct 10, 2015
5:32 AM
For some folks, integrating themselves into that which they fear - via repetition, perspective, etc - can be effective. That's sort of the cognitive-behavioral approach. For others that road can actually make stagefright worse.

The reasons are as diverse as the reasons for stage fright/social anxiety itself. The root cause can be psychological, physical, or - as discovered over the past decade or so - even a result of genetics. Most likely some or all of these of these foundational origins - depending on the person - work in concert.

In other words, no single method works for everyone, and for some folks no existing method works very well at all. At times the goal you shoot for is management, rather than cure.
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Last Edited by Rontana on Oct 12, 2015 7:15 AM
RyanMortos
1517 posts
Oct 10, 2015
8:38 AM
The worst part with this stuff is that it's all a catch 22. You have to face your fear to beat it. Depending on how much power you gave that fear it could seem as difficult as putting a fork in an active electrical outlet. If you choose not to face your fear you give it power. And if you think you're going to face your fear and at the last minute let fear & anxiety turn you away that's even worse. Newton's Law of Inertia is pretty interesting once you get the ball rolling it's easier to keep rolling, if you continually choose not to start rolling the ball it gets harder to start & seems easier not to try.

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RyanMortosHarmonica

~Ryan

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ted burke
394 posts
Oct 11, 2015
12:07 PM
Preparation and experience are the best cures for me. If it happens to be a band I play with regularly and have had rehearsal time with, it helps a lot knowing what it is your supposed to be doing with the band, during the song, during your solo spots. Knowing the songs helps a lot. And experience. Usually , the more you play live, the quicker at ease you become. I always have a case of nerves, shakes, all that, before I take the stage, but once the band starts playing, the know-how and the want-to kick in, over riding nerves and the jitters. The was the name of my last band, by the way, the Jitters.
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Ted Burke

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Goldbrick
1147 posts
Oct 12, 2015
3:44 PM
I take off my glasses so distance is fuzzy and try and focus on a pretty girl in the crowd. Without the glasses its pretty easy to find one.
Goldbrick
1148 posts
Oct 12, 2015
3:44 PM
I take off my glasses so distance is fuzzy and try and focus on a pretty girl in the crowd. Without the glasses its pretty easy to find one.
mr_so&so
940 posts
Oct 14, 2015
1:50 PM
Stage fright is still something I'm working out. My job involves public speaking on occasion, but that no longer is a problem for me, especially if I have given my comments some thought in advance. But playing an instrument, especially as a solo act, is still hard for me, and not something I do very often. I'm pretty confident that as I up my frequency of exposure, things will get easier. I also keep playing and practising and getting better. I expect that the less I have to think when I play, the easier it will become as well.
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mr_so&so
Grey Owl
480 posts
Oct 14, 2015
2:03 PM
In a solo context I feel the main problem is not so much the playing, if well rehearsed, but engaging with the audience and the patter between songs which I find dificult.

Busking by and large doesn't depend so much with engaging with a changing audience other than with the music you are performing. There is little need to bother with the verbal fill and is easier.

Even professional musicians have different skills with this patter, some preferring to just play song after song pretty well saying nothing bar naming the title of the next song whilst others can be very entertaining and comical with their repartee.

Last Edited by Grey Owl on Oct 14, 2015 2:04 PM


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