Performance Anxiety: 7 Steps to Getting Performance Nerves Under Control

First off, let me just say that performance anxiety is a common thing. Matter of fact, the more sophisticated your performance, the more you might experience it. It not only means that you care but the stakes are higher (bigger audiences) as your level grows. And ultimately, that’s good. But sometimes, excited jitters become overwhelming and you can stumble.

Here’s how to get out of your head, redirect your energy and put on a great show, despite your nerves.

My first bit of advice is to:

1. Expect That You Will Be Nervous.

I’ve always struggled with performance anxiety. I’ve tried every trick in the book, except hypnosis (I hear that’s quite effective).

2. Take an Emotional Inventory.

Take an inventory of your triggers. Missing a note? Singing flat? Forgetting your lyrics? These are usually the top fears. But what about having an insecure moment where you are just off? Or you had a bad day and you don’t feel like getting on stage? We get thrown off when we expect each performance will be the same. Different rooms and audiences come with different expectations or stakes. Every performer has different triggers and knowing yours will help you prepare.

3. Make a Personal Goal for Each Performance.

Putting your attention on a personal goal helps you to focus on the right thing – your craft. Focusing on the music instead of the audience or their expectation of you helps you to be “in the moment” focusing on the task at hand and not be in your head going in the wrong direction.

Here are two examples of setting a personal goal:

1) When you get super nervous at the start of the show: “I aspire to arrive in my body by the end of the first verse.” This way you don’t expect yourself to not be nervous at the start and you give your body a direction to achieve.

2) If you are worried about hitting a high note: “I look forward to singing that note in the set. I have worked so hard to achieve this in practice and have hit it repeatedly there. And if I miss it, I can easily focus on the next phrase. Even Luciano Pavarotti missed a note here and there. The world will not end. I am a good singer and I know that mistakes are part of live performance.”

4. Homeopathic help.

As a holistic vocal coach and vocal health expert, I can’t help but offer up another secret weapon. Over the years I have used this remedy myself and with my students. It has proven extremely helpful time and again. To soothe your jitters pre-performance, try using the homeopathic remedy Gelsemium that I find most artists have great results with (myself included!). To get even more detailed you can go to Online Homeopathic Remedy Finder to help you find the exact right remedy. Homeopathy involves identifying symptoms that are super-specific to you. You can find these remedies at a natural health food store or Whole Foods.

5. Visit the venue prior.

There is a story I heard once about Sting performing on the Oprah Show several decades into his career. He arrived so early to the set that even the tech crew hadn’t arrived yet. Why would a seasoned performer arrive so early? To him it was to feel comfortable in the space. Performing in front of millions of viewers on camera is a very intimate experience. I can guess that as a seasoned performer he wanted to make himself comfortable and that’s what it took.

Whenever possible, visit the venue you will be performing in prior so you can size up the room and imagine your performance firsthand.

6. Performance is like rehearsal just with an audience.

The more comfortable you can get the better. Prepping for performance but with the attitude of rehearsal helps to create more ease. When you overthink about the show your brain focuses on the craft rather instead of monumental expectations that come with an important performance.

Some performers bring an audience into their rehearsals to make shows feel like performances and make performances less tense.

7. Be well-rehearsed.

I’m a fan of being well-rehearsed. Every time I messed up on stage was always due to under-preparing.

Your performance should be so well-rehearsed that your breath patterns, physical movements, chord changes, vocal melismas, and your phrasing are all ingrained into your physical being so they can fire on auto-pilot.

You want your technique to be on the back burner of your brain so the front of your brain is free to focus on your performance. You don’t want to have to exert any mental energy on the technical side, but rather be freed up to focus on delivering a great performance.

Once you bring something to the stage in front of an audience, your job is to be making an emotional connection to them, not trying to remember your chords or lyrics.

Science has proven that when musicians or athletes rehearse their performances ahead of time, they perform up to 30% better. Stage fright is a serious problem for musicians. Research among professional musicians shows that 60% of the participating musicians suffer from stage fright, among whom 20% to a serious degree which hinders them in their professional career.

Stage fright occurs at all levels, among beginners as well as top musicians. Women appear to be somewhat more susceptible to stage fright than men, though it may also be that women are more open about it. Generally, stage fright does not just go away; and a focused approach does lead to a reduction of the problem. Stage fright is not just an inconvenient side-effect of the profession, it can break or seriously hinder a musician’s career. Also, it is a hazard for the physical and mental well-being of the people it concerns.

So what if you do prepare and you’re still overly nervous before the show? This is not uncommon. Right before a performance, you’ll usually feel an adrenaline rush as your body prepares to perform. It actually gives you the heightened energy you need to perform.

Most artists that struggle with performance anxiety are usually quite advanced in their craft. The performance requires a lot of concentration to deliver on a high level. Well-known stars are known to have performance anxiety. Artists like Adele, Andrea Bocelli and Lady Gaga among many others admit to experiencing anxiety before shows. Barbara Streisand suffered from stage fright so much that she didn’t perform for many years.

In addition, if you are a person who is affected by criticism or has emotional or psychological or physical trauma you may suffer a little more. I know because I am one of them. I have always struggled with performance anxiety all throughout my career and it has kept me off stage more than I would have liked.

Be well-rehearsed and lower your expectations. Science shows that musicians and athletes who rehearse ahead of time show a 30% improvement in their performance.

If you’re looking to learn the tools to manage your emotions and overcome the mental or emotional barriers from a past setback, come join us this Friday, May 20 at our upcoming LIVE online Vocal Workshop: Trauma, the Voice + the Path to Healing. During this one-time event, you will learn the most effective methods for identifying what is blocking your voice, specific tools and exercises to release it, and how to manage emotional triggers related to your vocal performance and vocal health. Click here to learn more and reserve your seat!