What is Stage Fright and How to Overcome It?

Have you ever had big dreams of performing on the big stage?

13:45 23 February 2020

Getting up in front hundreds, thousands, or even just a few of your friends can be a daunting experience for even the most professional performers. People who perform at high level aren’t immune to the same fears that everyone else experiences when on stage. Fortunately, there are some concrete strategies that you can use to overcome stage fright and begin enjoying your performances. 

What is Stage Fright?

Stage fright is the common fear of being in front of large crowds. It is seen all the time in people who perform at a high level and can be crippling for the person experiencing it. Some symptoms which can coincide with stage fright include shaking, excessive sweating, poor memory, loss of technique, anxiety, and a host of other issues. The most detrimental part of stage fright is that it can ruin your performance and your hours of hard work and preparation over an issue that is completely manufactured in your mind. 

Who gets it?

Although we see professionals on stage in front of thousands of people and believe that they surely must not experience stage fright, this is not the case. Stage fright can be experienced by any performer at any time. The key is learning to control and fight against it. Regardless of if you are on your first or 1000th time on a stage, the possibility of stage fright is always there. Because of this fact, it is important to learn and master these strategies to overcome it! 

How to overcome it?

Overcoming stage fright can seem like a daunting task to anyone who suffers from it. It is not a physical condition but can manifest itself in physical ways, which affect the performer in a negative way, causing them to perform at a level which is much lower than the norm. 

Preparation

The best way to combat stage fright is to be as prepared as possible. If there is no doubt in your mind what is required of you during your performance then you will have much more confidence and be more calm when performing. People who perform at a high level often experience their instruments ‘playing themselves’ during a performance due to the extreme level of preparation that they have achieved. The saying goes, ‘practice makes perfect’! It is said that in order to reach a ‘professional level’ in any performance art you need to put in thousands of hours of practice. It is always recommended to take some private lessons in order to get started in the right direction. If you have the time for self-learning, you can utilize becomesingers.com as an online resource to supplement your knowledge. Online services such as these can be a beneficial and worthwhile source to set you in the right direction. During this time in honing your technique, you can visualize yourself performing in front of people to add another dimension of difficulty into your practice. If you practice pretending to perform for 10, 000 hours, you will be on your way to having the confidence to perform in whatever setting you need. 

Breathe! 

We need to breathe to live, but breathing can also have a calming effect on the body. Many martial arts and other physical training systems or disciplines advise practicing breathing exercises to help calm the body and mind. Performing breathing exercises such as ‘square breathing’ can be extremely effective in calming you before a performance. The exercise entails exhaling for four counts, holding four counts, inhaling four counts, and finally holding four counts before inhaling. This regulated breathing helps to slow your heart rate and calm your nerves. Focusing on breathing itself can also help to take the mind of whatever you might be stressing or worrying about. 

Visualize

Visualizing your goals can be extremely conducive to becoming successful in whatever endeavors your life is currently involved in. This can be something simple like placing an order, or something as complicated as giving a 3 hour lecture from memory. The process of visualizing can be so helpful because it helps you to mentally go through what might be a stressful activity in a ‘low stakes’ environment (your mind). Visualizing your performance going successfully can make it feel like you have already completed the task, and help your body and mind have a clearer goal to reach. It has been proven that visualizing practicing an activity (such as music) in extreme detail can be just as effective in improving performance on a piece as actual practice can be. 

Hopefully after reading this article you will have a much clearer idea of what stage fright is, who experiences it, and some effective strategies to combat this crippling condition. Many of these strategies are used by the leading professionals in all fields of performance to ensure that they are able to perform at a consistent level and make their living. By implementing them into your own work and preparation you can ensure that you are performing at the peak of your abilities every time!