 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jeeves
Date: 2008-10-27 22:56
Okay, so i'm in HS, and we just had our chair tryouts today. I got pwnd b/c I was super nervous and couldn't think for s***. I played it really well at home and right before the test, but my heart was racing during the test (extreme adrenaline rush, which I couldn't control).
Do you guys have any tips for not getting super nervous?
Jeeves
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-10-27 23:10
I have the same problem! No matter how many times I play in front of people, it doesn't seem to lessen the nervousness! IT'S SOOOOOO ANNOYING!
I think take very deep breaths (loudly :P) helps me a little.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-10-27 23:24
Make it about the music, and not about you. Best audition I ever gave, I was upset when the judge stopped me just before what I considered the "good part"... not because I wanted to show how well I could play it, but because it was the best I'd ever done it and I wanted to keep going musically for myself.
If I was a bit more loony, I'd have ignored the judge and kept going, and taken a certain hit in placement in exchange for the music.
I find that if I get nervous, it's because of one or more of the following:
- It's about me and not about the music
- I'm not adequately prepared
- I'm not contributing anything musically
- I'm not physically involved, but rather am just running in a bizarre, surreal sort of playback mode, cursing every note I miss and thinking of how I should fix it, but not actually fixing it
Playback mode is tricky to snap out of, but it's doable.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: jeeves
Date: 2008-10-27 23:36
Thanks. Yeah, come to think of it, when I play at home, I think about the music and making it sound good, rather than chairs and prior messups, etc.
Thanks for helping me pinpoint the problem.
P.S. I was adequately prepared, so I think it was playback mode (pure adrenaline).
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2008-10-27 23:57
Get used to it.
Sounds stupid, I know. But you will be nervous every time, whether it's an audition, a concert, maybe even a rehearsal where you prepare a solo for the next gig. It's how you react to "working under stress".
It's always there, always will. EEBaum has given good advice in mentally overcoming the problem. Don't make yourself more important than you are. It's not about you, the colour of your socks or your haircut. It's about the rendition of a music piece. The judges aren't there, neither is the audience. You're sitting in your safe spot and do a piece you've done a zillion times, you could do it while sleeping. Just concentrate on the music, feel the vibrations, the reverberations in the hall.
I think Autogenous Training helps a lot with coping with stress. It's not about thinking "my forehead is cool and my arms are heavy" and all that, but the tools are the same, or very similar.
My lips barely touch the reed. My fingers are like a cobra. At my low E the earth shalt tremble, shiver should it from my high C. My low A is like honey, dripping from a flower, and no one does the throat Bb like my horn. Yo - on "Three-And" there's my cue. A-one, a-two, a-three, <squeeeeeeeek>
Sorry.
As I say - get used to it. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
--
Ben
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Author: cxgreen48
Date: 2008-10-28 01:02
It's hard when you mess up and then you get so distracted and start thinking about the mistakes you made. Then sometimes I tell myself to move on but get distracted by telling myself to move on. I'm a disaster :P
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Author: clariknight
Date: 2008-10-28 01:36
Something I do is when I practice, I'll do a mock audition. I think to myself, "ok, one shot, play it through perfectly." It's not the same amount of pressure, but it's enough to be a building block. Do it enough times and you figure out how to calm youself down for it. Next, start doing mock auditions for friends and family But not just one, a whole lot. Do it until you no longer realize they are there. Then, start taking real auditions. If you've done everything else correctly, and you really know the music, then you'll be able to play it just like you did for your family, which is no harder than for yourself under pressure, which is in turn no harder than doing a quick run through for the hell of it.
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Author: srattle
Date: 2008-10-28 01:48
my advice is, play in front of people as much as possible. Play in situations that make you nervous often. Play for people you are terrified to play for.
All of these things will be great training for being on stage and being nervous, and you will eventually learn to cope with the stress, not necessarily because of something you actively do, but because you'll get used to playing with it.
just my idea.
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Author: Amalton543
Date: 2008-10-28 02:39
It's important to remember that you have a range of how well you can play. If you think you generally play at about an 8 out of 10, then chances are your good days aren't going to be much higher than a 9. Likewise, your bad days aren't going to be much worse than a 7. You can take comfort in the fact that even if you don't do so well, you are still going to play within your range.
This of course goes along with everything everyone else has said. The more you do it, the less nervous you will be. Of course, you have to practice like crazy also. The more you practice, the less nervous you will be.
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Author: pewd
Date: 2008-10-28 03:12
i like sacha's advice.
and what ben said - get used to it.
keep putting yourself into situations where you have to perform in front of people, this will help you learn to overcome the nerves.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: C2thew
Date: 2008-10-28 04:23
Noodle more. Noodling in affect builds your confidence as you are focusing on the piece but at the same time, at a relaxed feel. Make sure you noodle after practices, and not during rehearsals. =) otherwise you will develop a bad habit.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. they are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which was already but too easy to arrive as railroads lead to Boston to New York
-Walden; Henry Thoreau
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Author: marshall
Date: 2008-10-28 06:44
Beta blockers are the absolute last thing I would resort to. In the long run they will hurt you because you will never learn to control your anxiety.
The best thing you can do is play for other people. A lot. I never played for family or anything like that when I was in high school, but I took enough lessons with teachers other than my own, played enough auditions, and (eventually) had enough solos in wind and orchestral literature that I really enjoy playing in front of other people now. Of course I still get nervous (who doesn't?), but it's a nervousness that is much easier to control and actually aids in my playing because it makes me more aware and keeps me focused.
You could think about it this way. There was a scientific study done at some point about the physical affects of excitement and nervousness on the human body. All in all, the body is doing the exact same thing when it's nervous as when it's excited. The only difference is your mentality. If you think about it this way, try to think positively about future auditions and performances. You'll be surprised at how easy it becomes to get up in front of people and play.
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-10-28 08:06
Until some years ago I had a really bad stage fright. So much that I had to take a breath very often while playing, my fingers would easily slip on the keys, and sometimes I had that uncontrolable vibrato  Now I'm nervous in a way that I consider good and almost only adds to the fun of playing.
The major change for me was that I realized I was playing music that I didn't really want to play. Lucky for me, the music I realized I want to play also had different culture and philosophy around it which also helped.
When I was in HS and still had the bad nerves problem I just tried to control it as best as I could (sometimes it worked, sometimes not) by speaking with some people like my teacher and parents about it for advice. Only in university I realized the real cause of the problem and luckily the solution.
Nitai
Post Edited (2008-10-28 14:46)
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Author: Brenda ★2017
Date: 2008-10-28 14:14
Lots of really helpful suggestions here! At ClarinetFest another suggestion was brought up, that of regularly recording your practice and your lessons. Just knowing that there's another "ear" in the room listening to you can be unnerving, but so what! You get used to it.
Also my teacher said how important it is to play in different rooms in your own home. That'll throw you off, too, until you get used to it. Then, of course arranging opportunities to play to friends, family, and how about busking on the street? Anything to get used to the feeling of being in public. Nursing homes always want people to come in... they have a captive, and usually appreciative audience.
But as was already said, there's no substitute for knowing your music absolutely. If a part causes you grief, pick it apart and play it slowly over and over until it becomes second nature. Play the whole piece all the way through, no stops. Do it lots of times. My teacher said that by doing this, all the possible errors that could arise, even in previously easy places, will happen. It's par for the course and it's better that it happens in practice.
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Author: Mark Horne
Date: 2008-10-28 19:01
Nervousness is adrenaline. It's not to be avoided; it's to be harnessed. People pay lots of money jumping out of airplanes to get the same feeling.
The point at which you don't feel the slightest bit of anxiety before a performance or a solo part might the the time to hang it up. Adrenaline gives many people their most tangible feeling of being "alive."
Like someone said earlier, it's all about your mental approach. Recognize that adrenaline enhances your mental and physical abilities - with the proper outlook, it will increase your ability to focus (with the improper outlook, it will cause your mind to skip around to all sorts of irrelevant thoughts).
The advice to get comfortable in playing in front of other people is good. But don't look to avoid nervousness and anxiety altogether. Learn to welcome it. Enjoy it. You'll know that you're alive.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2008-10-28 19:04
While imagining the people aren't there can seem helpful in the short run, I think it can do a disservice in the long run...
If your good playing depends on pretending that the audience isn't there, then you run the very big risk of suddenly realizing that they are, in fact, there and listening, which can lead to a bit of panic.
Music is an interactive experience, and if you're not intending to play for an audience, then why on earth do you invite people to your concert? We've already isolated ourselves enough in the classical world such that audiences become uninvolved and ultimately stop coming to our concerts.
Connecting a lack of audience to a positive effect on your playing, I think, can be a terribly backward influence.
The biggest realization I had, though, is that the audience (save for perhaps a few vindictive clarinetists) WANTS you to play it as well as possible. As an audience member, I could care less if you botch a G#, provided that you continue gracefully. What DOES really bother me is if, as a result of a botched G#, you then panic and proceed to lose musicality and screw other things up.
I'd say that disaster recovery (or perhaps "disaster peace" or "disaster acceptance") is one of the most important skills to have as a performer. You may even try intentionally botching things in mock auditions to see how well you recover, and work on that. (Don't intentionally botch the same thing the same way multiple times, though, lest you subconsciously integrate it into your interpretation of the piece)
The audience is your friend, if you'll be friends back.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Jkelly32562
Date: 2008-10-28 22:51
Eat bananas they are a natural beta blocker, and they are good for you.
Jonathan Kelly
jkelly32562@troy.edu
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2008-10-29 17:38
I like the idea about recording yourself.
Here's another idea. I know that it will sound goofy, but I've seen it work. When I was an active public school teacher, I once had a 5th-6th grade band that got nervous in concert situations. In practice they sounded fine, but in performances they were a disaster. I stumbled across the idea of having other students, who weren't playing, make a lot of noise while the performers were going through a final practice. It worked. The performers were much less nervous in performance, and they did well.
While you prepare for your next audition, have your family and/or friends around and tell them to make a lot of noise. I bet it will help. Good luck!
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-10-29 18:39
Enjoy the music and have fun when you play!
I know that doesn't sound like advice about dealing with nervousness, but it really is. When you enjoy the music you're making, your mind focuses on the beauty of the music and doesn't preoccupy itself with worry. Become your own entranced audience, and you'll not only be less nervous, but you'll play better, too.
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