 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: SquidwardOnDrugs
Date: 2023-11-16 18:43
All state is on Saturday, and I am absolutely scared as ****. I have my music decently prepared, not as much as I would have liked it, but whenever I perform for anyone in public Its so obvious that I am nervous.
Any tips would be great
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Author: Philip Caron
Date: 2023-11-16 19:18
I admire performers who play for people easily. They're probably a minority, especially in cases where the people being played for are judging them. Some great performers suffer near paralysis from fright before appearing and playing.
Personally, before soloing I want to be afraid and intense and charged with adrenaline. Breathing changes, senses feel different. It feels hot; it feels like having to pee. It feels like time slows down. And it helps when the music starts. You can't fight and you won't take flight, dammit. You play.
Then somehow things work, and what was ingrained is there - plus something more; plus what? perhaps a better immediacy of feeling and execution. Afterward, having finished and transitioned to relative privacy, there may be shakes, and not much verbal sense for a while.
However, if the sensory changes that adrenaline causes trigger further adrenaline release, or in other words, you become afraid of being afraid, then that's the wrong kind of feedback loop. If there's too much adrenaline then connections stop working. This problem can perhaps be self-managed. You want to be afraid: welcome it, use it. Just don't escalate it to being petrified.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2023-11-16 19:41
Philip's advice is good. It is what I used at your age.
However, as I continued my education, that view/technique became more of a liability for me, and (I think it is just a personality thing which varies from person to person) I found that being relaxed provided a better performance for me. (I was very athletic and competitive at the time.)
Switching to a "fun mode" helped me a lot.
The thinking that put me in "fun mode" was something along these lines:
"Now that the event/performance is here, I've done all the prep I can do. I will play exactly to the level I prepared for, which is the best I am capable of. I won't magically be able to play any better than I have been playing. So - it is "what it is" at this point. If I impress folks, great! If I don't...well, I better figure out a better way to prepare next time. Either way, there's nothing I can do about it for this performance, it's time to have fun and learn what I can!"
Fuzzy
;^)>>>
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Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-11-16 20:17
Hi SquidwardOnDrugs,
I had to do verbal presentations in front of very serious science audiences from the age of 22 and I'm not sure if it's the same but here is what I found:
The first time I did it, I started to shake so much that my lungs shook inside my chest and it was very hard to control my voice, and I went very much faster than I intended. As I was waiting to go on, my heart thumped so loudly in my chest. If that happens to you, don't worry. It's normal and healthy. For me, that only happened really dramatically one time and after that it got very much easier, just because I had done it before.
In future talks I figured out that the key to getting through it was to practise so many times that I could deliver the talk practically in my sleep. That way if I couldn't think on the spot then my autopilot would do it for me. I had no other life that I cared about, so I really went to town on that practise and focussed on it completely, even practising in my head on the train. If you can practise the pieces in your head with out your clarinet, that might help a lot.
I also travelled with a squash raquet so I could work off the adrenaline naturally. I think that is very helpful. Some musicians use Beta blockers, but they just block adrenaline, and playing squash uses up adrenaline so does the same job.
There are a few technical things that I did. Like numbering my slides so that if the slide projector jetissoned them on to the floor mid-talk them I could get them back in order quickly. I suppose in music the equivalent of that is to mark up your music really well with comments that will get you back on track if it all goes wrong. Also make sure you have loads of good reeds and repair gear in case your clarinet goes wrong at the last minute, or mid performance. Sometimes that just happens and if you are prepared then it's less of a problem.
It also helps to be physically on form so if you are travelling it can help to take things like powerbars and melatonin with you so you well slept and fed. Also your own travel alarm clock to you are not relying on a hotel one.
I also had problems because I was operating in two languages in my head and only one in speech and I needed to do a lot of work to learn to think in just one language for those performance situations. If you have anything like that going on, like problems with doubling messing your embouchure, then it's worth putting the work in iron those out. It takes a bunch of work and time and some creative thinking to figure it out.
The wierd thing is that though I was so petrified, I found that every time I talked on stage, someone would come up at the end and say that they had really enjoyed my talk and that I was a natural. Gradually over the years that pumped my confidence so much that I got given a job travelling internationally to give talks. It was really so unlikely because I'm a timid mouse really. By the time I finished my career I had a reputation for being funny on stage, which is quite a hard thing to do when talking about computer science and molecular biology.
I am no longer nervous of speaking in public at all, and if anything now my difficulty is shutting up. So if you are nervous now, there is great hope for the future.
I hope that helps.
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Author: Julian ibiza
Date: 2023-11-16 21:11
And don't worry about looking nervous. Others won't notice it as much as you think and if they do they see it as a sign of someone who cares and is serious.
All good !
Julian Griffiths
Tel. 34 696 798 853
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Author: Gerwin
Date: 2023-11-16 21:54
Remember that you can play even when nervous. So it’s ok to be nervous. Don’t fight it, just be nervous and play, you’ll be fine
Post Edited (2023-11-16 21:55)
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Author: Musikat
Date: 2023-11-17 00:00
Seriously one of the best pieces I have ever gotten about staying "calm" is to drop your shoulders. When we tense we naturally bunch our shoulders towards our neck. Try to consciously practice relaxing your shoulders when you play. Staying more physically relaxed helps you be more mentally relaxed.
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