As for the stage fright, it never goes away. When I'm waiting in the wings to go on, it's agony every single time but I stay focused and I know that once I'm on stage it'll be fine; I'll be in my happy little bubble. –Britt Ekland
Hard to breathe. Body heat rises. Legs shake. Voice Shakes. A feeling of doom. Oh god, I'm locking up...
Stage Fright
It's the strangest thing. I've performed on stage literally all of my life. I grew up in my parents touring band and performed as a child. I was signed to an indie deal as a teenager and performed all those years. I'm in my 40's now and I've only had a few years off from live performance. I spoken, sung and even acted on stage–For big crowds over a thousand, medium crowds of 200-300, and to small crowds of two or three and still, from time to time I get stage fright.
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The Lockdown
Sometimes I get more than fright, something I call 'The lockdown'. The Lockdown is where my body revolts against me and just as the term says, it locks down. I can still perform in The lockdown mode. I've done it many times. If I know my parts like a well-oiled machine, my hands and mouth can keep going, even when my body and ego are in full revolt.
Lockdown though is a dangerous place to be on stage. I have to get out of it quickly or it could spiral into a 'Shutdown'. I've never personally had a shutdown, but I've seen it happen many times to other artists and speakers. It's hard to watch.
If you have stage fright, it never goes away. But then I wonder: is the key to that magical performance because of the fear? Stevie Nicks
I've developed personal 'tools' for preventing and also dismissing fright and lockdown. I'll share a few tools over a few posts with you starting with #1.
#1 Accept It: The Odds Are, Most Everyone Is Afraid
If you do find yourself on a stage from time to time then you wanted to be there. It's well known that fear of public speaking/performance is by many claimed to be a fear more than death (Check out this phycology today article). If you find yourself constantly in situations where your on stage, or speaking publicly, you have to admit, you want to be there. People don't seek out things they fear worse than death. It's an equally powerful drive to want to be on stage. Inside of that drive is packed in, a lot of fantasy and many expectations of how the night will go.
There have been so many times where I have just killed it in rehearsal; become so good at a certain musical part that it feels like I'm slicing butter with my fingers; only to find, when I get on stage that I suddenly feel like I'm performing the part for the first time. What happened?
The truth is. It doesn't really matter what happened. It's part of the gig. Happens all the time. It could be that your guitar strap is a half inch lower. Or that you are in an odd position with the microphone. People that experience stage fright, will most likely always experience it, though they may find that they can compartmentalize it in later years; even to the point of it feeling nonexistent at times.
So accept it and know that most other performers feel it too. It's the norm more than the irregularity.
The Tool: Only You Can See Your Fear
One tool that is helpful for me is to watch the bands before me and picture them with incredible Stage Fright. Usually, you have someone performing before you. If you don't, look at those well-seasoned rock stars setting up their gear beside yours, now, put on them, your fears.
Now, look at them. They seem to be handling it okay. Maybe you notice someone looking a little shy or nervous before you, but 95% of the time they're playing their part.
Stage fright is my worst problem. A voice is very intimate. It's something of your own. So there's always this fear because you feel naked. There's a fear of not reaching up to expectations. – Andrea Bocelli
This has nothing to do with whether they are good or bad players. The point of this is to realize that fright is normal, so more than likely whoever your playing with, even a big star, IS, or before they stepped on stage, had an episode of nerves.
See, one of the problems is we think people can SEE what is going on in our head. They can't. They can not see your fear. They can not see your mind racing to try and remember the next chorus.
When you look at the other performers in this context, you start to see that you can not see their fear. The odds are clear that most of them are dealing with it, having the same panicked thoughts now and again as a big change comes up, yet, you can not see it. The audience can not see it – only YOU can see your fear.
It's okay to have the fear. It might be part of your authenticity, part of the key to opening up your heart on stage and being true – because it removes your strength to wear your mask. That is good. Great artist have devoted fans because they are brave enough to open up, to be transparent, to conquer the one thing most fear more than death, to give us one beautiful moment's celebration of life.
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