I’ve had a couple times recently where a session is sparsely attended due to bad weather, and I end up being the only wind instrument. On these nights I am really aware of my sound and I get really nervous playing. Even on tunes I know well I start fumbling around. If there’s another flute or whistle it’s not a problem, because if I miss a note it will get covered by another player. I’m sure over time it will get beter, but are there any tricks to sort of “block out” your surroundings and keep focused on the music?
In short, yes, there is a trick.
The trick begins with your daily practice.
Always begin your daily practice with your understanding that you really are performing for everybody on planet Earth.
That way, when you do actually perform, you’ll be more than ready.
What I recommend you to do, is to manage your breathing, breathing relaxed and deeply before starting the session (like improviced Yoga exercises), letting your chest and arms be the most relaxed and loose as possible.
It’s normal to feel nervous, EVERYBODY does before a gig, the thing you have to do is manage that nerves, and that they don’t interfere like an annoying vibrato in your Low D while you shake hehehe ..
Try breathing in and out deeply and slow, minutes before the session.
The other technique that has a psychological background, is to feel that you are playing alone, even though you were playing in an audition in front of Molloy, Veillon, Bradley, Crawford and O’ Grada. Play just as if you were playing to yourself at home, this technique was told to me by a Spanish Uilleann Piper named César Pastor, who played in front of Paddy Moloney and Sean Keane in the backstage of some big concert in Spain.
Nothing is so terrible! some wrong notes won’t mean that you are a bad flute player, it just means you have to control yourself to give authority and confidence to your interpretation.
Give it some time, try the techniques and see what happens.
Luck !
Diego.
No!!!
There are those among us, we flute players, who simply love to perform.
We live for such moments.
Yes!!!
there’s one in every crowd
Flute playing rule #1: NO INHIBITION!
Beer helps. 
Not too much though!
Really though.
The more you go to session the easier it will be.
The key is, as has been said, practice.
A lot.
An old military axiom is that you fight like you train.
This is no different.
I’m still in training mode (does that ever end? ) but I must tell you the fear will abate.
Have fun.
Things definitely get better with time… My sound used to be awful when I was the only melodic player in our session… now it is only bad! Great improvement! 
Practice and beer help also… don’t mean pratice drinking beer though, for which we all have, more or less, natural skills!
A friend of mine, excellent whistle and flute player, recently told me that years back, he could not stand in front of people without “pissing in his pants”. He experimented and adviced me to concentrate on my blowing, my fingers being able to find their way by themselves… And it seems to work! It requires some training at first but you don’t have to care about your fingers that much when you did practice enough before.
Pascal.
Ah but Cork, the OP was talking about sessions. Playing in a small group like a session which is more intimate and more like a conversation is quite a different beast to being up on a stage or that type of thing, playing as part of a larger ensemble or orchestra. Anyway people don’t Perform in a session situation unless they have very grand notions as to their ability
Over the years, our folk group at church has had some bad moments in music. Many more great and good moments but still bad moments. Sometimes things just don’t mesh for one reason for another. After Mass, we’ll tell each other, “No one died.” It helps to put things in perspective that it’s only music. It’s not like you’re performing brain surgery.
Let’s face the fact that some people have a tendency to get more nervous in social situations than other people. I think that it is a great asset to be one of the people who seem to be less affected by the stress of public performance.
I expect that this has a lot to do with brain chemistry. People with a nervous disposition are also prone to anxiety and other psychological problems. I have found that I am never that comfortable performing in public, even though I may have practiced the piece over and over and can play it with my eyes closed. When the time comes to perform, my hands become icy cold, and I begin to think anxious thoughts about forgetting the notes of the piece. It is hard to perform when you feel like that and are thinking those thoughts.
Yes, relaxation exercises, breathing practices, and solid practice of your instrument can be a great help to lesson performance anxiety, but, still, a number of prominent classical performers must rely on a chemical tranquilizer (alcohol or pills) to cope with the stress of performance. Those people who can walk on the stage and perform as if they were in their own living room are most fortunate for their ability to do that, which I think is largely a gift.
Hey, I still get nervous each time I play, but it’s something positive and very nice. The adrenaline feeling before starting a show it’s incredible, and when you learn to manage it, you enjoy it.
Being nervous DOESN’T mean you dont “love performing”.
I’m half way through ‘The Inner game of music’ by Barry green. It deals with nerves in detail. Haven’t had the chance to use it much yet but it seems good. The ideas mentioned here are covered plus many more.
A lot relates around what he calls self 1 and self 2. Self one is the self critical ‘voice’ that causes interference. Self 2 is the much more powerful side that some would call the subconscious side. He does not like this term and draws some distinction between subconscious and self 2 but it’s roughly that. Its about learning to TRUST self 2 which can be scary at first as there is a feeling of not being in control. Lots of good advice which is intended to be tailored to suit you.
you should find this helpfull I think
search on topic (in this forum) +heebie +jebees
Hi, everybody,
It’s not my point to suggest that a flute player should become a flaming egomaniac, that they can do no wrong, no!
Rather, it’s a matter of learning the instrument and the music so well that the flute in effect becomes a player’s second voice, as their musical voice.
A study of Baroque music, for instance, can really help to bring out such a voice, where in many instances the music resembles something of a conversation.
One instrument makes a musical “statement”, of one or two measures, and then a second instrument makes a musical “response”, of an equal duration.
Remember, it’s not the point for one of those instruments to dominate the other, rather, they share a musical conversation, back and forth.
In a similar sense, a performer “shares” a performance with an audience, as a mutually enjoyable event.
Now, everybody knows what a flute is, and everybody also knows that SOMEBODY is going to play that flute.
So, when you pick up a flute, simply assume the role of that player, and then use the flute to tell your audience your musical story.
Naturally, practice, practice, practice, before any performance, really helps.
But always remember, that practice, practice, practice should never make perfect!
Don’t worry, I get nervous in every session. Drink a glass of liquid courage, preferably Guinness(or Jamesons if you are not a beer person), and that usually calms my nerves 
. Plus I made friends with every person in the session, so if I mess up, they don’t really care. 
Dunno about the drug route, but I’d be disinclined… I think one thing most previous posters have not really addressed here is that the OP is talking about a session context! As such, I don’t think most of the replies have been relevant or on-target, as they seem to address exposed stage performance. OK, the situations are not unrelated, but you don’t (unless you are excessively egotistical) go to a sesh to “perform” as such, and for a relaxed and enjoyable social activity I don’t think all that stuff is appropriate. There are, however, definitely times at a sesh when you are performing - e.g when you start a tune or set and are looked to to lead it through, or, more exposedly, when you start something it turns out no-one else knows and you have to see it through (and that is both more likely and more stressful if you are visiting a sesh where you aren’t a regular), or where you play a slow air and are quite rightly left alone to do so… I’m sure there are other possible examples.
I would say that if you suffer badly from nerves you should avoid those kinds of self-exposure and just join in with what you are comfortable with. That said, there will be times when you effectively get dropped into some kind of solo exposure and that may well engender panic, especially if it is unexpected. Unless you are trying to show off to folk you know or to make a good impression at a new-to-you sesh, that really shouldn’t matter. Your friends at your regular sesh won’t treat you as if you’ve just flubbed a major performance, and they’ve all been in the same place themselves. You just need not to to be bothered about it. I don’t say “not care” because of course you should want to play as well as you can and to bring your practised level of accomplishment to your public playing…
I do get a certain amount of stage nerves when “playing out” but have learnt mostly-succesful personal strategies to minimise the risk and to control it when it happens. It is not necessarily related to the quality and security of my preparation either! As a direct answer to the OP question, I’d say just shutting your eyes, shutting out distractions and concentrating is a good basic tool. It also helps with focussing on listening when you are trying to follow in a sesh, especially if you’re picking up a tune on the fly. Again, as many reasonably proficient players will be trying to do just that, they don’t expect themselves to play everything note-perfect in a sesh nor worry about it unduly. In any case, unless it’s a very small sesh or your mistakes are especially glaring, they likely won’t even be audible or noticed! OK, that kind of situation was part of the OP scenario - I’d say don’t fret! Unless you are seriously struggling to play beyond your level of competence (in which case, shut up at least until you will be less exposed), no-one will care about the odd slip, or if you say “I don’t know this one (well enough)”.
Basically, chill out!
If you start the tune, play a bit slower than you normally would. If it’s a reel, play it more like a hornpipe. You have more time to think with a hornpipe, and the bouncy rhythm tends to let you make mistakes an embellishment.
Use spare ornamentation on the first time through. Add the ones you like to use gradually on each subsequent time through the tunes.
If someone else starts the tune, come in more gradually and stay in the background until you feel more confident.
I remember once playing Redhaired Boy (aka Little Beggarman) with some old-timey fiddlers, since that is a great cross-over tune. To my surprise, the fiddlers formed a circle around me (we were standing) and simply played a pizzacato accompaniment, leaving me as the only one carrying the melody. I almost froze, but I just kept thinking “PLEASE don’t mess this up!” and kept going.
I lived to tell the tale.
Hey, kids. I just deleted some medical advice posts on this thread. I left Doug Tipple’s up because he’s just stating factually that some public performers take prescribed betablockers, which is a fact, and doesn’t make a recommendation or give advice. Some of the others, though, were a bit too close to medical advice, which we don’t do on the board.
thanks
And as far as drinking, I’ve noticed a fine line between feeling more relaxed and into becoming loose lipped and loose fingered. It’s a rather quick transtion when it happens.