Have
you ever dreamed of performing a piece you created
for others. Imagining that they are captivated and
held spellbound by the music? If you have, you know
that it can be a long road from actually coming up
with something, practicing it, and then giving it
to an audience. In my own case, I had a good opportunity
to perform. It was in a coffeehouse that already had
a decent piano.
The
problem was that I was playing for people who had
come to listen mostly to guitarists on open mike night.
Young guitarists that sang and played mostly Rock
music or a derivative of it. I didn't care so much
about that because I had the chance to go in front
of people and share the gift of music.
In public
speaking it's said that the fear of standing in front
of a group of people and talking is caused by the
anticipation of losing face - of looking or appearing
like a fool. Now, some may be able to get up in front
of a group and actually feel better than they felt
before getting in front of people, but the reality
is that 99% of us are going to feel some kind of anxiety.
There
are two schools about stage fright. One school believes
that you can completely rid yourself of it (extremely
hard to do and a somewhat unrealistic). The other
says that you can never fully conquer the fear but
you can manage it and reduce it to a level where you
can function and perform.
So far,
I'm in the second group and I've learned a few techniques
that allow me to perform well. One is that I practice
enough to where I feel confident that I can perform
above the normal level. The second technique is to
accept the feelings of fear and reframe it into the
emotion of excitement. In other words, I may be scared,
but I'm also feeling excited. I focus on that part.
Most
of the performance anxiety will dissipate soon after
your performance begins anyway. It's usually the first
10 minutes or so when you're the most anxious. My
goal when I get on stage is to focus on and enjoy
the process of sharing the music with others. My focus
is not on the audience.
The
best performances occur when you can completely forget
about the fact there are people listening. Then they
can share in the magic that comes through you.
Edward
Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence
Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping
students learn how to play piano in the New Age
style for over 14 years! Visit us now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html
for a FREE piano lesson!
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