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Re: How to not be nervous for all state

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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