The Great Secret is that it’s okay to make mistakes. Never strive for a perfect performance, because it’s not important unless you are a professional. What you need to learn is not how to avoid mistakes, but to not stop when you make one. Just keep going. This serves a multitude of purposes:
Likely, no one (if anyone is listening) will notice.
The more you just play on when you make a mistake, the less likely you are to keep making the same mistake the next time through.
You do not compound the mistake by stopping and drawing attention to the mistake.
You will actually forget about the mistake if you just keep going.
The mistake may pass for a variation on the tune.
By playing through, you de-emphasize the effect of making a mistake, and over time the lack of concern translates to a lack of the heebie-jeebies.
Perfection is vastly overrated. Don’t record unless you can sell it or you just want a record of your playing for your own amusement. Trust your ear - don’t submit a recording for someone else’s evaluation. All they will tell you is what you already know. If you want to improve technique, work with a teacher.
It’s more than true, that many, if not most, would-be professional, or serious amateur, musicians begin with, and must learn to endure, the heebie jeebies, or whatever nervousness, yet those who come to focus on their music eventually seem to overcome any such anxiety, and then appear as most ready to perform. To that end, moreover, in general they then tend to work their tail feathers off at practice, in an anticipation of their next opportunity to bring their efforts out to their audience. So, as I wrote, and like the dog ready to break loose, when an opportunity then comes up, they’re ready to play!
I wrote my previous post as a sympathetic effort to assure, and to encourage, any of the understandably many here who could only know of performance nervousness, as there really is another perspective to performance, perhaps as a liberation, and certainly as a great freedom.
Yeah, as the Rolling Stones once said (although I don’t remember the exact quote): Get your yeah-yeahs out! Go for it!
good thread! it has helped me to try and focus on other ways to record myself next time. I oný need to learn how to copy and drop the recording on a clean track hehe…
performance anxiety? what do you mean? I only screw up in front of fellow musicians…when it is just friends listening, no problem, but when musicians are listening I just sound crap and sometimes no peep gets out of the flute like last time…
and then you think that after three years you would have gotten rid of this kind of things..
so, it’s pretty common…try to find creative ways around it
berti
Let me try to bring the point home, that is, perhaps posting here, on the C&F FF, could be seen as a performance. Well, it is, isn’t it? That is, here you are, putting your innermost thinking out for the whole world to see, eh? So, how could your performance here be any different than your musical performance? Really, if you have what it takes to speak openly here, then you certainly have what it takes for any musical performance, indeed!
Uhm I think, venting your opinion is something entirely different than having to perform music in front of people. So, to me, posting on chiff is not the same as playing.
Well, it seems you are right, in that there is a difference in communication mediums, of music vs. the Internet, largely as sound vs. sight. However, here we are, on the Internet, in essence by our communications performing for the world to see. That is, I assume you are aware that your every word, here, on the Internet, could be seen and judged by the whole world, or something of such magnitude. Now, if that’s not a performance, then what else could be? So, in a broad sense, perhaps a performance could simply be a performance, eh?
Green begins by discussing what makes up a good performance. He invented the formula P = p - i, where P is the level of the performance, p is the potential of the performer, and i is the level of mental interference during the performance. He explains how to decrease the amount of i in order to bring the level of P as close as possible to p.
I don’t really have stage fright anymore, but that evil red light when recording is killing me still.
Displacement activities are good for stage fright - pre-gig I usually find myself concentrating on organising things/other people - not obsessively but enough to keep busy. Such activities can also help with familiarisation with the venue, which is also a confidence “comfort blanket”. Going fairly systematically through personal preparation can be part of this - putting one’s gear out, warming up, etc. Again, don’t turn it into too much of a ritual/OCD - those are stress inducing themselves. I didn’t start doing that kind of thing deliberately, more noticed I was doing it and that I didn’t seem to have much in the way of stage fright, so adopted it a little more deliberately along with concentrating on making a point of NOT getting worked up and nervous because to do so beyond a certain level is unjustified, pointless and silly. It is perhaps a way of expressing the tension as much as of avoiding a build up of excessive tension, though be careful it doesn’t annoy someone else with a different (or no) coping strategy. I have occasionally been hit by the full adrenalin-zap of stage fright - not to the extent of being incapacitated, but certainly to dizziness walking on, loss of confidence, inability to focus visually, etc., so I know what it is like, but mostly I can avoid it.
Try to remember you have chosen to be in that position! You may not have the choice to run away from it, but rarely have you been forced into a commitment in the first place. Even if you have been (like giving a presentation at work or school), build on the fact that in such contexts you have no choice, so why worry about it? Just do what you can.
Home recording is a rather different context - yes, going for that “good enough” take is frustrating, but patience and relaxation, both of which can be consciously fostered, are the key.
P = p - i, where P is the level of the performance, p is the potential of the performer, and i is the level of mental interference during the performance
That makes a lot of sense. I know that the “i” is higher when I go to the session and when I press record. I don’t understand why recording would do it from a logical standpoint. Recording no good? Big deal. Don’t save it. It makes no sense to stress over it.
The other useful thing about that equation is knowing that the “p” is under your control. Raise the “p” with more practice and the mental interference will be less ruinous.
I remember several times that I attempted to perform in public on the classical guitar. When it was my turn to walk on stage, my heart was pounding in my chest, and my fingers felt like icebergs. It isn’t very easy to play in that condition. Then the fear entered my consciousness that I couldn’t remember the notes of the pieces that I played easily in private. At this point my mission became one of getting off the stage ASAP, avoiding the difficult pieces that I had intended to perform.
I have found that it is easier for me to entertain an audience by talking or singing humorous songs than it is to play a musical instrument. I just feel more confident with the former, so I don’t get so incapacitated. I also don’t get so nervous when I am playing with a group, especially if I am not one of the lead performers. I can stand in back and play my guitar or fiddle without too much stress. The music goes on whether I am playing or not.
