Handle Performance Anxiety Like a Boss! by Brett Yang
Hey fellow musicians!
Here are some quick thoughts about performance anxiety while I sit in a café drinking my coffee to keep myself awake for the next practice session...
Performance anxiety is not just a pandemic amongst musicians – it pertains to anyone who stands in front of a crowd while presenting their craft, whether it be public speaking, performing or acting.
Most of us focus so much on battling this uncomfortable feeling that we forget why we are performing in the first place. We hear ‘performance anxiety’ and shy away from it. We try to find remedies to suppress this uncomfortable feeling in hopes that we can perform better. While this does make logical sense, I’d like to suggest a different approach to dealing with performance anxiety.
Don't fight it, use it to your advantage.
We associate performance anxiety with this uncomfortable feeling because of many external factors, such as everyone talking about how ‘horrible’ or ‘scary’ it feels.
Feeling uncomfortable isn’t always a negative thing. Remember the last time that you and your crush made eye contact, and you felt an inner tension. Is it possible that the uncomfortable sensation was a result of not dread, but a flush of excitement?
Yes, there is a difference between feeling scared, overwhelmed, infatuated, loved – but I think we allow too much of one feeling (being uncomfortable, in this case) to take all the credit. Why? Because it’s easier, and it requires less rational thinking about why you feel that way!
So, I challenge you guys to reframe this idea of ‘performance anxiety’ and think of it as ‘excitement’.
Here are a few things I think about for handling performance anxiety:
BREATHE, JUST BREATHE! This fixes 80% of the problem. It took me years to realise that I cut my breath short on stage. Meanwhile, I was trying to blame my performance anxiety on other things. Breathing itself takes practice, so don’t expect it to magically cure you in one go.
I tell myself that this anxiety is fair game because everyone feels it, and part of becoming a better performer is learning to wield this anxiety and to understand that I am strong and brave enough to overcome it.
This anxious feeling is actually growth. It’s ‘scary’ because it challenges me to become a better musician. But I should be brave and carry this feeling, because this feeling will make me achieve successes I would have never imagined.
It’s exciting and I’m awesome because who else would have the balls to step on stage and perform?
I practiced to the best of my abilities so I will be okay. (That’s if you actually practiced.)
What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll still be alive after!
JUST DO IT!
So my friends, use your excitement and learn to dance with fear.
(Brett, you wise man.)
Happy Performing.
Brett
DECEMBER 05, 2016
Original article at:
https://www.thepracticejournal.com/blogs/the-practice-journal-blog/handle-performance-anxiety-like-a-boss