Got stage fright? Worried you might mess up? Not feeling ready to start playing shows?
Trust me, we’ve all been there. So many of us struggle with self-doubt, public speaking, being the center of attention, or making a big, BIG embarrassing mistake in front of tons of people. Eep.
Take some advice from your sisters who’ve been there before. I asked a group of my artist friends for their best advice about performing (and added my 2 cents, too). And they had SUCH good stuff for you.
Tips for when you’re on stage
“If you make a mistake, just keep going. Don’t call attention to it, because the audience may not even realize it!”
“Sometimes you’ll play for 100 people who couldn’t care less about you and sometimes you’ll play for 10 people who love you. Numbers aren’t everything. If one person is touched by your performance, it was worth doing.”
“For me, it’s a matter of getting out of my head and being in the moment. At a certain point, you need to trust in your training and rather than focusing on having perfect pitch etc. just sing from the heart and connect with the audience. Relax and have fun! if it doesn’t go perfectly, you won’t die, Noone is going to be as critical of you as you are of yourself, so don’t beat yourself up over little missteps, focus instead of making a meaningful moment for someone in the audience.”
“Perform, perform, perform and perform. Get used to it by practising and taking every opportunity you can to do it.
When on stage, think more of the feeling you want to get across, what you want people to feel.. More so than thinking about what you look like.
Interact and vibe with the people in the band (if you’re a singer). People love watching the band have fun with each other.
Close your eyes if you want to, but eye contact is good! Try and lock in and connect with that audience!
If singing originals, and something you wrote/co-wrote.. Tell the audience about the song.. What is is about, set the tone, paint the picture. If you do this well, they will be paying even more attention! :)”
Before the show
“To my singer friends: drink lots of water, and not just right before the performance. Water takes a while to get to the vocal cords themselves so it’s better to be consistently hydrated than cramming all the water in at the last minute.”
“Remember that the audience is on your side! They actually want to see you succeed and have a great show. If you make a mistake, everyone in that room (if they noticed the mistake at all) is thinking, ‘Omg, its ok, get back up, you can do it!‘”
Sarah Spencer, SongFancy creator
When you’re practicing
“Record a video of every performance and watch it the next day – you’ll learn very quickly what to do and what not to to with your stage presence and dance moves.”
“If you perfect your craft, and know your stuff, you are going to look amazing up there regardless.”
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