Great tips! I will be sending this vid to my students! Since my hands often get cold and sweaty, I like to wash them in warm water before playing, if at all possible. Wiping my hands on my clothes does NOT dry them off, and blowing into cold hands only exacerbates the problem.
Awesome! It will be great to have your students watching :) That's interesting that washing your hands is important for you. I have to be careful not to wash my hands too often before playing because it softens my skin. I guess we all have our special issues, haha! :)
So great! Thank you so much! I tried practicing in the dark because often the lighting isn't good enough and it can throw me off. Now I bring a portable light with me always! Especially if I haven't played the piece to death, it can be helpful for sight-reading. I try to perform twice a week, if possible. This is my best answer to nerves as well. I will play my harp anywhere and everywhere! Annette!
Thank you for the tips! Performance nerves are one of my biggest challenges and just hearing your experience and suggestions makes me feel a lot better.
My orchestra director used to say that" if you aren't enjoying your playing, then no one else will either." With that in mind, I try to perform whatever I am playing with a smile on my face and love in my heart. My body instantly relaxes and I have a feeling of "well-being and happiness" which I know carries through to my audience because they have often commented on it. In fact, during an orchestra performance they will often sit where they can focus on my face because it helps them to relax and appreciate the performance so much more. Try it the next time you go to a symphony concert. Look for a musician who is truly enjoying the experience and you will not stop smiling either. You will be transported with the music to a happier place! Annette (beginning harpist, violist, pianist, organist, violinist, singer)
This was very helpful! Thank you, Christy! It made me feel less stressed just to be made aware of these tips and to know that stress is normal and a common complaint! A preparation tip I have found is HONEY: right before I go to perform I eat a spoonful of raw honey. It is fortifying and seems to relax me somehow. It also helps smooth the throat for singing.
Hi Lindsey. I'm so pleased the video was helpful for you! Being nervous is so normal, I think it's more unusual not to get nervous before a performance! :) Honey is a great tip, thanks for that!! I love drinking hot water with lots of honey and fresh lemon and that really helps too, but I didn't really register that it was helping for nerves - I was just drinking it for my throat and to get rid of phlegm. But now that you mentioned, it actually is really calming too! Maybe I'll try the spoonful of raw honey sometime. Thanks for sharing :)
This was a great and helpful video, I use to perform years ago and then something happen to me to were now I'm petrified to play I fronting people. I did play for my coworkers for Christmas last year and the more I played the worse I got then I gave up. I have so much trouble playing without making mistakes oh and the shaking hands wow that's no fun. I will try to do some of these tips and see if they help.
Shame Laurie, that sounds so frustrating!! But maybe the more you play the better it will get? Perhaps when you used to play more often it was easier. I know when a performance goes badly it makes us want to avoid performing, but I think avoiding it actually makes it worse the next time. So maybe you could try a few different low-pressure performances? I'll give a lot of suggestions next week
@@LearningtheHarp Josh Layne has a you tube on this. It has been a long time since I saw it but he says something like-you can expect to sometime mess up. It is a fact of life, and it's OK. He says it much better and gives other helpful ideas too.
Thanks for your comment Haley; I really hope there are some helpful ideas for you! I just checked out your channel and it would be a crime for performance anxiety to deprive the world of your beautiful singing and harp playing. Let me know how it goes with applying some of these tips :) All the best!
Another really great video, thank you Christy-Lyn. I love your videos, they are really inspiring and encouraging. I'm just at the beginning of my harp journey, dreaming of being a wedding and event harpist one day and you are really helping me think it just might be possible :) Looking forward to your next concert! :)
Hi September Rose, thank-you for the comment! I'm so pleased these videos are significant for you. I hope you continue working hard and achieve your dreams!
When you play experimental or autogenerated music that has contemporary elements and the piece is different each time , you cannot really practice that much, so i guess this advice is relevant only to soecific types of traditional organ music...i mean in my case practicing is more like conceptualising how you do specific gestures..But thNks anyways, the rest of the tips really helped!
Great tips! Getting comfortable through experience and preparation is the best. For a holistic "pick-me-up" I dab lavender essential oil under my nose and rub some on my temples. It smells soooo good, it makes me smell good (instead of all sweaty and nervous) and lavender actually helps calms the nerves. Give yourself a Temple rub! 😊
Ooh, that sounds like a great solution!! Lavender isn't my favourite scent for myself but I know many people love the smell and it is really relaxing. Thanks for the suggestion!
Learning how to improv and play through my mistakes like they were meant to happen were my biggest helpers. I get nervous about familiar pieces and songs because people will notice if there's a mistake. 😆
I play flute as well. and when I was younger, I would get nervous for recitals. Telling myself that I was as prepared as possible up to this point. nothing I could do would make me improve, I hadn't made a mistake yet! and to save the nervousnes until after I performed.
Thank you so much for these tips. I once tried the beta blocker propananol and my heart rate dropped so low I almost passed out, so be careful with those.
I wish I'd got your advices about 2 years ago. I am not a musician but I once had to make a speech before the family on my Mom's birthday. There is a video showing the celebration including me speaking out to the community. I refuse to watch the video because my experience was so horrible. I do not want to watch myself stuttering and trembling. Before my performance I ordered a huge glass of beer in order to get a bit more of relaxion even though it was just coffee time. A quite harder drink would have been more effective, I guess. Maybe I should have been better prepared at least in that aspect. Afterwards everyone told me that it had been a really impressive speech. While I spoke I could not see much of the audience. My Mom told me later some of the Ladies had started to cry. Just don't know if that was about the speech or my pityful lecture.
Ah, sometimes it's hard to see things in perspective after feeling really nervous at the time. If people said your speech was really touching, I'm sure it was! If someone has something really meaningful to say it can be really amazing to see them persevering even though they are obviously nervous - it makes them seem like they're sacrificing their own comfort to say something that is important to them. So I'm sure you were great, despite the nerves! :)
