6 TIPS TO CONQUERING STAGE FRIGHT FOR MUSICIANS
The Christmas party season is just around the corner … which means lots of live gigs and great music events to keep us warm in the long evenings!
Tang Hall Smart's musicians have become more familiar with the music gig routine this year, and recently we’ve had brilliant feedback from some new fans. Thanks for your comments and emails, everyone.
We’re continuing to perform over the season and we’re taking bookings for live venues next year already, so keep an eye on the upcoming gig dates.
If we think back to how nervous we all were with stage fright a few months ago before our York Barbican concert, we can see how far we’ve come.
Everybody struggles with stagefright from time to time (and if they say they don’t, they’re fibbing), but there are ways to manage it. Here are SIX TIPS TO CONQUERING STAGEFRIGHT FOR MUSICIANS:
The best way to manage stage fright is to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more. When you are confident in what you’re doing, you’ll look forward to getting up there and strutting your stuff. If you can, secure a good band rehearsal space that you can use frequently.
Remember, you won’t be checking your sound at your optimum level, so trying to get the sound as bassy and perfect as possible is not the be all and end all. Rather, leave that to the house mix in the actual band performance.
Focus the sound check instead on getting the on-stage monitors right, working for clarity rather than perfection. It will always sound very different on-stage to how it sounds in the audience.
Make your movements larger than normal when you are on stage. Small gestures tend to get lost over a distance. Let the audience in the back row read you as well as hear you. Make your arm gestures from your shoulder rather than from your elbow, for instance. It might feel odd at first, but it will look great from the audience!
Try not to block anybody on stage. This means walking in front of them and obscuring the audience’s view (which can also lead to nasty trips over cables!), but it also means not talking over them in between numbers. People can’t make out what’s going on if two people are talking on mic at once. Give each other space and share the limelight.
Connect with your audience and talk to them between songs. They’ve made the effort to come and see you and they might have paid a cover charge at the door, too, so it’s the least you could do. It’s daunting at first, but once you have a couple of encouraging cheers and nods you’ll feel much better. It’s a good idea to come up with a couple of ideas for links before the gig so that you’re not left gawping like a goldfish in the spotlight. Just make sure that what you say is not pointless – people get a bit fed up with that. A couple of daft jokes and oneliners are fine, but otherwise, keep it real.
Just remember - it’s over far too quickly! The time on-stage flies by, and when you think of all the music practice that goes into it, you’ll want to do it all over again. It’s an emotional roller coaster, so enjoy it – make the most of your time up there!
Happy rehearsing –
SUE WILLIAMSON
Managing Director
