Here's what works for me - your mileage may vary.
First, recognize that you're going to have a lot of adrenaline going on. It's not going to feel the same as practice - you get a lot of adrenaline and you're reactions and perceptions are a little different (usually quicker and stronger) - you're set up for fight or flight. The key is to know it is coming and choose your response (I know that this isn't always possible - but I find that preparing for the key moment when the adrenaline kicks in gives me a pretty good chance). If you can channel your adrenaline into sharpening your performance (fight instead of flight), amazing things can happen. I've done vocal solos where I could only hit the high note occasionally in practice - my voice teacher told that it wouldn't be a problem in performance, and he was right.
Its an incredible rush - you're waiting to play and you think "here it comes - I'm going to be faster, stronger and sharper than I'm used to - I'm going to use this and play better than I ever have".
For me, it's all about being aware that perceptions and reactions are going to be a little different - and that I have input - I get to choose whether it helps or hurts me.
:agree:
Really prepare. Play through slowly and play through at tempo. Play from different spots in the music. Repeat. Overly prepare so that if you're mind is preoccupied w the surroundings or blanking out, your body/fingers will keep still going. With piano and me, at a recital, I will be very anxious and on nerve with a lot of adrenaline. But being really prepared has pulled me through.
This. :agree: Just finished reading Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, where he says pretty much the same thing in the passage on his first London concert (Hammersmith 75), where he'd allowed himself to get distracted by all the hype generated by his record company...
Bruce Springsteen; Autobiography 'Born To Run' pp230-231 said:
You can see all of this [all the distractions] on the E Street Band's Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 film..., except you won't. You will not see anything except the band perform a tough but excellent set. You will see us... pump out a Jersey stew of rock & roll... At the time, I found the evening so disconcerting that I never viewed the concert film until 2004. When I did, I found out... [m]ost of what I'd experienced that night was a movie playing exclusively in my own head. My body & heart knew what to do and went ahead and did it anyway. I'd trained well... enough to have prepared ourselves.
Everyone in that audience is there because they WANT to hear what I have to say to them and NO ONE in that audience knows more about the subject matter than I do (even if I mess up a little, they'll never know the difference as long as I sound confident).
If you can play Bohemian Rhapsody, you're in the same boat [as me!] and will blow them away!
:agree:
Here's my 2¢
1) It's not an audition. It's a school benefit concert. How often do you get to show off what you can do in front of anyone who's actually interested enough in what you can do that they've come out to watch? Not often, is my experience.
Like WestyShane says, think of it is an opportunity to show what you can do, not as an ordeal to be got through.
At any rate, that was the advice given me before my Ph.D defence (an event with the potential to be
far more stressful,
prima facie, than a school concert
) and it's advice that stood me in good stead then, and in good stead ever since, whenever I've had put to in a performance in whatever field of activity.
2) It's not an audition. It's a school benefit concert. The audience will know they're in a school auditorium, not at Carnegie Hall. Yes, they have come out to enjoy the performances - but that means,
again like WestyShane says, they
want to be on your side. They want to help you perform to your best ability. If you're out there feeling nervous, tell them so. Let them help you relax.
I don't go along with the "don't look at the audience" school of thought. Don't know about you, but when I'm in an audience, I want to have some sense of interaction with the performer(s); a sense that he/she/they have come along to play for
me. Nothing worse than a 'shoegazing' performance IMO - might as well have stayed at home and put on a record. In any case, if there's any stage lighting, you won't see anyone in the audience beyond the first couple of rows. Focus on one or two people you can see, and show them a good time.
3) It's not The Gong Show. It's a school benefit concert. If you fluff a note, and the audience don't notice, who cares? Do not be waiting for that fluff to come along - and do not allow it to put you off when it does (if it does - and it's far more likely to come along if you are expecting it to come along!). It's how you're prepared to cope with the unexpected that's going to be key (i.e.,
what PTOEguy says, basically). If it's a big fluff,
laugh it off, and carry on. That's what we do in
the pUKEs - and we've built up a pretty substantial live following, despite our fluffs. The audience are on your side.
4) Familiarize yourself with the venue and the stage (if you're not already). In particular, familiarize yourself with playing under lights, and playing while mic'ed up. Make sure you get there in time to get a proper soundcheck, in other words. I know none of this advice you're getting is going to make you any less nervous (so be prepared to cope with it, as the others have said), and the last thing you need is some nasty surprise just before you're about to take the stage.
While you're up there in soundcheck getting used to the idea of being on stage under lights, visualise the place full of people, all bursting with appreciation and ready to bring the house down when you take your bow.
