Re: Nerves on Stage: was Liking/Disliking your own music

[richard sales <richard@glasswing.com>]

I've heard Paul McCartney used to throw up before very big gigs. 

That bit of knowledge always gave me courage and hope. He did okay.

All of us have some level stage fright, regardless of interior/exterior achievement, preparation etc.  But, for me, it goes away the more I perform live.  Always when starting a tour I'm totally terrified, tweaking and retweaking my equipment, my mind, my lack of outfit, pacing like a first day prisoner.  After five or six gigs it goes away.  After a bunch, it pretty much evaporates.  

But after a long lull, it starts over like I was a tin horn rookie all over again.  

When it's really bad, I tell myself it will all be over in an hour or two.  

Some of my best performances have been in the severe stage fright phase.  But sometimes, after the relaxation sets in, heaven pours out of the speakers and The Creator and/or Creation (pick a name) smiles and I can feel it.  I live and do what I do for those rare moments in studio, on stage, practicing, writing.

The trick of focusing on someone in the audience definitely helps.  If you have a friend in the audience, focus on him her. 

I never practice day of gig. Sound check yes, but never offstage.  Some guys do scales etc, which is probably smart.  Always when I practice, it seems to jinx the gig.

The more elaborate my setup, the greater the terror.  The least likely to implode tinhorn days are when I take just guitar, wah and Magnatone 213. 

I've been performing onstage since around 1962 - from huge audiences to a handful of folks.  Size doesn't matter unless the above mentioned Heaven event happens.  Then it all gets magnified.   A peak experience to say the least.

Finally, a great help is motivation.  If I can find some higher or more meaningful motivation for being onstage, that helps regardless of what phase I'm in. 

Long story... maybe for later!

richard sales

www.glasswing.com

www.richardsales.com

www.hayleysales.com

www.goodnaturefarms.com

On Jan 9, 2012, at 2:35 PM, Rick Walker wrote:

On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, David Gans wrote:

On the other hand, I saw Van Morrison at the Greek Theater in Berkeley a few years ago, and it wasn't one of his better shws. I kept thinking that glaring at his drummer nonstop (when he wasn't singing) was not likely to result in an improvement to the groove.

If only for side one of Veedon Fleece,  I will always love Van Morrison,
but he's notorious for being cantankerous.

It's interesting because towards the start of his solo career,  it's said that he painted his sunglasses black
on the back side of the glass because he had such bad stage fright.  This was a way that he could
put the audience away.

I think that judgement of self usually precedes judgement of others.

I have really strong stage fright myself, but I've been lucky to be pretty nearsighted.
I just try to grin at the blurred faces and even learned a trick from
I learned from a substitute teacher:

If you are nervous or have stage fright,  you just pick a person in the back row of the room
and you stare intently at their forehead.    In this way you aren't even connecting with the person
but you give the illusion that you are intensely connecting with someone in the audience.

If my nerves are really getting to me at the start of a performance, I just randomly turn my gaze
to someone else's forehead periodically until I get enough 'into' the peformance that my
anxiety lessens and I become more present with the music.

This is one reason why I like to have a planned opening and a planned closing to my shows,
even if they are completely improvised in nature.

Doing this can help the performance during the times when you are most susceptible
to your nerves.

rick walker