Back in my college days, I would be a bundle of nerves before my violin jury at the end of every semester. One of the top tips I got was to eat a banana prior to going in for this exam -- something about potassium helping to support the body and regulate the nervous system.
I actually do think it helped me in the middle two years of undergrad (by senior year, I knew fully that I wanted to pursue the Irish music route and it seemed less relevant to worry about my classical repertoire -- though I still gave it my best shot to close out that chapter).
But it also sounds like it could be an episode of Mythbusters. It may actually have been!
I also remember wondering how much of the banana cure was physical and how much was psychological (i.e. the placebo effect).
Stage fright really is one of the most inconvenient things in life. It often manifests in hands shaking, and maybe even some chin wobbling...both recipes for disaster with trying to hold a fiddle.
Your brain tells you that you're among friends, you know this music inside and out, and there are a lot bigger things in life you could be worried about than missing a note in front of other people.
And then there's your nervous system over there going "nope, this is not safe. Must shut down all logic and reason and focus solely on survival."
The way I see it, the method to overcoming stage fright is a two-pronged approach. Part mindset, part having a practice to regulate your nervous system and get it out of fight-or-flight state.
At some point in the last decade, I stopped shaking every time I played my instrument in front of an audience. And I wish I could remember the exact turning point to share with you exactly how I did it, but I'm going to make a few educated guesses here:
Accumulated experience. The more I played in front of people and didn't instantly become shunned from society, the more I had a very logical and clear argument against myself when I tried to go down the stage fright rabbit hole.
Finding a physical practice to work with my nervous system. For me that's yoga and breathwork -- for you it could be another strategy altogether, though some kind of breathwork should be involved (there is a reason why we say "breathe" when we're trying to calm down)! Xenia Pestova Bennett is a great resource for this.
A ton (and I mean years) of mindset work. But one of the key nuggets there is that the people who are further along than you in musical skills are very unlikely to judge or criticize you. And at least for me, these are the people I tend to be more nervous to play in front of.
For that last one, if you've met Liz Carroll, you know she is one of the kindest most encouraging souls on the planet -- and there were are right back with that accumulated experience of stacking proof that we're in a situation where we're safe.
I also don't think it hurt to continue challenging and showing my ego out the door. And by that, I don't mean overt arrogance. You can be a perfectly pleasant person to be around and still have an ego. It is sneaky that way.
It's constantly reminding ourselves that Irish traditional music is bigger than us. The collective is bigger. We're not here to perform, we're here to connect.
That's a deeper discussion for another day, but I mention it here as a factor that can be a little harder to process and definitely more subtle than we may consciously realize.
Just like that, that's a wrap on the first of what I hope will be many Lilt-Up workshops, Reader! Thank you SO much for being a part of it -- this really was a stellar first round!
All replays should be up by the time you're reading this, and if you haven't had a chance to fill out the feedback and wrap-up survey, please do take a few minutes to share your thoughts and help shape future experiences here!
I'll leave you with one of my favorite breathwork practices, Bee Breath. It's one I've used in several situations this year -- before going onstage for the Tune Junkie Instructor concert, calling my landlord to negotiate down my rent and heading to a dermatology appointment to treat a six month lasting eczema patch triggered by a spider bite (I'm disappointed that I can't shoot webs out of it and stick to walls, but what can you do).
Basically it's a quick and easy technique to combat any situation that has you in a bundle of nerves!
Happy (and relaxed) playing!
~Hannah
Hannah Harris
I help aspiring Irish fiddlers find their lilt and get the real feel for the music.
โ