How do I ease nervousness when about to perform?

Question

I play the sax and i get soooo nervous right before a solo, or even just playing. i shake, look away from music, hit wrong notes, or mess up on solo! how do i calm myself during a nervous wreck in the middle of a song, or even before one?

Answer 1

Before you go on stage, visualise yourself performing. Visualise the crowd, what you can see, what you can hear, smell, the notes you hit... run it through your head several times and picture everything going the way you want it to go. Every time you repeat this exercise you will find your confidence growing and your nervousness will be replaced with anticipation - which is vital for an energetic performance. Keep in mind that music is also concentrated on the performance rather than how many notes you get right. By that I mean, if you are having a good time, so will the audience. Don't focus so much on the notes because that will interrupt your flow. Even professional musicians will mess up, but the key is to keep going and learn from the previous mistake. Hope this helps :) Also practice, practice and practice!! In front of your family and friends so you get used to playing around people more.

Answer 2

You've got to understand a couple of things here. First, you absolutely know the music you're about to play. Second, the people who are listening to you really want to listen to you. They want you to do a good job. They want to give you applause and say how good you are. It's all a matter of acceptance, but it has to begin with self-acceptance. Even if you do hit a clunker, nobody's going to die from it and you won't be making a fool of yourself or anything like that. Even the finest musicians in the world make their share of bloopers.