Overcoming Nerves

[Nick Pierce]

If you feel like you're going to pass out from buzzing, you're probably doing it right. Have you ever done breathing excercise from the breathing gym or something? First time you do them, you almost pass out. After you do them a while, that doesn't happen. Same principle with buzzing.

And I've noticed the same thing with dress shirts, constricts the throat just a bit. Make do, or buy a bigger shirt maybe? I am not knowing.

[DavidJMills]

i used to battle the "little green man" that would harass me during symphony and quintet shows.Other than occasional use of propranolol, the exercises in the Breathing Gym have helped me the most. There is a real joy and success in performing when you aren't run over by excess adrenalin. The Farkas method is also essential. In yehudi menuhin's autobiography, he mentions his teacher insisting that he play passages without mistake 10 times consecutively.
You can physically stimulate adrenalin by running up stairs til your heart rate is up, do a few Breathing Gym exercises ,then play.My guess is this is "healthier" than always waiting for fight or flight to kick in during a show. Knowledge, planning, persistence. davem

[mceuph]

In the past, when I've been most nervous, it was usually because I was overly concerned with impressing the audience, either as a brass player or as a musician. I think that our natural ego fills us with the strong desire to "do well," which can unfortunately hold us back. The times that I've been able to let this go have been my most comfortable on stage. 2 suggestions that helped me: First, always simulate performance conditions in practice whenever possible. Think of yourself as always performing, even in the practice room. There are a lot of things that you can control in a performance: what you wear, what you eat that day, placement of the stand/chair, etc. Use these to your advantage and do them before the actual performance. Second, as much as is possible, forget about how your performance is being received, and whether or not you're playing great. A great piece of advice for this came from Mark Jenkins, who told me once to think of yourself as "serving" the audience when on stage. When I can be in this mindset, the pressure is reduced. Best of luck!

[peter birch]

Take a look at a couple of books, the Inner Game of Music by Barry Green and Tim Gallwey, they have great advice for over coming nerves. Barry Green went on to write another book called the Mastery of Music which is truly inspirational.
I do not believe that pro player don't experience nerves, they have just leaned to manage them better

[Roger Lewis]

Also, do a search here. There has been a lot of discussion on this in the past. I'm not going to re-write my posts from the previous times.

Roger

[TMurphy]

Try playing in front of people. Friends, random folks, whoever you can find. Working on a piece for your jury or recital? Find someone taking a practice break and ask them to come and listen. They certainly will. Just explain that you need an audience so you can learn to deal with the pressure. That, combined with the other suggestions made, will help.

[bort]

Perform as much as you can. After a while, you'll have played so many times, it will begin to not phase you as much to perform for groups of friends, groups of strangers, etc. As soon as you start worrying about the audience, you aren't concentrating on your playing. And that's when mistakes start to happen.

When I started out, it was like "whoa, I'm going to have a concert tonight! Time to get out the suit! Oh man I'm nervous!" Now I just get nervous if my suit is ironed well enough.

Practice until you know the piece as well as you possibly can. Performances come with all sorts of fun obstacles anyway like poor heating/cooling, bright lights, limited view of the conductor, wind, etc. There's plenty of other things to worry about when it's go time.

[Jay Parke]

Practice in your tux. Think about it, how often do you were the thing? Unless you are James Bond I bet its not often enough to be used to it.

Also realize that once you make a mistake it has already happened and nothing can change that, so there is no sense worrying about it. The times when I have gotten nervous have been after I made some stupid mistakes and got hung up on them.

[BriceT]

Put simply, just find as many situations as possible to play in front of people. It doesn't matter if it's your family, friends, people on the street, peers, or juries. The cliche "practice makes perfect" is the reason anyone gets good at doing anything including overcoming nerves. Also, a strange thing I do sometimes is pretend that I'm some famous tubist like Arnold Jacobs, Roger Bobo, or Gene Pokorny whenever I am playing for something big. This usually helps improve my confidence. Good Luck!

[theanalogkid]

I get very nervous before I have to perform solo or in a small ensemble. Like someone else mentioned early, I feel sometimes that I have to impress the audience because really how often are they going to hear a tuba performing solo literature? We kind of get a bad rap, as you all know, and I always feel like it's my responsibility to convince every listener that we can do it all.

As far as remedies, I'll tell you what helps me. If you can, go the hall you're going to be performing in, wear your tux/suit/whatever, and turn on the stage lights. Then run down the entire performance. It really helps me to become more comfortable with my surroundings and to relax into the situation. Also, ask to perform your program for your instructor and other brass faculty in an environment that's not a weekly performance situation. Not only will you get great feedback from them, but you'll also get the experience of performing for an audience that's not your peers.

I think that's about it...

[TUBAD83]

Prepare your music to the point that you can just about do it from memory without error. Make sure your horn is in perfect working order. Make sure that YOU are in perfect working order (get plenty rest the night before and have a light meal before your performance). Make sure you whatever you wear fits correctly and you are comfortable wearing it. Oh...and have FUN playing---I look forward to EVERY opportunity to play for an audience, whether playing in an ensemble, a quintet, or a recital setting. The more you do it the easier it becomes--I know you've heard that ALOT but its absolutely true. RELAX AND HAVE FUN and don't worry about the rest.

[jonesbrass]

. . . Other than occasional use of propranolol, the exercises in the Breathing Gym have helped me the most. . .

Medication helps . . . you'd be suprised . . .

[MartyNeilan]

I thought I said I play alot at depermental wednesdays

You play where?

[tofu]

--

[Roger Lewis]

One of my heroes is Adolph Herseth, formerly Principal Trumpet of the Chicago Symphony for some 53 years or so, and considered by many to be one of the greatest trumpet players that has ever lived.

Mr Herseth's work ethic is preparation, preparation, preparation. He would play every tough lick, in every key, through the entire range of the instrument. He would practice a full 4th higher than he would EVER be called on to play in the orchestra.

From this last comes one of my little "ditties"---- If you can squeek out a high C, you don't own it, you're "renting" it. When you can nail the crap out of an F a 4th higher than that C, now you OWN the C.

"Nerves" come from a variety of things. Unfamiliarity with the stage "environment". You don't live on the stage so you are not comfortable there - practice on the stage as often as you can, for as long as you can on a regular basis. Learn where every board is, where the squeeks are in the flooring, what direction is the best to point your bell at, etc. etc. Own the stage - then come out and play like you own the stage and you are "allowing" the audience to be there in YOUR private space. This thinking shifts the "control" over what will happen from the audience to YOU. It's your recital - play for yourself first. Then learn to "entertain" your audience and have fun.

Music is a time art, meaning that once you play a note and clam the hell out of it - you can't take it back. So don't spend any mental energy on somthing you can't change. Plus, it takes your mind out of the "present" and into the "past", robbing your concentration and focus on where things are going. It's out there forever and probably imortalized on tape somewhere. (There used to be a "kack" web site that is a prime example of this). The painter never displays his art until it is ready and in it's final form - and it doesn't change.

The other biggie involved with nerves is "doubt". Something has been left undone in the practice room. Like that one tricky lick in the 3rd movement is still a pain in the a$$ and you're probably going to screw it up when you get there. Here is where Mr. Herseth's trick comes in most handy. Preparation...prep..... oh hell you know what I mean.

Peace.
Roger

[Jesse Brook]

It all comes down to three things, practice, experience, and preparation.

[Chase]

A couple people have mentioned books that help with overcoming nerves. I've read a lot of self-help books and things of this type and without question, the one that was most beneficial to me was "My Lessons with Kumi: How I Learned to Perform with Confidence in Life and Work" by the composer Michael Colgrass. It's a little out there, but if you're into things like that I'd really recommend it. It really changed the way I approached performing.

[k001k47]

Eat some bananas before you play in a recital.
Nerves are always going to be there (unless one doesn't care to do well or isn't human): learn ways to turn the adrenaline into something good.

[MaryAnn]

Roger wrote:

"Nerves" come from a variety of things. Unfamiliarity with the stage "environment". You don't live on the stage so you are not comfortable there - practice on the stage as often as you can, for as long as you can on a regular basis. Learn where every board is, where the squeeks are in the flooring, what direction is the best to point your bell at, etc. etc. Own the stage - then come out and play like you own the stage and you are "allowing" the audience to be there in YOUR private space. This thinking shifts the "control" over what will happen from the audience to YOU. It's your recital - play for yourself first. Then learn to "entertain" your audience and have fun.

This is some of the best advice I've ever seen about performing, perhaps because it's new to me. Reading this, I sat here at my computer thinking about going out on a typical stage, all by myself, with an empty hall. And in my imaginings, what would bother me most would be that someone would hear me playing! Like, I love playing in my living room; I have this resonant foyer that I point my horn bell at, and I sound good to my own ears, and I have all these imaginings about being a WOW performer on a big stage. Then....when I actually get to that stage, it is a major case of EEK SOMEONE MIGHT HEAR ME. For me, this is the crux of my stage fright (which is so bad that I simply don't perform except as a member of a section, and then only as a member of a section in the BACK.) In any public space, even a small recital hall at the local community college..it's the same reaction. Someone might hear me.

So thanks, Roger, you have nailed what I need to work on if I ever want to be a performer in any way other than the one I'm willing to do with my current level of stage terror. Preparation isn't the crux of it for me...it's the stage itself, and I suspect this may be the case for others too.

MA

[Roger Lewis]

If you really want to get comfortable - take some acting lessons. I had the great fortune, when I was at Mannes, to study acting under Angela Lansbury. She taught us how to improvise and play off each other's statements and to really learn to be comfortable being someone else when on stage.

That's what we do as a soloist - become someone else when on stage. Often we are not comfortable in that "roll" and this adds to our feelings and doubts.

There are two things that I send my students to other teachers for:
Acting lessons - to be comfortable playing a "roll"
Snare drum lessons - where you really learn to COUNT. You don't have to worry about pitch, the horn or anything else except the rhythm.

Peace.
Roger