With spring now in full bloom and summer peeking around the corner, we are all set to jump right into student performance season! For some, this is a time of great fun and excitement, while others dread it with palm sweating anxiety. Unfortunately for that second group of people, student concerts and performances are an important and integral part of learning music – and they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.
So love ’em or hate ’em, you just have to accept them, and try to prepare yourself, both mentally and musically, when the inevitable come around. It also seems like the people who enjoy performing are the same people who have no problem preparing to perform, so if you’re part of the group that dislikes it, or if you’re just a little nervous and need a few words of advice, we’ve got you covered. Because this week we’re looking at tips for preparing mentally and musically for your student concert!
Mental Preparation
Most people (even superstars!) feel at least some anxiety before a performance, so you shouldn’t feel ashamed if you’re nervous. That being said, there are a few things you can do to prepare your mind, lower your anxiety, and control how your nerves affect your performance.
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Use the Anxiety
As far as your body is concerned nervousness and excitement are the same thing. Psychologists use the word “anxiety” as a technical term to describe the physiological responses associated with both nervousness and excitement. The only real difference is how you perceive it in your mind. If you are able to change the way you think about how you are feeling, you will have better control over your anxiety. When you start to feel jolts of nerves, that’s just your brain releasing adrenaline into your bloodstream. If you tell yourself that it isn’t nerves, that your excited instead, you’ll start to feel it. Practicing this helps, but really, anxiety is all in your head, and how you feel is up to your mental state.
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Take Care of Your Health
A lot of people often forget how much their health plays a role in their mental state. Length and quality of sleep, as well as nutrition, can have profound impacts on your emotional state and how you think about the world around you and situations you find yourself in. When preparing for a performance, you need to make sure you get plenty of sleep, especially the night before, drink plenty of water, and try to fit in some light exercise. Each of these things helps to reduce stress, and will help with anxiety.
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Keep in Mind, Performances Aren’t Perfect
The old saying, “everybody makes mistakes” is never more true than when it comes to musicians. Every single musician you have ever met, listened to, or even heard of has made mistakes while performing live. They all have stories about particularly embarrassing or stupid mistakes they never should have made. This is the nature of performing live, and it should be expected and embraced!
Studio recordings have the luxury of picking from the best performances to build something amazing. Live performances are, by definition, more raw. Once you recognize that live music is something different, something special and unique all on its own, in part because it isn’t perfect, you’ll fear the occasional mistake a lot less.
Musical Preparation
Preparing musically for your performance is a little more straight forward than dealing with the complexities of the mind. But it is no less important, and actually has some crossover with your mental preparation.
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Practice, Practice, Practice
The most basic way to prepare musically for your concert also happens to be the most basic way to mentally prepare: practicing. As anyone who has every practice anything in their life can tell you, practice makes everything easier. The more you practice, the better you know your part, and by attending all rehearsals, you know how your part fits into the greater whole. Having the confidence that comes along with knowing the ins-and-outs of your part, and what the composition as a whole sounds like, is a powerful tool for fighting anxiety. Nothing is scarier than performing a part you don’t know, and few things feel better than being completely prepared.
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Have Your Instrument Ready
If your instrument needs any kind of maintenance, you should have it completed well in advance of your performance. Ideally, you shouldn’t even be changing strings on concert day. You should always be practicing with an instrument in good working order, but this is especially true in the time leading up to a show. If you are practicing on something that needs any kind of repair work done, you are probably not hearing the music the way it should sound. Similarly, if you wait until the day of your concert to make any adjustments to your instrument, your performance may not sound the way it should.
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Enjoy Yourself!
The single best way to prepare for your performance, both musically and mentally, is to enjoy yourself! If you take the time to truly love what you are practicing, that passion will shine through on recital day. Even the most pervasive and persuasive anxiety and nervousness cower in the face of fun and joy. Look around at your band-mates’ faces. Take in the happiness from them, the audience, and your instructor, both during practice and during the performance. When you are all working together as a team, the passion of playing music can be felt, and transcends concerns like little mistakes and nervous jitters.
Student performances are a stressful, yet important part of learning to play music. The teamwork, comradery, leadership, passion and joy that come from performing together far outweigh the difficulties, stress, and anxiety.
Upcoming concerts are a source of fear and anxiety for musicians of all ages and skill levels, from beginners getting ready for their first recital, to veteran performers who fill stadiums every week. If they can persevere, then so can you. All it takes is just a little preparation and mental fortitude, and there will be absolutely nothing to fear from your student recital.
