Nickie
Well-known member
I think this might make a good thread...
An acquaintance, who was convinced he had totally blown a performance, asked me today:
"You have a secret for being nervous on stage?"
Here is my reply:
No, I don't have any secrets. As I said, I have horrendous stage fright, or what is known as Performance Anxiety. I can have a song nailed down perfectly, know it with my eyes closed. Then when I get up on a stage, no matter who is sitting out there, I fall to pieces. My brains goes dead, my hands go numb, and my heart wants to jump outta my chest. My vision even gets blurry. It's nasty. I want to run and hide, no kidding. But so far, everyone has been very supportive, even when it's obvious I'm screwing up. They want you to succeed.
No one has a catch all secret that works for everyone. Once, somebody told me, "Pretend that the audience is naked." I said, "In a nursing home, no way in hell."
I spoke with a young gentleman after my first stage scare in December. I asked him how to get rid of it. He has played lead guitar in front of hundreds of people for years. He said, "Forget it, you don't get rid of it, you just get used to it."
Lots of famous people have it. Heard of Barbara Streisand? Yup. Heard of Red Skelton? Yup. Even Jake...
I am reading a book about feelings and emotions as they relate to stage performing and daily life. It was written by a man who has performed in public onstage for years. His name is David Freedman. I know him. He wrote the musical score for lots of Disney stuff, like "Beauty and the Beast."
His book is called "The Thought Exchange", Overcoming our resistance to living a sensational life. It's not that the feelings go away, we just learn to live with them, because we want the stage appearance more than our fear has power over us to keep us from it.
If you are interested in this book, I can tell you where to get a copy. It's worth every penny.
Good luck! And keep performing...
UUers, what is your take on this subject?
An acquaintance, who was convinced he had totally blown a performance, asked me today:
"You have a secret for being nervous on stage?"
Here is my reply:
No, I don't have any secrets. As I said, I have horrendous stage fright, or what is known as Performance Anxiety. I can have a song nailed down perfectly, know it with my eyes closed. Then when I get up on a stage, no matter who is sitting out there, I fall to pieces. My brains goes dead, my hands go numb, and my heart wants to jump outta my chest. My vision even gets blurry. It's nasty. I want to run and hide, no kidding. But so far, everyone has been very supportive, even when it's obvious I'm screwing up. They want you to succeed.
No one has a catch all secret that works for everyone. Once, somebody told me, "Pretend that the audience is naked." I said, "In a nursing home, no way in hell."
I spoke with a young gentleman after my first stage scare in December. I asked him how to get rid of it. He has played lead guitar in front of hundreds of people for years. He said, "Forget it, you don't get rid of it, you just get used to it."
Lots of famous people have it. Heard of Barbara Streisand? Yup. Heard of Red Skelton? Yup. Even Jake...
I am reading a book about feelings and emotions as they relate to stage performing and daily life. It was written by a man who has performed in public onstage for years. His name is David Freedman. I know him. He wrote the musical score for lots of Disney stuff, like "Beauty and the Beast."
His book is called "The Thought Exchange", Overcoming our resistance to living a sensational life. It's not that the feelings go away, we just learn to live with them, because we want the stage appearance more than our fear has power over us to keep us from it.
If you are interested in this book, I can tell you where to get a copy. It's worth every penny.
Good luck! And keep performing...
UUers, what is your take on this subject?