I’ve listened to a lot of the clips many of you have posted in the clips thread and under your signatures, and I’ve been impressed with what I have heard regardless of skill level. Listening to the experienced players gives me a vision of what may be possible years down the road, while hearing the relative newcomers gives me encouragement and a means to normalize my own progress. Both give me a sense of connection and community.
With this in mind, and being self-taught, I thought it would be a good idea to start recording myself so I could actually hear myself from a listener’s perspective. So, I bought a Zoom H2 digital recorder and finally made a couple of recordings yesterday, and an unsurprising problem reared its ugly head immediately; I instantly get the heebie-jeebies and can’t get through a tune without flubbing up. This happened on six consecutive attempts at playing a tune I know quite well, and I found it very frustrating. Most of the attempts ended with spew of swearing recorded very nicely as well.
Now, to be honest, this isn’t new to me. I just can’t seem to play well when I really want to play well, especially if there is an audience, even if it is just myself! As soon as I hit the record button, my fingers stiffen, my grip gets tighter, the high notes might squeak, and the low ones might disappear completely. And get this, when I’ve almost made it to the finish error free, I start thinking, "Ought oh, I’m almost there? And then, invariably, I flub up.
I could use some advice from some of you calm and collected recording artists about controlling the heebie-jeebies.
I’m nowhere near an expert, but I have recorded myself. I have the same problem. And the cause of the problem is that I’m focusing on the wrong thing. I’m focusing on not screwing up, rather than playing and having fun. This is the same thing I do in front of my fiddle teacher. Two years in and I’m still get way too tense because I’m trying to be perfect. I always play worse than I do at home. Last week I played the Bucks while he played guitar. It was the first time I’ve been mostly relaxed while playing. It felt like I was playing for fun, rather than needing to be perfect. We’ll see how next lesson goes…
Hi,
as a relative newbee (2 years on the flute) I know what you talk about. Had the sam notion when I play with other people.
Two things helped cure it at least partially in my case:
Exposure: Do it over and over again, so it becomes normal to play with others and try to focus on going on rather than on every single mistake.
Do this with people who act sympathetic to you, try to meet generous “experts” or advanced players and symapthetic players on your level.
Drugs might help. Actually, the best help for it is to just keep doing it over and over until it becomes almost natural. You will gradually lower your anxiousness. If it goes away entirely, that is a bad thing. Playing music well is like being an athlete. You have to be “up” for it, and a few butterflies just let you know that you are ready for the event. If you ever played any sports, try to remember that feeling just before the game started. That’s the feeling you want when you are ready to “perform”.
Performance anxiety, another one of those new words to describe an age-old feeling.
I found that when I recorded myself one tune at a time I got heebies also. I decided to turn on the mini and let it continue recording until I was finished with however long a portion of play/practice was. The heebies left because I was not pushing for THAT ONE recording. I then sit back, relax, don the head phones and simply listen. Mistakes? Sure, but far fewer since I’ve relaxed more this way. I don’t always record though. In fact, I think I’ve only been recording once a week or even two weeks.
So, start recording, play a tune, walk around a bit, play another tune, pick one out the tune book or whatever. When you think your done for the time being, stop recording and listen - erase? I’ll never tell!
I have the same problem, and I agree with what others have said. As with awildman, I think my problem is that I’m concentrating on not screwing up rather than on the tune itself. At one time I was recording myself a lot more than I have in the last several months, so when I’ve been trying to record something to submit to the clips sticky, I’m almost back at square one. I’ll post something flawed, but not something that doesn’t represent my style.
I take lessons sporadically, and I find the same thing manifests itself differently. Rather than my fingers getting all messed up, my lips do. That’s REALLY embarrassing – I can’t hit any low notes for the first ten or fifteen minutes. (It’s even worse when I’m taking the roughly one lesson a year I can squeeze in from Chris N. )
One strange thing is that this has never happened when I’ve played for an audience. I’ve never played for a large audience on the flute, but have for a dozen people or so, and have played for a couple hundred or more when I was playing the dulcimer. I always play my best in those cases. That’s undoubtedly adrenaline, which I can channel positively, likely due to the fact that I have to talk before large crowds occasionally for work. (Probably the largest ever is coming up week after next. ) It’s a situation in which screwing up is not an option, so I get in a zone. I guess I’ll have to try to figure out how to do that with the flute.
One thing I’ve started doing is when I launch Garage Band I open a project I named “Test”. I record whatever I want to play on my Test project. If it comes out good, I’ll do a Save As.. and give it a new name. If not, I close my Test project without saving. It’s silly but it has actually made a little bit of a difference to consider every recording session just a test.
I will also start new tracks, hiding the previous ones. If I can do better, I delete the previous ones. If not, then the earlier ones must be the best I can do and I just have to accept that this is where I’m at.
Something to do when you listen back is to try to pick out what you do right. Can you tap your toe to it? Do you have a good tone? Did your good breathing surprise you? Don’t just focus on your mistakes.
When you do listen to what you did wrong, don’t focus on the wrong notes. Focus on things more worthy of improving, such as your rhythm or phrasing or tone or something like that. A few bad notes are not a real sin. Bad rhythm is a sin, though.
Some dogs live most of their lives outside, sometimes running free, or sometimes tied to a run, or in a fenced in area. Then there are also those dogs which are kept indoors mostly, with the exception of those times when they are let loose to run, or are taken for a walk on a leash. Now, of those indoor dogs, it seems they look forward to getting out, and when the human of the house reaches for the dog leash or reaches for the outside door, it’s fairly common for a dog to suddenly get excited, tail wagging and all, as that dog is ready and looking forward to going out!
Over the years I have known many musicians, of all kinds. For the most part, and although there are exceptions, they do a lot more practicing than performing, but they put in the practice in anticipation of the occasional performance. And, when a performance opportunity comes up on their schedule, guess what usually happens? Yup, just like the dog, they get excited, too! No inhibition, no heebie-jeebies, no hesitation whatsoever, as those things simply aren’t in their vocabulary. They’re ready to play!
As one who has posted a lot in the last couple of months, I have to say that the experience of recording and putting the clips up for all to hear has helped me deal with the heebie-jeebies. There are rough points in all of my clips, but as has been pointed out by others, one learns to work through the rough spots. I also believe I get worse with each take of a tune. Sometimes just walking in and picking up the flute cold produces the best of the takes. I guess practicing with the recorder on helps to take the pressure off, but no more so than a few deep breaths.
Thanks to all. There is certainly a lot of thoughtful advice here. But, I think as much as any of the comments, awildman’s reminder of NOT focusing on screwing up, is a good one for me. Funny how easy it is for me to forget that . It’s like trying to ski not to fall; as soon as you start doing that, down you go in heap.
I wasn’t having fun recording yesterday, and really, what’s the point if it isn’t fun. Diane mentioned that listening for what you are doing well can be important and motivating as well. And you know, I thought my tone and rhythm were pretty darn good, and I’m a firm believer that when those are off, there isn’t much left worth salvaging. So thanks for that, Diane, you made me appreciate something I was completely overlooking.
I do have to say that the Zoom H2 recorder is an amazingly good little recording device. I was stunned at the clarity of the recordings. The dang thing is so sensitive I could hear my dog in the background drinking water from an adjacent room. He’s an Australian Shepard, and even though he is about to turn 11 years old, he is still very active. More than once, I’d have to start recording again, because he would be tearing through the house to look out the window for something he just heard. With hearing as acute as that, I can’t imagine the misery my flute playing must put him through at times.
First, let me say that I’m one of those with performance anxiety as well. People can give you ALL kinds of advice, but it’s up to YOU to find the solution that works for you. In my case, I ended up with drugs (see below).
I second BillG above - just record yourself for a while. You’ve got a great tool in the H2. Here’s what I do: I have an “arrangement” with a little chapel a short walk from my house… I go over there with my Zoom H4 and just play (and play and Play). When I’m done, I go home and down load the entire recording and then import it into Audacity. Then, you can cut what you want (only the good bits, obviously) and trash the rest. The H2 (or, in my case the H4) and Audacity are a great combination for getting past the performance anxiety you are experiencing.
When I play in public (trumpet), BTW, I take a beta blocker called Propranolol (or something like that). It’s great!
Many good musicians have performance anxiety when they are required to perform in public. There are many strategies to help with this problem. I have read that the tranquilizer “Valium”, generic name “diazipam”, is often prescribed for performance anxiety. Of course, if you only are trying to make a recording in your own home, this may not be necessary. I think that you need to keep trying to record, and the process should become less frightfull with time. Perhaps some relaxation breathing may be helpful. Good luck.
.02… turn on the recorder and let it run… relax and enjoy the playing. when you get a good recording of a song… edit that track (copy it and drop it on a clean track.) I do this all the time when recording. it takes alllllllllll the stress out of recording. (at least for a single track recording, the stress disappears.) we can talk about multi-tracking and multi instrument recording later…
Me, I’m pretty sure I screw up all the time but only really notice it when I’m recording.
Seriously, how often in your practice do you play all the way through a tune or a whole set several times without stopping or messing up? It’s interesting to pay attention to, and an important part of practice (though one I assiduously avoid).
)
) It’s a situation in which screwing up is not an option, so I get in a zone. I guess I’ll have to try to figure out how to do that with the flute.
