I recently started playing in a session! I love it and it is doing wonders for my timing. I was wondering though why it is I can practice perfectly before session and then forget snippets of a tune during session. The group is really encouraging and have complimented my playing but I still get the occasional ‘brain fart’ and lose it. I have been extremely insecure in the past playing in front of others and it still haunts me at times. Does this ever go away? Any tips for getting beyond it? Thanks 
That one is easy… Practice!! The more you practice a tune, the more you’ll be able to play it even when stressed out or under the influence of alcohol. Also, the more you play with people, the less nervous you get and the easier it gets to play tunes.
But nothing beats practicing a lot, lot, lot… and a lot!
What Az said.
boatgirl: Congrats! I had my first session a little time ago, and it was really amazing and I had a lot of fun.
I’m also VERY insecure, and I also forgot many tunes while I was playing (even in some tunes that I’ve been playing for a long time). I assume that it was due of the nerves, and that could be solved playing with people more frequently.
In my session I played mostly with a flute player (we were the only musicians who played melodies, the rest were bodhran and guitar players), and I knew some tunes that the flute player didn’t, so, I played some tunes alone, with the guitars and bodhrans accompanying me. It was very exciting.
I’m positive that you’ll be able to play with confidence in no time, if you keep going to the sessions. It’s nice that people encourage you!
Cheers,
Martin
Congrats, Boatgirl! I second what Bothrops said. Playing in a session, with live musicians, is a real treat, and a great learning experience.
Coming from other types of music myself, I noticed a few things about ITM sessions. First, serious Irish-trad musicians are actively working to preserve something that has deep roots and lots of history. That’s a good thing. The difficult side is that they can tend to be rather strict in their interpretation and (possibly) intolerant of less than “traditional” style playing. In other words, what you’re attending is not a “jam”. It’s a “session”. I defend that mindset, but it can be challenging for a newcomer.
Second, you need to be very aware of session etiquette, and not overstep your status as a new player. Becoming a contributing session player is a journey that can take months or years. That’s OK, and everyone respects a serious student. What will not fly is the beginner who wants to make a big impression.
Personally, I’m taking a “time-out” from our local session, so as to listen, listen, listen, and then maybe play, listen, play.
So, take that for what’s it’s worth, and have a great time!
I can understand that nervousness boatgirl. I’m just starting to learn some tunes and try to practice as much as possible. I found that I wanted to practice when I was on my lunch breaks at work, and having lots of (public) secluded areas to sit, I finally overcame the nerves enough to play at proper volume. You just can’t make a decent tune while trying to play really, really quietly. So there I was in my little secluded corner playing the theme song to Braveheart with feeling and intensity and eyes closed. When I finished I opened my eyes to an audience of half a dozen strangers who all started applauding me. I must admit shock and embarrassment, but also a certain degree of pride and joy.
Mick
I wish I could get over being nervous playing in front of other people… I’m not as bad when I’m playing with others I’ve known and played music with a good while but even then I’m not as comfortable as I’d like to be. Forget playing in front of a crowd, blah, I think I’m terminally ill with stagefright.
My hat’s off to people who can play solid without even thinking twice about it.
It only comes with that endless practice thing… you finally get to the point where you know they’re not going to skin you even if you do screw up, and you relax more.
To accelerate this process, I find it to be very helpful to constantly change the context of your memorization and practicing. Memory works by reconstruction rather than being analogous to, say, a tape recording. Context plays a significant role in how your memory reconstructs things. Regularly change that context as you practice - practice in different places, practices at different times, practice with the tv or radio on (in very short doses, because it is rubbish for the rest of your playing), every time you think you have the tune, go and play a different one 'til it is driven out of your immediate memory and then bring it back and play it again - then do it again. Although it still doesn’t solve the problem of the sympathetic nervous system and fear etc, which are yet other changes of context very hard to reproduce, it will get you used to keeping the tune even when other things militate against you doing so, including nerves.
One way to try to get a little fear and adrenaline running is to use the old match practice. Take ten of them and place them to your left. Each time you play the tune (or whatever you are trying to master) well, you put one match to your right, gradually moving them all across until they are all on your right. If you make a significant mistake, you move them all back though. About the time you get 7-9 of them across for the third or fourth time, nerves of a sort kick in. Learning to focus and play well in spite of them can be helpful in moving toward public playing.
The others are all right, I reckon, it is all about practice, but certain ways of practicing may well be able to accelerate things a little. Good luck, and welcome to the session.
Practice enough and perform enough and
sooner or later it becomes routine.
Try giving lectures to groups of 70,
by the way, with the room revolving and
the butterflies lifting one’s feet off the floor.
Sooner or later it becomes routine.
Practice, practice, practice…
and patience. Human animals can
get used to anything.
Depending on the setting, there may be a LOT going on at a session aside from the music. Waiters wandering around if you’re in a restaurant/pub, spectators walking here and there and talking, people eating and drinking,cell phones ringing, other instruments catching your eye, etc. It’s easy to get distracted.
Sometimes, I simply close my eyes or look down at the floor to at least shut down some of the extraneous visual input/distraction.
bepoq is exactly right about this. If you always practice in the same place, you mind will get used to it and when you go someplace else, it’s trying to pay attention to many other things in addition to playing. But at home it can ignore all the familiar (static) things. I used to deal with this by staring at a spot - someone’s shoe, the pint on the table, whatever. It helped. But there would eventually be some bigger distraction, like the someone coming into the pub that I had to look at and process and then the wheels would come off my tune.
While knowing the tune very very well will give you the confidence to play it, I think there is some sort of brain trick you have to learn too. like rubbing your stomach and patting your head at the same time. You will notice that folks who have been playing in public for a long time can play the music and carry on a conversation at the same time (well, wind players can’t so easily, but they can nod and wink etc.) I’m sure you have seen groups on stage talking among themselves during a performance.
Yes, you have to know the material dead, but you also have to be able to play and think about something else at the same time. Just like rubbing and patting, you have to do it to develop the skill. I began by reading my e-mail and this forum while playing the tunes I knew best. Then I would look out the window and watch what’s going on out there. Only by playing in a distracting place will you develop the ability to play in a distracting place, so don’t worry if you lose the tune at first. I think that’s pretty normal. The more you do it, the less it will happen.
So yes, practice the tune, and practice playing distracted too.
When I finished I opened my eyes to an audience of half a dozen strangers who all started applauding me. I must admit shock and embarrassment, but also a certain degree of pride and joy.
I’ve had that a couple of times and it is a shock…
As for the distraction thing, I do have that too. I can play the tunes quite well but as soon as my teacher starts to play along or even worse, to make variations, I’m gone. I just lose it… Aah well, time and practice…
I do practice at playing while not paying attention to my playing (like while reading a newspaper or watching a movie with subtitles) and that works well…
I’m not worried about being skinned by the people I play music with at the pubs, I’m worried that I will never get over the fear of performing/playing for someone or an audience of some sort. I always get nervous, for example when I’m suddendly playing a tune all by myself that none of the others in the session know, or I’m on stage, or doing a smalltime gig, it never fails… That adrenaline starts rushing at the speed of sound, fingers tense up, I tense up, I become so self-concious over every little thing, my breathing sounds shakey if playing whistle, can’t control hardly anything if playing pipes, (which makes for a horrible recipe) and yeah that’s pretty much how it goes - which ultimately makes the music I’m trying to play suffer. Although it does help when I have a beer or two, or perhaps a shot of whiskey, or two…
I’m thinking I just need to face the music more you know, face your fear by doing what scares you. Because over time I do seem to be doing a little better when “in the spotlight” as it were, but nothing really spectacular obviously. Maybe it’s one of those problems that slowly over time goes away… Either way, it’s feckin’ frustrating.
Well thanks to all of you for your replies. My question was really about nerves I guess and perhaps not titled correctly! Practice seems to be key and I love to practice so that shouldn’t be a problem. The idea of changing up the practice location is a good one and I do already practice at home, at the laundrymat and at the playground with my kiddos as well as on the boat. The problem is when I get with other musicians and, well, seem to lose it on the occassional tune. I suppose this is all due to nerves, as I know these tunes we play quite well. Sometimes I think I could just pinch myself because I am playing with really good musicians who are so wonderful and encouraging and this has been a lifelong dream of mine. I will continue to attend session, as the group is supportive and really fun, playing better each time hopefully. That was a form of “practice” that was suggested I believe, just playing with others. I really think bepoq’s advice is what I needed to hear though so I will try that memorization match practice trick. I think that will actually help me a lot! With regard to closing my eyes or looking at the floor to keep focused as brewerpaul mentioned, I had thought of doing that because I sometimes do just that during practice but I have this thought that when playing with others I may open my eyes and everyone will be staring at me with shock that I am playing in the wrong key or the wrong tune entirely! Yes, really ridiculous I suppose but I do tend to get lost in the music when I close my eyes (I just don’t know if I would get so lost I may be playing my own tune)!
To Key of D, there may be hope for us yet! Confidence in our abilities I think is what is required - try that match stick trick, I will.
Thanks again and happy whistling all!
Hello,
Bepoq mentioned that you should change your context of memorization. Most of my playing experience comes from classical guitar. I was always instructed to go beyond Muscle Memory. My teaching firmly believed that muscle memory is good for initial learning of a piece of music, but that it was also the first memory to fail when under stress (such as performing). He reckoned that we really had to “internalize” the piece and we did a number of things on the classical guitar to improve this deeper learning. For example, I would play a piece backward bar by bar - beginning with the last bar (played forward) then stepping back to the previous bar, etc., etc. That was tricky to say the least. I also used to play right hand only, then left hand only. Anyway, I think these methods had some positive effect.
On the whistle, I suppose you could try the same “backwards” approach, although I have never tried it. Maybe trying to play only the left hand, then the right hand parts - maybe play G in place of lower notes, maybe playing F in place of the upper notes.
I have no idea if these would work on whistle, I have never tried it (but will at lunch time, when I close my office door and practise a little). Of course, it has been said (but I don’t know by whom) that if you can whistle or hum a tune, then you also learn that tune better.
Perhaps other, more experienced players could comment???
Charlie
I guess I want to say this emphatically.
This isn’t A Problem. We’re monkeys and the brain stem
isn’t rational and the Flight thing gets triggered
in some of us by non-dangerous things. It’s just
the way some of us are wired.
If you want to ‘get over’ this, the first
thing to do is to give yourself permission
to be scared. It’s OK to be scared shiiteless
when playing in groups or performing.
Even if it makes no sense. It’s the human
condition. It’s unpleasant, no question,
but there’s nothing deeply the matter
with you. There is no Problem to be
solved and getting frustrated makes
things worse.
(Of course if this or that technique helps, fine.)
Then don’t let it stop you, do what you
would do if you weren’t scared, even if you
are quaking in your boots. It’s not a big deal.
If you accept the situation and go on with
things anyhow, and don’t make a big deal
out of it (talking about it here is NOT
making a big deal out of it), it will
gradually dissipate. You may not even
notice when it’s gone.
But don’t assume it won’t come back sometimes.
In acting, the chief cause of stage fright is insufficient
rehearsal, by the way. Practice is your chief ally.
If you want to avoid this sort of thing entirely,
be reborn as a computer. This rational animal
gig is a tough row to hoe. The hardware is
too soft to run the software. We are always
going to be a bit weird.
Please believe me. The voice of long experience
here.
Hello everybody, from a long-time lurker and whistle-player.
This is good advice from Jim. And of course, there’s no substitute for getting plenty of exposure to these situations - and practice, practice, practice.
But of course, being scared does create physical problems that you don’t get when you’re not scared - you may be short of breath, shaky, stiffened up, or whatever. Most of us have been there at some point, and it’s not good!
Don’t let these things freak you out, and don’t expect that you can always make them go away by ignoring them or relying on technique or mental visualisation. These things can often help, but ultimately your body is not always fooled. At one time, my remedy for nervousness was to concentrate on memories of when I’ve played well. This seemed like a good idea - positive reinforcement and all that - but sometimes it actually made me even more nervous because I was setting myself a target that seemed impossibly high under the circumstances.
So it helps a lot to learn to recognise stress symptoms and deal with them simply for what they are - eg calm your breathing, slowly stretch your muscles, etc. Have a drink if it helps, but remember that the key is to focus on being in control of yourself. Or rather, focus on letting the music take control of your body, not the other way around.
D
Oh, and lots of bananas an hour or so before hand.
Although it does help when I have a beer or two, or perhaps a shot of whiskey, or two…
Now there’s a slippery slope…