Performance Nerves & Stage Fright

SCARED TO GO ON STAGE?

There’s Nothing Wrong with a Bit of Fear

This is the first of a series of short articles aimed at helping with performing. Fear of going on stage is extremely common, most professional performers agree that not only does stage fright never completely go away, a certain amount of it can help give your performance an edge. A rush of adrenalin is what allows animals to overcome very serious situations, whether it's running away faster, gathering more strength to fight or more significantly making your brain focus on one thing. Also, the odd bead of sweat on your brow may give you a bit more charisma.

The important thing is to keep it under control or in balance. Too much fear or nervousness will, of course, get in the way of a good performance.

Tips on How to Control Nerves

• Don’t practise until you know that you can play the music right, practise until you no longer get it wrong
• Don’t take a big deep breath before going on stage, this will only cause hyperventilation and even more adrenalin, better to breathe moderately and evenly, concentrating on the exhale not the inhale.
• Imagine the audience naked
• Drugs or alcohol will not help a permanent ability to control or balance nerves
• Allow yourself to make mistakes - the audience very often doesn’t notice
• Concentrate on your last really good performance, remember how well you played
• Concentrate on the audience applauding and gaining something from your performance
• Look at the audience and imagine they are your friends and family
• Keep fit, this will give you more self esteem and confidence
• Wear something that you are comfortable in, but also that makes you feel like a performer. Not necessarily a suit or anything glamourous but it should be a bit different to your everyday clothes.

My Scariest Performances

Being guest soloist with New Orleans legend Fats Domino at the Royal Albert Hall was the third most frightening moment. I’d played with the band around Europe, but this was at home with a lot of English press and in one of the world’s most famous concert halls. I wasn’t actually expecting to be doing much soloing, mostly just section playing in the band, however I suddenly got the nod to play a long solo. Luckily there was not enough time for the real fear to take over, I just had to do it.

Second scariest moment was on a recording session for a film. Director Francis Ford Coppola was in the studio control room and I had to improvise a blues solo for a romantic scene. I managed to talk everyone into doing this when the rest of the orchestra was at lunch. This was very lucky as Coppola was extremely demanding and knew exactly what he wanted. It took quite a few takes but finally got there. In this case it was the gradual build up of the fear of failure that seemed to suddenly get me focussed on exactly the right mood and sound for the scene.

The scariest moment? Playing the saxophone to my son’s class of four year olds.