Dealing With Stage Fright

Real Advice on Slaying the Monster We've All Encountered

By Charles David Schwartz

It’s the night of your big gig.  The place is packed out.  Rumor has it that a couple of industry people are in attendance to check you out and are sitting in the audience.  Part of your family may be there.  Your friends are waiting for you to rock their world.  You take the stage, and you freeze.  You can’t move.  You feel the terror rattle you from the top of your head to the tips of your toes. Your mouth is dry and your stomach is in knots the size of golf balls.   You can’t turn around.  Your drummer asks you what is wrong, but you just stand there and shake.

A nightmare?  Hopefully.  But for some, this is the reality known as stage fright.  So many incredible musicians have suffered from this affliction.  Some have even retired from live performing because of it.  The good news is, you can beat it.  You can show it who’s boss.  I am going to give you some tips on how to slay this monster for good.  When you take the stage to play, you should not have to be worried about how you are going to keep from hurling.  You should be concerned about giving the performance of your life, and showing everyone who came out to see you why they paid good money to be there.  So on with the tips!

1.) Give yourself some time alone before the show.  A few hours before you go on, take some time to be alone with no one else around, and let your mind concentrate on something else rather than the performance that night.  Read a book or a magazine that has nothing to do with music.  Work a puzzle.  Read the newspaper.  Play with your pet.  Watch a TV show (Not MTV!).  Just do something that gets your mind completely off of what you will be doing later.  If possible, make this time last around an hour or so.  One of my personal favorite things to do is to take a little nap.  Lie down for about 45 minutes to an hour and get a good rest.  Don’t overdo it and end up feeling like you have been hit by a truck.  The most important thing is that you take this time just for you to do what you want to do, or anything that relaxes you.  The more relaxed day you have the day of your gig, the smoother it will go, and you will be able to focus much easier.  If you have troubles in your life that distract you, then bury yourself in the performance and take out all of your frustrations on the stage.  Lots of troubled people find solace in music.  Remember, only you know what relaxes you and enables you to concentrate on what you love.  Get in touch with your inner self.  

2.) Eat a good meal.  What?  I feel like I am going to throw up before I go on stage!  Why on Earth should I eat?!  This is a popular misconception.  Before you go on stage, you MUST take a meal.  You will need the fuel and the energy to get you through it.  Refer back to the beginning of this item.  What did I say?  I said eat a GOOD meal.  Do not eat a nasty, greasy hamburger and fries.  Eat something light, but filling.  One of my favorites is a grilled chicken breast.  I am also rather fond of pasta dishes.  You will get some good carbs for energy, and you will be full without the bloating and the sluggish feeling.  Don’t overdo it by eating until you are miserable.  A few hours before a gig is not the time to hit the “all you can eat” place of your choice.  Be sensible and eat until you are pleasantly full.  Drink lots of water and stay hydrated.  This will help a lot with the dry mouth thing.  Stay away from fried, fatty foods, and heavy sweets and dairy products before performing.  But whatever you do, please eat.

3.) Ask yourself the question “What is the worst thing that could happen?”.  So you blow a note.  So you trip and fall over a cable.  So you drop a drumstick.  So you sing a little flat or sharp.  Hey, we have all done it before.  The best musicians this industry has to offer still make mistakes, and sometimes they are doozies!  Ask yourself how many total catastrophes you have had previously while you were practicing or playing in front of 2or 3 people.  I would dare to guess that it’s not that many.  If you really know the material you are about to perform, you should have some confidence in what you are doing.  What if the worst happens?  Recover, and keep going!  The show must go on!  The truth is, nobody cares.  If you trip and fall over a cable or something else on stage, make it look as if it is part of your performance.  You will be labeled a crazy rocker guy, not the bumbling oaf you think you are.  If you blow a note, don’t make it obvious.  Don’t scream a profanity or shake your head.  Keep playing as if nothing happened.  Not everyone watching you is a musician!  Trust me, they will not know the difference if you do not make it obvious!  Keep your composure!  Once during a performance, I dropped a drumstick, and could not reach a replacement because I had forgotten to get them close to me before the show started due to a rushed soundcheck.  I finished the song whacking the drums with my fingers on that hand!  The crowd thought it was the coolest thing they had ever seen!  They thought nothing about the error.  Train yourself to maintain your cool stature, and you can get away with just about anything.

4.) Convince yourself that this is all in your head.  Afraid to look out into the crowd?  This is an easy one.  Before the show begins, make a mental note of where a table of your friends are sitting.  They will be your biggest supporters that night, so look over at them and play to them.  They will love it, and you will begin to feed off of that energy.  Then look somewhere else.  Once you see that the crowd really is into what you are doing, you will gain a lot of confidence.  Pretty soon, you will wonder what you were ever afraid of.  Remember the first time you ever rode a roller coaster?  If you were like me you couldn’t believe that a human being could be taken that high in the air by anything other than a helicopter or plane.  I remember being pretty scared.  Then, we eased over the highest point into the drop.  What a rush!  I remember the wind tearing through my hair and screaming from joy not from terror.  When I realized that I was going to survive the ride, I was able to enjoy myself and let go.  Performing is a very similar feeling.  Once you realize that nothing life-threatening or disastrous can come of it, you can relax and enjoy the moment.  

5.) Remember that all places are virtually the same.  They all have walls, floors, a stage, and an audience.  The room you are playing in should have no factor on you or your performance.  An audience is an audience.  Play to them like you do anyone else.  One other thing to keep in mind, is they are watching you because they love music, and most of them cannot do what you are doing up there on that stage.  They would do anything to be able to play like you do.  You are in control at all times.  You have their love and attention.  They are envious of you and your talents.  Let this go to your head and make you a bit cocky.  IT’S OKAY TO BE A BIT COCKY!  Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not.  You love the attention, and you know it.  Don’t deny that.  Get up there and show off and do what you do!

I hope these tips will help you slay the monster of stage fright.  These are things that have worked for me over the years, and I hope they work for you just the same.  The most important thing to remember is that even if the worst happens, you will still be alive and kicking, and will get to play another show and redeem yourself.  Don’t be like someone I know about from one of the greatest British pop bands ever, (sorry, I really should not name names here.) and let this drive you away from doing what you love.  That would be a dirty shame.  People need to see you perform.  You need to show people what you are capable of.  I can honestly say now that I am never fearful to take the stage no matter where I am, or how many people are watching me.  In fact, I am thinking “Let me up there NOW!”.  You can get to this stage too.  Trust me, you really can.  Just work at it, try to relax.  If all else fails, you can always just imagine everyone sitting out there in their underwear!

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