OK, here’s a class I need to take. I have a frustrating affliction that I’m sure many others have been plagued with in the past. I’ve been playing for about a year now and and I feel like I know my flute fairly well, my embouchure is pretty consistent and my tone is pretty good at this point. When practicing at home my phrasing and breathing are pretty good as well and I have no trouble finding breathing points and no running out of breath. As soon as there is another human being in the room, playing in session, or even turning on a video camera or recording device it all goes pear-shaped. My mouth dries out, my breathing is erratic, I run out of breath at extremely strange places, I forget the tune, lose focus, etc. Nerves! I know it’s mostly a matter of playing with others and building confidence but if there’s any other advice out there I’d be interested to hear how you’ve dealt with the issue.
If you are getting a bit of nervous stage fright, the trick is to utilize the added adrenaline to your advantage. Many highly respected performers do this, although they have previously attained a high level of proficiency after years of dedication to their craft.
I don’t have the nervousness problem but I do notice that in a session environment, I usually need to play louder than I practice. That means blowing more air and requires me to breath more often. I guess I could practice that way too, but I don’t. It’s just a small adjustment to make, although it may be helpful to realize it is there and you may have to deal with it.
Yeah, welcome to the club. For some of us, performance anxiety is a lifelong affliction with few non-pharmaceutical options. Unfortunately (in my case at least) stage fright seems to impact facial muscles and respiration most of all. I can quickly say good-bye to any kind of embouchure or breath control if there’s anyone else in the room with me.
I don’t know about the Autogenic Training stuff. I’m not really into meditation and, besides, I’d rather spend my time practicing. You could try the book “The Inner Game of Music” by Barry Green. This has apparently been helpful for some, although I’ve read the thing about half a dozen time with limited results.
I though about closing my eyes. That might work at home but at session it’s hard not to know there are 4 fiddles, 2 concertinas (doubling on tin whistle) 2 Bodhráns and one other flute player in the room. Especially when you ask them if they know a particular tune and they say, “no… play it and let us hear how it goes.”
There’s a “yabbut” in there. Suspicion tells me a brimmed hat at a session is gonna funnel everyone else into your ears, too. And then you’ll have to play even louder. And then get a bigger brim. And then play louder yet. And on. And on. And ON. Paddy’s lucky. He has only one volume setting, so the reins are firmly in place already.
I understand the urge to bang on the flute loudly at sessions like an Orc’s wild party noisemaker. Don’t do it, people. Flutes deserve better than that, and besides, think of the preservation of the last shreds of our civilisation. Try this paradigm shift: instead of blaring, go with being able to just hear yourself and stick with that. Trust me, just enough will be enough. Even if you think you’re getting drowned out (you’re probably not), well, flutes being flutes and creatures of projection, they’ll surely hear you loud and clear in the john.
It comes down to what’s “well enough”. Most of the time when people complain they can’t hear themselves “well enough”, it seems to me that they really mean “well enough for my liking”, which is not the same thing at all. Sorry to sound hardnosed about it, but once a player’s experienced enough the former is functional and the latter is, frankly, a vanity.
Starting off new tunes mid-set in a session is another matter for the fluteplayer, though. You would think that more volume for that might help, but I’ve found that tonal control more than increased volume is the best way to be heard over the end-of-tune general melodic crumbling. Usually if I go for an increase of volume over good tone, the weird thing is that people seem to hear me less well anyway and they make squinchy faces and take longer to suss the tune. I think that there’s a point where volume crosses the line and actually destroys a tune’s intelligiblity because the flute’s tonal integrity is played too fast and loose with, and that’s because of trying too hard to be heard. I’m finally learning how quality trumps quantity. It’s taken me long enough.
Cut your teeth on stage with a raving maniac. Yes, you have to get on and ride and hang on for dear life, but the attention’s off of you, and anything after that is blue sky.
Can’t say that that’s how I dealt with it, but that’s how it worked out.
This gets better with experience. Sooner or later playing with other people becomes routine, or anyhow, more
routine.
Second, the chief cause of stage-fright is insufficient preparation. You may feel you’ve got the tune
down OK but it takes more practice than that to perform it. So the best solution is practicing tunes (slowly helps)
till you can play them standing on your head.
By the way, if you want to try nervous, try lecturing 70 people. Much good fun.
