Beta blockers will work, but once the stage fright is cured in your head don't use them anymore.
How To Treat Stage Fright - Consume Reports
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Beta blockers will work, but once the stage fright is cured in your head don't use them anymore.
How To Treat Stage Fright - Consume Reports
I know I have already posted in this thread, but wanted to add that the best cure for this for me before I discovered beta blockers was an obsession with being completely prepared and knowing the material inside and out. This is a double edged sword because it hinders you from any improvisational fun. Improvising is something I'm coming late to, and finally being ready for it is primarily due to age, experience, not giving a fig at this point in my life and being willing to accept that I might make a mistake.
What stops stage fright?
One word: Experience.
Keep playing in front of others long enough and -- in 99% of cases -- you won't have that issue.
One word: Experience.
Keep playing in front of others long enough and -- in 99% of cases -- you won't have that issue.
One thing that helped me as I was younger and growing into playing live shows more and more... Watch tons of live videos of performers (not just bass players, but definitely the ones you look up to) and see what they are doing on stage. Observe how they are interacting with the audience and with the other band members onstage.
Everybody in the crowd wants to feel like they belong at a show. Even just a short point to them if you see they are getting amped on a song you're starting to play lets them feel like you see their excitement and you appreciate them having a good time.
Always wear a smile, or at least a sly smirk that makes it look like you know something everybody else doesn't.
Get a full length mirror in your room or studio or wherever you practice. When you are running through tunes at home crank it up and watch what you're doing in the mirror while you are playing. This is a huge one for developing quickly. It will feel stupid for sure but you are at home and nobody else is watching you. Experiment and see what you think looks good.
Everybody in the crowd wants to feel like they belong at a show. Even just a short point to them if you see they are getting amped on a song you're starting to play lets them feel like you see their excitement and you appreciate them having a good time.
Always wear a smile, or at least a sly smirk that makes it look like you know something everybody else doesn't.
Get a full length mirror in your room or studio or wherever you practice. When you are running through tunes at home crank it up and watch what you're doing in the mirror while you are playing. This is a huge one for developing quickly. It will feel stupid for sure but you are at home and nobody else is watching you. Experiment and see what you think looks good.
There's "conquering fear" and then there's becoming the favorite entry for the next round of Darwin Awards
This is widely appreciated in martial arts not only for the neuromuscular effect you describe; but, also because good posture is the basis for effective technique, and as others have pointed out, proper breathing.
My experience with "stage fright" playing bass was an exponential decrease correlated with more experience on stage.
On a related note, after 20 years of teaching biochemistry and biophysics I am completely at peace with making mistakes in public and this has translated to other public events like gigging
Smile smile smile! (It keeps people guessing)
All ya got to do is rock back and forth. Secondly, look at the crowd and imagine them all naked. If they are all naked, what gives them the right to to have a negative opinion about what you look like. Right? Works like a champ.
This. No gimmicks or quick fixes. The more you play the more normal it becomes to perform on a stage. Eventually it becomes just a natural thing you do. Keep at it and let us know how it goes!!
Stage fright stops when you develop reasonable expectations for yourself and realize most people don't expect for, or care if you play flawlessly. If you have mastered the music, put your playing on auto pilot and focus on having fun during the gig. Ultimately that's what the audience wants.
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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This is awesome haha, damn guys there was only 3 pages last I checked lol it's gonna take me a minute to get through all these posts
This, I have bad knees. And every so often I might dislocate my left knee. That's my biggest fear. I shudder thinking about it. Ugh I should have been a drummer
LOTS of great advice here (and some clams about taking drugs, etc... just don't do it).
THIS quote here made me stop before reading the rest of the posts and say that HERE is The Real Deal.
My GF / wife is a classically trained flutist & singer who also TEACHES a class called Cracking Stage Fright (taught at Julliard in NYC, Rutgers, etc.).
She ran the full gamut of beta blockers before auditions. For us rockers? We've got it EASY compared to what classical musicians trying to land a symphony orchestra job have!
Especially a flutist, where an orchestra typically only has one or two. Talk about pressure.
Her class teaches about where stress, anxiety, nervousness & stage fright actually COME from and that it is not necessarily "bad". It is all about how we perceive & deal with it.
Basically it is our body giving us clues & messages, which is a good thing. I cannot even begin to summarize her class, but one of her mentors works with returning vets who have SERIOUS cases of PTSD and in many cases, after only a few sessions (sometimes after only ONE), their PTSD virtually VANISHES.
Now THAT'S Cracking Stage Fright.
The post above that I quoted here is THE best advice (along with knowing your material cold, of course, and having fun, connecting with the audience & enjoying yourself). Mindfulness, settling INTO ones body, FEELING fully & learning to FEEL fully, rather than avoiding, which is so often what we do as Humans when something feels uncomfortable.
Obviously, this is all best done LONG BEFORE any performance so we become familiar with that feeling of balance or being centered that can come from being truly clear.
Consider this; When we ALL come into this world as a little baby, there is no such thing as being nervous or stressed. This is ALL learned behavior AND is also often (almost always?) a response to some incident(s) or episode(s) early in life that imprinted this "response" on us.
Very like the war veteran who shakes every time he or she hears a loud noise. There ARE ways / techniques to entirely clear this energy. I've seen it & experienced it myself.
Creating a steady, daily practice of meditation is one way to give you a constant feeling and understanding of what we truly are when we are clear of learned or imprinted energy & the responses that we have to them. Basically, it is getting back to where we were when we entered this world, clear & free of the "stuff" that then gets heaped onto us daily...
Music is also one of the very BEST ways for us as Humans to get back to that early state of being free & clear. As musicians, we do Humanity a GREAT service! Remember that.
Excellent!
It seems to me that a subtext throughout this thread is "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and your iron constitution is a practical illustration of that.
PS if eating that meatloaf cured a cold...save some. We are running out of effective antibacterials and you may have discovered something useful!
True, but the OP didn't seem to be that type of person. He didn't describe a crippling fear, just a normal nervous/excited reaction. There are definitely some poor folks who just aren't cut out for performing, and that's ok. That's what garages and basements are for, if you prefer not to take meds. If you can take meds and still lay it down, then go for it!
Strangely enough I developed high blood pressure a few years back and one of my meds is Atenonol, a beta blocker that costs like 3 cents a pill - now I seem to be totally immune to "the shakes". I've read that classical musicians routinely pop one of these before auditions - one doesn't think of those folks as druggies LOL. My GP doc actually told me she prescribed it to a local folk artist with stage fright - dunno how many docs are that easy with it...
I taught TKD for several years, I told my students to expect to attacked by imaginary creatures called butterflies. They will live in the stomach. You will swear they are real. With practice and preparation you can turn them into allies. Accept that they there. They will give you strength.
Accept that you will be nervous.
Accept that you will be nervous.
