Would you love to be a great singer, but get queasy at the thought of getting up in front of a crowd? Do you sound great when you sing in the shower, but produce a tiny thin sound when you sing for others? Does the thought of Karaoke Night at your local watering hole leave you cold? You are probably one of the millions of people who suffer from stage fright.

The good news is, if you have stage fright it means that you really do have the potential to be a terrific performer. Singers need to connect emotionally with their audiences in order to be great, and the fact that you become nervous when in front of a crowd means that your emotions are real and available to you. Passionate people who do not allow themselves a way to express their emotions are usually the ones who are bothered the most by stage fright. The anxiety you feel when performing is not allowed to escape from your body, but instead is bottled up in the form of muscle tension from the head and neck all the way down to the floor. All that tension can lead to chills, shivering, nausea, a racing heart, and many other physical manifestations.

There are ways to control the fear you feel, however, and use the emotions you have to your advantage as a singer. It is not simply a case of mind over matter. Emotions are real and there is no way to just make them go away. The key is to find a way to transform them into the energy that will help you give a dynamic performance. You need to give yourself permission to feel emotions in front of your audience without trying to hide them. Here are some tips that should help you the next time you sing in front of people.

1)      Warm up your body. As a singer, you have probably been trained to warm up your voice, but exercising your body is an important ingredient for defeating stage fright. Stretches and yoga, or other types of relaxation techniques will help to make your muscles loose and liquid. When you release physical tension, you are likely to release emotional tension as well. Your ability to communicate through your singing will be enhanced when you are as relaxed as possible.

2)      Spend time breathing. When you take deep breaths and concentrate on the act of breathing you are getting in touch with your body and giving it a way to release tension. About an hour before you are scheduled to perform, you should try to spend fifteen or twenty minutes just breathing. Take deep breaths and shallow breaths, slow ones and fast ones. Hold your breath as long as you can, and then release it as slowly as you can. When you are concentrating on the simple act of breathing, you will relax without even trying.

3)      Find your own personal style. If you are trying to emulate a favorite singer, or imitate an artist you admire, you will be putting extra pressure on yourself as a musician. Trying to sound like someone else is an emotionally draining exercise, so the more you can allow yourself to be genuine, the more relaxing the experience will be. Concentrate on being the best you can be, not on sounding like a recording artist.

Instead of worrying about whether the audience will like you and your performance, give yourself permission to like them. If you take the stage with the idea that you are a servant of those who will hear you, and that you are giving them a gift in your songs, then that attitude will be reflected in the way you carry yourself, and the sounds you produce. Think of it as giving to others without any expectation of receiving anything in return, and you will find yourself feeling much less anxious.

Related posts:

  1. Want to Sing Better? Then…Breathe Better I can remember my old choir teacher, Mrs. Higginbotham, harping on the importance of breath...
  2. Why Should Children Sing? If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher, day care provider, or someone who works with...

Filed under: Singing Success

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!