It is not easy to play a concert or competition. When you go to stage and perform, you give a lot of yourself, and this can be scary or overwhelming. We all get nervous when performing, but this is not a bad thing, unless it keeps us from playing our best. Being a bit nervous can help us to focuse better and it makes us more likely to give more of ourselves on stage. But if you get very nervous it can be restricting. If you start to shake, get sweaty hands or other things that keep you from playing your best, then read here for tips how to get more confidence on stage.
Practice
Before going to stage it is important to practice the pieces, but we need to practice it more than we think. There is a very big difference in playing in the practice room and on the stage. You might feel like you play great and you have practiced the piece enough, but when you come to stage, suddenly you feel like you almost didn’t practice at all. If you feel like you are well prepared, but get this unprepared feeling on stage over and over, then your brain starts to anticipate this. Meaning, that even if you for one concert prepared extremely well, you will still get the thoughts that say that maybe it was not enough or maybe you will still fail. Because of this, it is important to always prepare as well as you can and trust yourself and your preparation. It is not something you can change immediately, but over time it can make a big difference.
Preconcerts
Often when we come to stage, we feel uncomfortable, since it is not a situation we are used to. But if we play our concert program in various concerts beforehand, we will automatically get more comfortable and used to the situation. This doesn’t mean that you have to play in concert halls and for big audiences, you can play for your family or friends. This way you get used to play for an audience, but it still feels safe, since it is a few people that you trust. This way you get used to the situation little by little, and when you stand on the stage for the real concert, you will feel like you have already done this several times. This makes you feel more comfortable and confident, and this will definitely project to the audience.
Visualizing
Sometimes it is not possible to play for family and friends before a concert, but you can still get yourself to feel like you are in the situation, if you prepare like you would for a concert. If the concert is at 7 o’clock, then try to make your own preconcert at the same time. Plan to start your play through of the program exactly on time. Prepare your instrument, warm up and go to stage. The stage can just be the practice room, but try imagine that you are on the real stage and imagine all the people in front of you. Imagine the applause when you walk to stage and bow and smile. It might feel silly to do in your practice room, but if you have done this before the concert, you will bow and seem more confident in the actual concert. After you bow, play your program through without any stop, and try to do your very best. When you finish, bow again and leave the stage. When you have done all this, you can evaluate how it went. If you want, you can also film yourself. If you do this you can see if you seem confident enough or if you want to change something about your attitude. Most of the time we feel like we are in a certain way on stage, but usually we are actually very different. If you know this beforehand, you can work on the things you want to change.
Convince yourself
When you have practiced a lot, played for friends and family, and visualized yourself in the situation, you need to convince yourself. Every time you start thinking of the concert, you need to make sure that it is positive thoughts. Our brain automatically starts thinking about all the things that could go wrong, but try to catch the moment your brain does this, and think about all the things that could go right. Think that you play amazing, imagine the feeling you have when playing the difficult passage perfectly and so on. If you think positive thoughts you are way more likely to play well. Another good thing to do, is to as often as you can say to yourself that you are great. This is good for your playing but also your confidence in general. Go to a mirror, look at yourself and say that you are a great musician, you deserve to be on stage, the concert will go well, you are beautiful, you are confident etc. Say it out loud in a confident voice while you look at yourself. Do this every day. It can seem very weird to do, but it does work. It is best to do with a mirror, but you can also do it anywhere you are. If you walk on the street you can think these same thoughts. It is important that you try to believe them. With time you will start to believe them more and more and your confidence will increase.
Pretend to be confident
If you pretend to be confident, people might think that you actually are. But you also benefit yourself. When you pretend to be confident, your brain will start to think that you are confident. It works the same as when you smile. If you smile even though you feel sad or angry, your brain will think that since you are smiling you must be happy. The same thing happens when you pretend to be confident. Do all the things with your body that you connect with seeming confident: Straight back, chin up, smile, chest up, etc. When you do all these things, your brain will think that you are confident. You might feel an increase in confidence immediately, and over time you will feel a big difference in your confidence.
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