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Re: Oh golly, I'm nervous.

Author: fuzzystradjazz
Date: 2015-10-26 20:56

So many people with nerves, and so many people with "What works for me..." That, in a nut shell is the dilemma. You have to find what works for you - regardless of what works for everyone else. Your post here is a great start - and I'd recommend trying each idea to see if it works...works somewhat, or works "not-at-all."

Though I tried each of the above methods throughout my college years, none of them worked for me. (Later, I found other ways to get rid of the nerves - mentioned in another post). However, while I was in college, I came to one realization:

The view of my own abilities was based on the "best-of-the-best" of my rehearsals (combined with the apparently glowing reviews of my friends, family, and even teachers), and not based on an accurate picture of my "average" rehearsal.

So, on jury day, I'd get up in front of the faculty and my nerves would show up in shortness of breath, hissing reads, missed notes, shaking fingers/tone, etc. This happened because playing in front of faculty was already nerve-wracking enough, plus knowing my semester grade could be changed by a full letter by a bad performance, etc., etc., etc. However, I could survive those - the one that got to me was my own fraudulent expectations of myself, and (while playing in front of the jury) realizing I wasn't meeting those expectations, so my nerves just tore me apart from there on out.

So, for me - while in college, the trick was to get my mind around an accurate picture of my "average" playing, and to understand that's how I would play in front of the jury. Without false expectations of matching the "best of my best" practice sessions, I found the stresses of jury play went away entirely.

While I continued to set goals of improvement, by the time jury arrived (or any stressful performance), I had to shift gears into an "I am what I am, and that's all that I am" mode. "What you see is what you get." Then, I'd lay it all out without being nervous. Music became much more enjoyable, with nerves being way easier to control.

...but that's just what worked for me.

Fuzzy

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