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Conquer Nerves

Woman biting her fingers in nervousnessSweaty palms? Check. Heart palpitations? Check. Butterflies in your stomach? Check!

Performing is necessary for your development as a pianist. Whether you “perform” for friends, family, or complete strangers, one of the things that we need to learn to control is how to conquer nerves.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT?

When we are in a position where we think that a harmful event, an attack, or a threat is imminent, our body responds in a way that affects our ability to play well. This “fight or flight” response activates our nervous system and we may experience things like

  • accelerated breathing and heart rate
  • paling or flushing of skin
  • dry mouth
  • tunnel vision
  • shaking
  • cold hands

Sound familiar? We know that these responses are there to help us in a dangerous situation, but how can a performance be dangerous? Is there a way to turn off this instinctive response? Do we even want to switch this instinct off?

First of all, the body responses listed above are meant to jump start our bodies into action. Whether it is to fight and defend ourselves, or run away and hide, the body is energized and mobilized, waiting for our decision to act.

When I asked a fellow performer at a piano competition if she felt nervous, she gave me an excellent reply: “I don’t mind the nerves–it adds sparkle to my performance”. This young lady had a marvelous attitude about performing and made me wonder if it was necessary to eliminate this nervous response.

Another student who had an excellent reputation as a beautifully expressive player, had a “crash and burn” moment when she let her nerves take control during a performance. Her nerves got in the way of her music and made it hard to enjoy her performance, since the audience was made hyper-aware of her nervousness (shaking hands, wrong notes, overly fast tempo, etc.).

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to observe some famous and some not so famous pianists try different things to conquer nerves. I had the good fortune to see some of their ‘rituals’ as they prepared to perform pieces that had obviously been well-rehearsed and well-practised. Some handle their nerves well, while others find it takes continual work to battle their nervousness.

Here are a few tips I use to conquer nerves and perform well.

CONQUER NERVES WITH PREPARATION

1) Eat well. Avoid caffeine, nicotine, alcohol or other stimulants. In order to regulate mental alertness, you want to make sure to include protein in the meal that you eat before you perform. Time your meal well–Don’t wait until the last minute to eat so you can give your stomach time to settle and don’t eat your meal too early where you will be feeling hungry either.

2) Get a good night’s sleep. Sometimes it’s hard to calm down before a performance or exam. You should try to stop doing any mentally demanding work just before bed to allow yourself time to relax. Try taking a warm bath, drink a warm cup of milk, or read a book to relax your body and help you slip into sleep. Try out some relaxation techniques like loosening your muscles from head to toe, or concentrating on your breathing to fall asleep.

3) In order to conquer nerves, you may want to burn off a little of the extra energy and stress by doing light exercise the morning of the performance. At the opposite end of the spectrum, make sure you avoid strenuous exercise. You don’t want to be tired out or have strained muscles before a performance!

4) Create contingency plans! Make sure you have several logical places that you can restart from easily. Map out these starting points in your music in case you run into memory trouble. One or two per page is usually helpful. Not only is this good emergency preparedness, but it will test whether you really know your music or if you are simply relying on muscle memory.

5) Make sure you know your music. If you haven’t already, please read my article on Successful Piano Practice for some additional tips. If you know your music well, you will have analyzed your music and created a mental map so that you know the overall structure of the piece, including where sections are the same or different, etc. You should also have prepared and practiced enough that the notes are firmly recorded in your body and mind. You can test this by practicing with distractions. Invite a sibling to bug you, turn on the TV, have people walk around while you play, try playing your music while standing up. You get the idea.

6) Establish a pre-routine ritual that helps center you and keeps you relaxed. If possible, see the space where you are going to perform, try out the piano in the hall, do a dress rehearsal, play through parts of your pieces, mentally visualize your audience. Your mind will be at ease and comforted if you do the same pre-routine ritual every time you perform.

7) Visualize the perfect performance. Run through (several times in your mind) what you picture as the perfect performance. Picture the face of your audience or judge. Pre-play difficult parts. Picture how you begin. Visualize how you will finish – the audience clapping, the judges smiling.

CONQUER NERVES DURING YOUR PERFORMANCE

8) BREATHE! Take a few deep breaths in and out before you approach the piano. When you have adjusted the bench, sit down and mentally focus and relax. It helps to take a few seconds to mentally run through a challenging part in your mind in order to set a proper tempo for your song. When you are ready, then begin.

9) Let your character and personality shine through. Show emotion, be expressive. Change volume and dynamics to keep your performance interesting. Count rests and enjoy silences and pauses. It helps to think of how a vocalist would sing the phrases of your piece–try to allow phrases to breathe naturally and make the lines sing!

10) Think of the benefits for your audience. Sometimes when we are really nervous, we are thinking more of ourselves than of the audience. It helps to focus on the thought that the audience, adjudicators or examiners want you to succeed. If that trick doesn’t work for you, focus on the music instead and what you are trying to say with it. This is an exercise in looking at the bigger picture. Sometimes when we are trying to conquer nerves, we are so obsessed with what is happening to us that we forget about the art of creating music.

11) Be willing to fail. Pick yourself up and move forward. Learn from your mistakes and analyze what went wrong (afterwards) to see how you can prevent it from happening again. If you look at each performance as a step in the journey to greatness, you will get better. Choose to look at each performance as a chance to improve and learn.

12) Work at it. Say “Yes!” to every opportunity to perform. While each performance is unique and each audience is different, if you take advantage of the opportunity to perform, you will find that it gets easier the more you do it. There is some truth to the adage: ‘practice makes perfect’. So get out there and perform!

13) Dress the part. It helps to dress nicely for performances. Wear clothing that doesn’t restrict you when you play. Make sure you have practiced with your dress clothes so you know what they feel like. For ladies especially: try out your shoes! Some shoes (i.e. super high heels) while they may look really nice, make it difficult to play the pedal properly.

AFTER THE PERFORMANCE

What can I do to conquer nerves when the performance is done? When the performance is finished, take note of how you feel. Debrief yourself and ask ‘What could I have done better?’ or ‘What did I enjoy about this performance?’ If you have thick skin, ask for feedback or criticism. Use each performance as a learning experience. (You should be setting performance goals and learning goals with your teacher or mentor). If you are a little sensitive to feedback or criticism, record or make a video of your performances and evaluate yourself. Take notes as use each performance to help you be better next time.

Do I have my nerves completely conquered where I give a perfect performance every time? Definitely not! In my musical journey of discovery, I have found that I learn things about myself with every performance. While my nervousness hasn’t completely disappeared, I have been able to manage my nerves using the tips from above. I hope they will help you too!

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