Suppressing nervousness

[Radix]

I tend to be extremely nervous before and during a performance.  It often causes me to make foolish mistakes and to have memory slips.  Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to fix this?  If I were just slightly calmer up on stage, I would perform so much better; I'm sure of it.

[lostinidlewonder]

Listen to yourself when you play the piano. Read that again and again, it is not as simple as it seems. What does it mean to really listen to yourself while you play? I would think it has to do with observing and controlling the quality of sound coming out of your instrument in the given space. How does listening control the sound? The sound from within you, that is produced through you listening to the instrument that you are playing, should control your playing. Not the focused attention to the keys. That diminishes as you absorb the piece more and more of course.

In peformance you would want to play pieces which you can play very confidently. You don't want to torture yourself playing music which relies on you having 100% attention to what notes you play. You have to be able to enjoy playing what you play to a point that you can listen intently to the sound that you are producing more than you are concerned about the notes you play. At that point usually the piece you have is good for peformance.

You should develop a focused listening during your practice sessions that the same concerntration remains unbroken even when playing on stage. To listen to yourself is such a study in itself, how to listen to yourself without being distracted or effected by external factors.

Of course if the emotional response to playing infront of people is so great then play a lot more smaller venues. Go to retirement villiages, old peoples homes, play for them, they would love it. The more you play for people the more you build a resistance to the nervousness that the increasing number of eyes watching has. Thats my two cents anyway 

[Carmilla]

Thats a difficult question, Ill probably tell you the same everyone else  has already told you.

First of all, you are supposed to be enjoying you performance, its great to have the opportunity to show an audience the results of you hard work and the way you feel the music and express yourself!! You shouldnt be worrying about making a mistake or forgetting a passage, it doesnt matter!!! Focus on the good things

Of course it helps a lot if you feel confident on your previos work, if its memorized and if you have all your technical problems solved.

Good luck

[janice]

 The key, I have found, is to set up situations for yourself so that you can "practice" getting nervous.  Every time I perform (even though it is mainly in church) I am NEVER nervous.  And that is because I have "practiced" getting nervous, plus I never do a solo unless I know it forward and backward.  I used to shake violently.  And I figured out that it was because I wasn't 100% ready, even though I felt I was at the time.

Check out this article!  It change the way I practice and perform  and it basically changed my life!  It is a MUST read for those who get so nervous that it is a hinderance more than an asset.  The style of writing in the articles at PracticeSpot is sort of childish and "fun", but there is great information here!

https://www.practicespot.com/article.phtml?id=12&t=24

Try this--use the search function here and type in "pre-performance jitters".  This topic is discussed in that thread.

[sznitzeln]

I borrowed a book "Stage fright" ... in music performance and its relationship to the unconscious ... by Michael I. Goode

It is very scientific and takes up 3 specific cases of musicians, different methods of avoiding stage fright and their benefits. Dont know if it is good yet... Got it today...

It looks like an easy read.

Things from my own experience:
Gradually build up your self-confidence... the easiest is to play easy pieces for about 1-2 friends, and then play more and more difficult pieces for more and more ppl.

And have a good atitude both to successes and to set-backs. A success is of course good... and when it goes bad you get more used to that situation... so you will not be as scared of it...enjoy the adrenalin kick Its natural to mess up sometimes. 

Btw, maybe its not good to suppress the nerves, but to face them?

/Jacob

[rhapsody in orange]

I had a similar experience too. I was nervous at the beginning, but after playing for a while it somehow got better (I was trying hard to convince myself that being nervous would make things worse right before i started playing). I realised that when I was all jittery (and cold), my hands tend to stiffen and my some of my chords (played at pp dynamics) didn't sound. Any suggestions how to overcome that?

[hodi]

playing infront of a small group of friends can greatly improve your self confidence at performances.. i suggest u try it.. it helped me..

[sznitzeln]

I borrowed a book "Stage fright" ... in music performance and its relationship to the unconscious ... by Michael I. Goode

This was of no use...

I realised that when I was all jittery (and cold), my hands tend to stiffen and my some of my chords (played at pp dynamics) didn't sound. Any suggestions how to overcome that?

I read that the so called Gripmaster is good for warming up your hands... Its a small device that fits in your pocket. Maybe that can help the stiff and cold hands...
Also physical exercise makes hands less cold.

[vis]

Listening to yourself is very important.  Learn to sing internally through your passages as you play. Some performers (Iudenich is one) actually move their mouth on stage as they sing through the phrases. If you would feel awkward doing this onstage, sing inside. Try to not stare at the keys in slower and less technical passages. This makes you pay attention to the music rather than the notes you hit and makes you feel more free and less buried in the keyboard. When I stare at my hands and keys throughout the piece playing often becomes just a sequence of steps to completing the piece - you become controlled by the flow of music, rather than controlling it yourself. Try to set different goals when you go onstage. Like instead of playing all the notes of the piece try setting your goal to being as emotional as you can be, or to have as much structural clarity as possible. Overall the key is getting your attention off hitting the right notes. There are far more important things in music.

[ihategeorgebush]

Me too, but practice performing REALLY helps. Over time, you really get more used to it.