Perfomance anxiety... Oye Vey!

Thomas Grillo: I get nervous prior to gigs too. If you don't, there's something wrong with you. :)

I once heard an interview about "stage fright" with the late Broadway star, Ethel Merman. I paraphrase:

INTERVIEWER: Miss Merman, you have been on stage for many years, how do you handle stage fright?

MERMAN: What do you mean?

INTERVIEWER: You know, nerves before a performance......what they call 'stage fright'.

MERMAN: I don't know what your talking about. What is there to be afraid of? I'm not afraid of it. I LOVE IT!

I'm in final ramp up today for a performance, so I can relate!  I rely on the best preparation I can make, knowing my weaknesses and preparing for them (like having a card with all the composers names or listing effects settings) and a kind of mental mind set that basically says "it's not about me".  When I totally focus on the music, and realize I am a conduit and remove myself from the equation it removes most of the anxiousness. 

I presume the audience is on my side and feel honest affection for them wanting to hear the theremin and my music and how much I want and love to play for them.  If you need to use sheet music for one song, need a hat to block out a spot light, do what you need to the audience won't care and your job is to make music not win a popularity contest.  

Visualize the worst thing you can imagine and know you will survive, I've been with some very high ranking musicians who had to start over, switch instruments, or totally skip a piece or an entire performance when something didn't work.  Just be honest and human and they will be there with you.

Try and picture your audience and engender some nerves when you do your play throughs, practice any speaking you will do out loud, practice your transitions do a cue to cue doing your set ups playing just the opening phrase of each song, and do a full final dress rehearsal with entrances, exits and bows wearing whatever you are going to wear so you'll know if the sleeves or shoes are tighter than usual.  Do full play throughs without stopping to build your endurance.

Most of all take your time, you have more time in the moment than it feels like, so do that final check or find your starting note, or take a deep breath and remember how lucky and happy you are to be doing what you are doing.

You're going to be great Amethyst and I'm very excited to hear you!

" You body is reacting to some adrenaline, but you are trying to stand still and act civilized.  The energy has to go somewhere, and since you are not fighting or running, it comes out as shakes." - Willie

This is right - Shaking is one of the possible reactions to the "fight-or-flight" mechanism.

FOF is a response which often kicks in at the wrong times with humans - It evolved to deal more with the real physical threats animals encounter.. and this does still apply to humans - but most often it causes us problems because it kicks in when we think about things - when there is no apropriate physical response we can initiate to usefully exploit the extra hormones (such as adrenaline), mechanisms (such as increased heart rate) and energy sources (such as glucose) which are released.

Probably the best solution is to tackle the problem at its source - stop the FOF reaction from kicking in at the wrong times and for the wrong reason.. This can be done with some "reprogramming" - Techniques such as NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)  RET (Rational Emotive Therapy) or CBT (Cognetive Behavioural Therapy) or hypnosis can help..

Or just tell yourself that it doesnt matter - its unimportant - that, at the end of it all, nothing has any importance.. If you manage to do that, and really believe it, well - you wont have stage fright - you wont have any worries, LOL  - And you may not even bother going to your performance, not because you are afraid - simply because you cant be bothered! 

;-)

Fred.

GABA helps with mild stress and anxiety, especially if you take the kind that you let dissolve under your tongue.  It's non-prescription and available at places like Whole Foods or amazon.com.

"GABA helps with mild stress and anxiety, especially if you take the kind that you let dissolve under your tongue.  It's non-prescription and available at places like Whole Foods or amazon.com." - Dmi

I would advise caution about using anything like GABA (and particularly against using GHB).. GABA is probably safe, as it is unlikely that much gets to the brain, and has more effect on the peripheral nervous system.

What I say here is my personal opinion - and I am probably a bit paranoid about messing with anything that affects neurotransmitters and receptors in any way - But, as I see it, the chemistry of the nervous system is so complex that I do not believe ANYONE knows enough about it to even devise tests for determining "safety" of these kind of suppliments.

It is my opinion that substances like GABA should not be used unless there is a damn good reason to use them - I, personally, would not regard mild stress or anxiety as a good enough reason - particularly as there are other therapies which work, are understood, and have no ill effect.. Changing the thought processes which cause the stress is, IMO, far better than messing with the chemistry which results from the stress.

Fred.

The problem with the theremin when it comes to nerves, is that unlike other instruments the theremin is transparent.

If you're jittery for a piano recital, as long as you're well rehearsed and reasonably concentrated, the mechanism of the piano will hide your jitters. This is true of most other instruments as well. As long as there is some sort of mechanical action between you and the sound, you're safe.

With the theremin, the actual interface is invisible. In every real sense the thereminist IS the instrument. He/she is controlling every aspect of the sound at every instant, which is not true of many instruments. Once you have struck the string of a piano, a guitar or a harp, the deed is done and the instrument will take care of the rest. A thereminist, on the other hand, is involved with every aspect of the sound of a note from the instant it is heard. The most subtle nuance of intonation, vibrato, and volume must be controlled with absolute precision and the instrument, through its sound, will reflect even the slightest involuntary motion on the part of the player. 

The "snowball effect" is something that plagues thereminists. This is a self-perpetuating and steadily worsening phenomenon that can be initiated by the slightest mistake. You play a note that is noticeably off key and are so disconcerted by it that the general level of your performance immediately begins to fall. Your anger and disappointment at yourself for having been unable to play the way you wanted become the triggers for more errors which, bring on more anger and disappointment, resulting in a significant "snowballing" loss of control. 

This is one of the reasons why theremin performances are usually better at the beginning of the program than at the end.

The theremin is an instrument ideally suited for the recording studio, where all aspects of the environment can be controlled. 

"Technology has the capability to create a climate of anonymity and to allow the artist the time and the freedom to prepare his conception of a work to the best of his ability. It has the capability of replacing those awful and degrading and humanly damaging uncertainties which the concert brings with it."  Glenn Gould

"The "snowball effect" is something that plagues thereminists. This is a self-perpetuating and steadily worsening phenomenon that can be initiated by the slightest mistake." - Coalport

Yeah - and the "transparent" theremin means you have nothing to hide behind - its like being naked.. Only expierienced it once, and its not nice!

The first time I "played" theremin in public was as a complete beginner - starting my intro lesson with Lydia.. I had watched several other beginners and knew I had nothing to worry about, LOL - I had no expectations of myself, other than that I would need to try really hard if I wanted to "play" as "badly" as some othe previous participants - And I had seen Lydia's gentleness and encouragement even for the most hopeless wanna-be, so I had no worries - And playing was easy...

Next time (I had practiced a lot, and knew I could do far better than my past "performance") I expected Lydia to play a tune on the piano or tell me what to play (as she had done the last time) - But she asked me to play whatever I wanted.. My mind went blank - I could not think of anything.. and stood like a lemon for what seemed like minutes. The first piece of "music" which came into my head (LOL ;-) was "God save the queen" - I had to go with this cause its all I had - nerves were shot - I was incapable of anything remotely musical for the rest of the session..

Not sure what the "blankness" was about, where it came from or why - I usually have music buzzing in me all the time... I think it was my expectation - that I had cleared my mind ready to listen intently and perform - And my belief that my performance would be better than the last one.. Not sure if this was "stage fright" or what - but it wasnt nice - I think I was more embarassed at "choosing" to play that dreadful song, and its connection with everything I most deplore - why did that damn "piece" pop into my head?

Whatever - next time I go prepared! ;-) LOL.

Fred.

'Not sure what the "blankness" was about, where it came from or why - I usually have music buzzing in me all the time... I think it was my expectation - that I had cleared my mind ready to listen intently and perform - And my belief that my performance would be better than the last one.. Not sure if this was "stage fright" or what - but it wasnt nice - I think I was more embarassed at "choosing" to play that dreadful song, and its connection with everything I most deplore - why did that damn "piece" pop into my head?' -Fred

I think that happens to most people Fred although maybe their choice of tune would be different :-)

I think it probably is a kind of stage fright.

On the subject of tune choice, I don’t think we sometimes have conscious choice over which tune pops into our head-how many times have you went all day with one of the most irritating songs going around in it? Well, ok, maybe it’s just me...lol!

I can’t count the number of fiddle tunes I’ve learned and played but it’s still difficult when someone asks me to play a tune in a session!

One of the most difficult public playing things I’ve had to do was with just three more musicians to provide ‘tasteful’ traditional music at appropriate times during a non-denominational funeral service at a neo-natal unit for those parents who had lost their babies during the year gone. Extremely difficult to keep the composure together in those circumstances. Once the fiddle bow starts to bounce uncontrollably on the strings because you know the tears are only seconds away it’s difficult to keep things together. The first time it was really difficult, the second time was easier because the only way to get through it was to put up a kind of shield between those in attendance and the job in hand.

Otherwise, playing in ceilidhs and the like, sometimes it was much easier to play in front of a couple of hundred folk than it was to play for a handful of people in a small room.

Roy

It happened to me this last Halloween. I brought my theremin to work, tuned it up, and promptly went blank.

I just let everyone there wail on it I while I tried to think of something to play. The same thing sometimes happens with guitar, but I'm a bit more comfortable with that.

I agree with Roy. Most times a bigger crowd is easier to play for. Less personal, I guess.

I'm also with Roy about an irritating song stuck in your head. I once had Disney's "Small world" stuck there. I thought I was going to puke...

OMG! IT'S BACK! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! 

I sweat cobs while I am setting up, especially if the equipment does not work first time exactly as I intended. But I know from experience that once I start playing I will feel fine, so I don't let my nerves get in the way.