Do you get nervous? I do! Here are 3 tips that help me:
1 - Be curious. If you can try and figure out exactly what it is you are nervous of, this can be a big step towards being able to take steps to ensure the worst case scenario doesn’t happen! Really spending time thinking about what element of performing is making you nervous can really help. Then you can spend some time with it and make a strategy that works for you. Remember that the audience are on your side! Nobody is sat in the audience willing you to go wrong. If they are, they aren’t worth sharing the music with!
2 - Be physically and mentally present. Work on some stretching and breathing that feels good for you and helps you to feel more connected to yourself, the present and your instrument. Every body is different so this might be something completely random but trust your body! Can recommend following @elenaurioste or @intermissionsessions for some tips on this. I enjoy a lie down on my back, arm stretches and deep breathing personally.
3- Bring some perspective. This is a tough one - we want performing to feel like it means absolutely everything in the world whilst also making it feel like nothing. Music isn’t life or death - we are not heart surgeons where a bad day is a lot more consequential - but we do deal in the currency of the heart. We want to try and lift people out of their daily lives and come and exist within the music - we can make somebody’s day better by performing which is a true gift. But if we perform ‘badly’ (what does that even mean!?), we know what we can work on for next time but the likelihood is not many people will notice and it won’t harm them if they do.
INTENTIONS are important I think. This means that 'mistakes', or maybe a better phrase, 'unexpected notes' are very welcome. If we are entering into a state where our minds are focussed on the emotional storytelling of a piece (and the technical groundwork is done), then a few unwritten notes are likely to happen. I would much prefer to hear a performance full of heart with a few wavy notes rather than a pitch perfect performance with no soul! With written music, we are trying to bring a series of black and white dots into technicolour. This means, I think, that we need to be prepared to accept that there will never be a perfect performance - it doesn't exist and we should maybe stop aiming for it. Instead, for me it's more useful to think about the person walking into the back of the concert hall and think about how I can best tell them the story of the piece and convince them of its magic.
I don't find it easy to 'turn the nerves into excitement' as a lot of advice suggests. It's a difficult thing to step out onto stage! Good luck with any concert you might have coming up.
What do you do to help cope with nerves?