By Joshua Richard of Monsters Who Sleep
If you’ve ever wanted to play music in front of people, this might be what you need.
For starters, this can be a very nerve wracking job for a lot of people. They get so anxious they can no longer play their instrument, when they finally decide to do it in front of other people.
So here is how you diminish that feeling of nervousness, or anxiety.
It’s normal to feel nervous about performing in front of people. When it all boils down, there are ways to overcome it.
1) Turn it into excitement:
Your heart races, your hands shake, and you can’t think straight. But what if, instead of letting this bother you, you allow this physical and mental energy to fuel your performance to make it electrifying? It might sound hard to do, but you can! Understand that this is the coolest thing you’ve ever done. It really is, people envy those who have the courage to perform music in front of them. Not to mention it’s a lot of fun!
2) Practice with the same external environment as when you will play live:
This one is about preparation. You want to rehearse everything as if it was the actual performance. Meaning, if it’s in front of the campfire, you want to play in the dark. Maybe even use a strobe light to simulate the fire flickering. The point is to practice in situations you are uncomfortable with. Do this often. Because the more you do, the easier it will be, and the more confident you’ll feel when you get to play.
3) Understand it’s not a life or death situation, and no one will judge you for messing up:
Okay, this one’s important. People love music. It’s (almost) impossible to find someone who doesn’t. But the fact is, like I mentioned earlier, people also envy those who have the courage to play music for them. The reality is that, while there may be some people hoping you fail, they don’t matter. The vast majority of people are cheering you on. They want to see you win! So let this encourage you, and allow their energy to feed into your own. This is a perfect way to connect with an audience, whether you’re playing for your romantic partner, or sixty thousand people at a festival. Understand that they want to see you do well as much as you want to do well. They will look past any mistakes you make and remember the great feeling they got from being a part of something, an experience that you created!
A side note: believe me, you WILL make mistakes. But that’s okay. Because I’ve been playing for around 20 years at this moment in time. And I still make mistakes…a lot!
Don’t focus on the people who want you to fail. Instead, allow the people who want you to succeed be the reason you play your music. You want to reach them as much as they want to be reached!
Moral of the story, is that you really don’t have anything to lose by playing music in front of people.
But you have everything to gain – you get to have a fun time, create a fun time for others, express yourself through music, and you will all remember it for the rest of your life.
Here for you on your musical adventure.
– Joshua Richard
About the author: Joshua Richard is a die hard Post Malone fan and Vans sneaker enthusiast. If you want to hear his music, visit https://www.monsterswhosleep.com