Lesson 4: Preparing for Performance
Why don’t we sound as good “on stage” as we do “in the shower”?
Stage Fright is one of the TOP 3 Fears we all experience.
Believe it or not, if you’re like most people you probably DO sound better in the shower than you do on a stage.
WHY? Because when singing in the shower, most people feel relaxed because they are all alone, there is no one watching and they are not being judged. Singing on stage is an entirely different scenario that can leave us feeling nervous, tense, stressed out, it can even cause pain or feelings of nausea.
Performance Anxiety, also commonly known as:
- Fear of Performing
- Stage Fright
- Fear of Singing, or
- Fear of the Stage
affects millions of people as one of the top 3 most common fears.
So while it’s comforting to know that we’re not alone in feeling nervous on stage, that knowledge alone doesn’t really help us in overcoming our fear of performing, now does it? And since we can’t take the shower with us when we perform (thank goodness!) we need to find other ways to overcome our fear and allow us to give the best peformance we can!
Regardless of whether your goal is to be a famous singing star or not, at some point in your life you will be asked to perform. Maybe you’ll need to give a speach at your cousin’s wedding, conduct a presentation in front of the class or some colleagues; you may want to audition for a *starring* role in some performance, or simply join your friends in a fun night of karaoke. Either way, performance anxiety (which is the worry or fear that we experience before a performance) can create a lot of tension and stress, negatively affecting the quality of our performance and resulting in a less than desireable outcome in our performance.
Lesson 4: Preparing for Performance
This Lesson will help you overcome performance anxiety, by:
- Understanding which parts of the body can hold tension and impact your performance
- Learning how to release that tension before a performance
- Clearing your mind before a performance to improve your focus
- Guiding you through some relaxing exercises to warm you up and help polish your performance
Even if you don’t think you suffer from performance anxiety, going through the steps in this lesson will further improve your comfort level on stage – regardless of where you’re starting from on the fear meter.
The bottom line is, if you want to give a great performance, then you need to start with an equally great prepartion routine. Let’s watch Lisa as she demonstrates how we can improve our performance by going through this quick and simple yet thorough performance preparation routine.
Here’s a recap on the areas that Lisa covered in her training video:
- Deep Breathing to Relax Body and Mind
- Relaxing Tension in your Upper body
- Stretching the Arms and Back
- Releasing Tenion in the Neck
- Relaxing the Jaw (lower ambochoure)
- Choosing a Performance Song
It’s a good idea to write these points down and bring them along with you to your next performance.
By following this video, not only will you reduce or eliminate performance anxiety, you will also:
- increase lung capacity
- improve tone (vocal quality)
- increase endurance (how long you can hold notes)
- Improve singing focus and song memory
- Expand your singing range
- Reduce Performance Anxiety
Go through this lesson a few times and develop your own routine that you can practise over and over again before your next performance. We promise that by following the exercises outlined above, your singing (or speaking) - along with your confidence, will vastly improve!
Until next time, keep singing and shining!
Your Personal Vocal Coach
Oooppps ….
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