How do you lower the anxiety of a world premiere performance?
It’s legitimate – appropriate even – to feel a little extra anxiety on a world premiere performance. You are literally breathing new music into the world, and you owe that your full attention and commitment. If you’re feeling a little extra nervous before the performance, who can blame you?
But those extra nerves can actually get in the way of the premiere performance you want to give. So you want to do something to mitigate it.
One thing that works well for me is a pre-premiere premiere. A performance before the actual premiere that gives you a place to put your nerves. Once the low-stakes pre-premiere is over, the premiere itself can feel less stressful and more celebratory.
I’m premiering a piece this Monday at the Rockford Choirs Spring Concert: The wonderful Eventually, composed for The Rockford Aces by Sean Ivory. We’re pre-premiering it this weekend at State Solo & Ensemble, and preceded that by singing it for the composer himself tonight. All great steps in improving the piece, and also great ways to lower the stress of each performance.