Almost all of us deal with nerves in performance. For some, they’re minor inconveniences, and for others, they’re debilitating.
As I see it, there are three possibilities.
- Let them drive your behavior. This can be positive, using nerves as a sources of energy, or negative, letting nerves determine future choices. After an unsuccessful performance, Barbra Streisand’s nerves became so big that she gave up performing for some time.
- Feel them and let them go. A teacher I had used to suggest tugging at the collar of your shirt to “release the butterflies.” A friend of mine who was in that class told me when he spoke to important people, his slide shows would have in the speaker notes, “Feel the ground with your feet.”
- Transform them. One of my students likes to say, “The only difference between nervous and excited is breath.”
In my first concert on Tuesday, I had my usual experience with nerves. I didn’t experience them at all until about thirty seconds before the end of the piece before I took the stage. Then they came as a wave that raised my heart rate as I momentarily felt as if I was being blown backward by the wave. Then I felt as if it passed through me and onward. I stood up a little taller and headed toward the stage.
How do you negotiate your nerves? How has it changed?