- You have practiced to the best of your ability. Trust your autopilot (aka your technique) to work.
- Do not judge what happened or will happen. No “What was that?” thinking!
- Don’t second-guess audience reaction. Please yourself only!
- Be in the music, in the moment. Be on stage, not in the audience. Be in the giving mode, not the receiving one!
- Single out one aspect of your playing that is your #1 priority (before going on stage). Breathing? Expressivity?
- Enjoy! Let your emotions and excitement for the music be present.
GOLDEN RULES FOR CONQUERING PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
While preparing for our remodel and cleaning stuff out, I found these on an index card that I’d made up for myself that was stuffed in a drawer. From reading it, it seems that I got the actual rules from somewhere and then I wrote my own comment on it. So – I’m going to share it here, in part so I can throw away the card. 🙂
I just googled the title on the card. It came from musician David Leisner. For more of his take on the subject (much of which I paraphrased, although “what was that” thinking is something I say frequently), feel free to read his article.
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