Most musicians experience performance anxiety or nervousness. This can be debilitating at the very least can corrupt the joy of making music into a stressful situation.
To combat the problem:
1. Practice deep breathing: take deep, full slow breaths and let the tension go out with your exhale. Exercise before a concert maybe helpful
2. Avoid caffeine the day of concert
3. Prepare music on such a deep level that even if you are functioning less than optimally, the music does not suffer.
- I played it correctly sort of a couple of times
- I played it correctly all of the time during comfy practice sessions
- I cannot help but play it right, no matter how bad I feel or how stressful the circumstances.It is at this 3rd level where you can truly know the material.
4. Put yourself in performance situations often. Gradually the exp becomes normal and routine.
5. Consider your ego — a lack of confidence is just the reverse side of being arrogant. Either way, you are hung up on your ego. The truth is: the world will continue to function even if you don’t play music. What you are doing is really not that imp
6. Try to detach yourself from the whirlwind of emotions connected with the situation. Try to be an observer rather than a reactor to situation.
7. Instead of thinking: what can I play that would sound impressive?. Think: what can I play that would add to what is going on in the music at this present moment?
8. Stop trying to please people. If you are not worried about what other people think of you, you are free to lay only what is best for the music.
9. Elevate your skill level. This is related to item 3. Part of our nervousness comes from knowing deep down inside that we really don’t have the material mastered. Our conscious mind may try to fool us by saying: yeah, I can do that. But inwardly we realize that we don’t have sufficient skills to meet the demands of the tempo and harmonic considerations. The more your play, the more confident you are.
10. Try meditation, yoga, prayer, biofeedback, sitting alone in the dark — do something to still the wild chaos of the mind. We are at our most creative when we play from the state of inner calm.