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its quiet in here so il start a topic join if you feel like it
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Florian
Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia
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 RE: its quiet in here so il start a ... (in reply to Florian)
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OK I found some articles................
The cause of stage fright
As far as I can tell, the physical symptoms of "stage fright" are caused by the release of adrenaline (a.k.a. epinephrine), which is a hormone associated with the "fight/flight" reaction.
When the body-mind feels that it's in a stressful situation, the sympathetic nervous system dominates the parasympathetic system and physiologically:
the pupils of the eyes dilate
heart-rate and force of cardiac contractions increase
blood vessels of non-essential organs (e.g. kidneys and digestive organs) contract
other processes that are not immediately essential (e.g. peristalsis in the gut) slow down or even stop
blood vessels in the skeletal and cardiac muscles, and in the liver, dilate
the rate and depth of breathing increase
blood glucose level rises as glycogen in the liver is converted to glucose
the medullae of the adrenal glands are stimulated (by the hypothalamus in the brain) to produce epinephrine & norepinephrine; these are hormones which tend to prolong the effects just described (source: principles of anatomy and physiology by Tortura and Grabowski)
An excess of these effects without the actual life-threatening need to fight or run away, causes the physical symptoms of stage fright. It is a real physical phenomenon (i.e. it's not just "in the mind"), although it is initially caused by the (autonomic, i.e. subconscious) nervous system.
A little adrenaline is useful (that's why nature made it) but too much can cause the shakes and butterflies. The more used to performing you are, the more controlled is your release of adrenaline likely to be.
Indeed, the alertness that comes from a little adrenaline is one reason why many people like getting on stage - aside from the fame, the money and the public acclaim, of course :)
Adrenaline is also the reason why many people can down a couple of pints in record time immediately after performing, and not feel drunk for a while (the digestive system is more or less shut down).
However, if you practise when you're blood-stream is not full of adrenaline, then later, on stage, when it is, you'll be trying to do the same tricks but in a different state of internal chemistry, and this is why they don't work the same! (Hope that answers somebody's question.)
Then your subconscious, knowing that you fluffed the trick last time, "helpfully" decides to give you more adrenaline! - so stage fright can be self-perpetuating. (This subconscious reaction evolved in the days when running away was quite often a really good idea.. but it's not helpful when we're on stage.)
As Dick suggests, sometimes if you're strict with yourself and really imagine each practice to be a performance, you can "trick" your subconscious into a little extra adrenaline release even in practices. It's usually not so strong, but it can be done and helps a bit. It can also be useful to "practise in public" - e.g. in the park - for this reason.
However, to get to my real point, something that has helped me when I've been in the grip of an excessive adrenaline rush is to do these things:
breathe into my lower abdomen (not just inflate my upper chest, but breathe deeply and steadily right down into my belly - "diaphragm breathing".) Slow and *steady* breathing is needed.
breathe "into" (i.e. visualize breath going into) the shakiest parts (usually my calf muscles)
try to feel "spaces opening up" between the bones in my joints - e.g. try to allow my shoulders to move outwards, to open up spaces inside the shoulder joints. Similarly allow the head to feel like it's floating upwards, not being pulled down onto the neck.
relax my forehead (stop frowning!)
allow my back and neck to lengthen (e.g. avoid contracting the occipital muscles along the base of the back of the skull, which is one common anxiety reaction, and allow the lumbar region to flatten, helping to release excessive tension in the hip joints.)
feel my connection to the earth, through my feet on the floor, feel my weight evenly balanced between my feet, more on heels than toes
feel my connection to heaven, like a golden thread from the top of my head
and breathe into my lower abdomen some more!
This may all sound rather simple and trivial, but it has really helped me. I've practised some yoga and, more recently, chi gung, not initally with any direct reference to adrenaline control, but I've found it helps. Chi gung helps to focus the attention on the flow of energy within the body. Having had the experience of getting into quite meditative states (while not on stage!) helps me move a little way towards such a state quite quickly when I am on stage.
To consciously breathe steadily and calmly seems to give the autonomic nervous system the message that things aren't quite as bad as it first thought, so it may decrease the amount of adrenaline it is dosing you with.
The state of mind of someone suffering from stage fright is, by contrast, usually not well focused internally, but more on things like their plan for the next 15 seconds, the existence of the audience, the very fact that they're nervous and everyone's looking at them, etc. - in other words they are "up in their heads". Moving towards the state of mind that is created and preserved by e.g. chi gung and focused breathing, helps the adrenaline rush go away. And as soon as you feel it start to decrease, you feel more confident (more in control of your body and it's autonomic nervous system), and this positively feeds back to reduce the fright even more.
As with many problems, to deny their existence helps no-one. Also to feel helpless and at the mercy of your errant subconscious isn't useful. But to understand what is happening, may help you to begin to take some control of your autonomic nervous system! Once you have even a little success, it becomes easier and easier
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Date Aug. 23 2006 20:46:01
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Florian
Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia
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RE: its quiet in here so il start a ... (in reply to Florian)
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ok i found more guitar related articles about stage fright.
http://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=252
People Fright!
This brings us to the crux of the matter. There is no such thing as Stage Fright. People are not afraid of stages.
There is only People Fright. People are afraid of people.
When I was sitting there, unable to play for my tape recorder, I was experiencing People Fright. The person I was afraid of was me! Or more properly speaking, I was afraid of all the voices in my head that I knew would start yelling at me when I listened back and heard that my playing wasn't quite what all those voices demanded it be.
The reason you, me, and everybody else does this thing called stage fright, is because there is one thing that all people fear the most, more even, then they fear death itself. And that thing is OTHER PEOPLE!
I have read of studies where people are asked "what is your greatest fear". Well, the winner is not fear of death, or auto accident. It is fear of public speaking. That says a lot. That is another way of saying "the thing I fear most is other people, especially if they are looking at me, paying attention just to me and what I am doing."
Now isn't that an interesting paradox. Psychiatrist's offices the world over are full of people talking about how they didn't get enough love or attention growing up. Nobody was interested in them or what they said, did, or thought. They are full of people willing to pay a high hourly rate just so SOMEONE will listen to them for an hour (make that fifty minutes).
And yet, put somebody up on stage, where they can get every iota of everybody's attention, (no competition like having that pesky brother or sister around) and they fall apart! Isn't that strange? Life is full of little practical jokes like that. I guess it what they always say about too much of a good thing...
Stage Fright Part 2: How It Works, and Why It Works
Stage Fright Part 3: It's a Concert, not a Contest
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Date Aug. 23 2006 21:10:35
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Florian
Posts: 9282
Joined: Jul. 14 2003
From: Adelaide/Australia
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RE: its quiet in here so il start a ... (in reply to koella)
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ok now the answer.....
The answer to our problem is to discover what it is we SHOULD be doing when we play music for other people, and then do THAT. And what we will find when we DO that, is that the Stage Fright thing STOPS.
In order to find out what it is we should be doing when we play music for other people, instead of doing Stage Fright, we need to look at a couple of things first. We need to consider a couple of questions.
One, what is music? Two, why does anyone want music in their life? Three, what are we really doing (or trying to do) when we listen to music, or play music for ourselves or for other people?
What is Music?
There are 3 kinds of people. First, the people that have no feeling for music at all, and whose lives would not be affected if there were no such thing as music in the world. I believe these kinds of people are very rare, and that they are similar to the kind of people who don't like dogs or little children, and the ones I have met always gave me the shivers. Personally, I don't think I have met many at all, in fact, only one or two, so I have to account for them here. I'm sure there must be more, I have just been lucky so far. Second, there are the people to whom music makes a pleasant background to their daily activities. It's nice to have around, like a basket of plastic fruit on the kitchen table. I do know a number of people like this, but I try not to spend much time with them.
Thirdly, there are the people who recognize what music REALLY is. They recognize that music is the most potent form of MAGIC a human being is capable of making. They recognize that music not only expresses emotion, music is a tangible form OF emotion. Music IS emotion, it IS energy in motion, human energy, human FEELING emotional energy. That is why this third type of person not only likes music, not only loves music, they NEED music. Thankfully, I know lots of these people. You will find this type of person as what we call a professional musician, or as an amateur, it makes no difference.
There are many among this third group of people who recognize that music is DIVINE. If you are one of the people who like to use the word GOD to express your feelings about the ULTIMATE REALITY (as I do), then you may think of it, like me, as the voice of God. When I was a teenager, listening one time to Beethoven's 9th symphony, I was at once converted and baptized. I didn't need any scriptures to tell me what God was like, whether there was a God, or any of that nonsense. The "Meaningfulness of Existence" had been revealed to me through a higher Revelation, one that doesn't need human words. It was revealed in a different language, the one we call music, the one that never needs a translator or interpreter, because it speaks "in tongues", directly to every human heart. And it had been spoken by one of Music's greatest Prophets, Ludwig van Beethoven.
There are many musicians throughout history who have recognized the divine nature of music, and because they recognize it, they have the proper reverence for it. Beethoven, of course, felt this way. Antonio Vivaldi, the great Baroque composer of the seventeenth century, was, in addition to being a great musician, also a priest. One time he ran off the altar in the middle of saying Mass, because he had just at that moment received an inspiration for a new piece of music which he had to immediately write down, lest he forget. "I was called by a higher authority", he later explained.
In our own time, musicians like Carlos Santana exemplify this highest type of artist. Santana's relationship to his music has always been intensely spiritual, and you can certainly hear it in the notes! There is an intense quality of ennobled human emotion in his playing, as there is in the music of all such artists. "When I play, it's no good unless I cry" he has said.
I have always noticed that the greatest musicians came to see that what they had dedicated their lives to was of a Divine, or Ultimate origin. In addition to being irresistibly compelled to be music makers and creators, they knew they were answering a supremely high calling. It is not without meaning that Franz Liszt's students were not called students, but disciples. The same with Francisco Tarraga, (who Segovia called "the patron saint of the classical guitar")
Why Do People Want Music?
Now, human beings have argued endlessly over their confused ideas of "God", and made hundreds of versions of "God" each in their own image, and each with a different name which they know is the "true" one. But the beautiful thing about the language of music is that there is no confusion. There is no doubt. It is a direct communication of the Divine to the human heart, and it speaks to each heart that recognizes it. And it speaks in the native language of every heart it touches. When we are moved by the music we love, transported and taken to that place which is above this world, we don't need someone to explain it to us, or tell us whether it's "true" or not. We know.
And if you are a music lover, it doesn't matter whether you have ever thought about it in this way or not, whether you have ever used the words I am using. The Reality we are talking about is beyond words, by definition! That's the whole point! That's why we need music to touch it! Music puts us in touch with our INTUITION, our "inward knowing" of the Spiritual Reality that stands behind this physical one we normally touch.
A thirteen year old listening to their favorite rock band or rap artist, the 30 year old listening to their favorite pop artist or folkie type singer/songwriter, the person sitting down to meditate upon the mysteries of a Bach fugue or late Beethoven string quartet, all are feeding upon this most necessary food of the human spirit, and are drawn to it as naturally as a baby to it's mothers milk.
Now, here is the whole point.
What I am essentially saying is that music is a basic human need, it is not a luxury. If we do not feed upon this spiritual food, we will pay a price, we will suffer. If you have put yourself in the position of being one who MAKES this magic called music, if you have decided to become one who speaks this potent, universal, wordless language, than you have just joined a special community.
What Should We Be Doing When We Play Music?
If you have decided to be the provider of this spiritual food for others, then you have taken on a very special job, a very special function. And you must have the proper relationship to it, as those you are providing it for must also.
A priest, minister, or rabbi, is also one who serves the function of providing, or leading people to, spiritual food. He or she leads the congregation to commune with a higher, spiritual reality. I assume that such a spiritual figure, when they are conducting services, are wholly focused on what they are doing. I assume they are not up there thinking "gee, how am I doing? Hope the congregation is liking this! Likewise, I assume the congregation is focused on the reason they are there, to participate in a mutual "spiritual" experience, which the leader is providing. I assume they are not sitting there waiting for the guy to trip up a couple of words! I assume that if the leader misses or mumbles a few words here and there it is not going to make the participants lose their entire focus, and miss the spirit of the experience.
Many performers create terrible strictures for themselves by being so afraid of missing a few notes here and there. They play as if their primary focus was to not miss a note, instead of playing with feeling and expression. That would be like giving a speech, and focusing more on your articulation than on the meaning of what you had to say. Of course, it is not like the technical aspects are not important, but they are of SECONDARY importance. Music began because something needed to be expressed that couldn't be expressed in words. Technique is the servant of expression, and should never be the master. Anyway, technical matters will take care of themselves when we know how to practice correctly.
Being "In Concert": Your Responsibility
The dictionary defines "concert" as "agreement in action, feeling, or purpose". It is a union, a meeting of mind, emotion and spirit. And the meeting takes place in a world of higher vibrations. If I am giving a concert, I am supposed to have MADE that agreement, to meet YOU there, the audience member, in the sound. That is my commitment, and I am supposed to be living up to it, not be thinking about myself, and whether I am looking good or not, and whether you like me or not! It's a concert, not a contest!
And you are supposed to be living up to the agreement also, you are supposed to be "in concert" with me, meeting me in the sound, and not thinking about something else,
As I said in the beginning of this three-part essay, when a guitar player plays for another person, they are not only sharing the music, they are sharing their relationship to the guitar as well. If your relationship to the guitar, your relationship to your role as a guitarist and musician, is a mediocre one, a lukewarm one, you will not have much to share. First of all, it is your responsibility to make your relationship to music and the guitar (as your chosen instrument) a passionate one, an emotional one, because that is what we are dealing with here, that is why we bother to be musicians, because it is an inherently EMOTIONAL affair.
Don't Fight Fear, Ignore Fear
Many people make a big mistake by trying to "fight" their stage fright, or to trick by performing little mental maneuvers, like imagining the audience naked or in their underwear. Well, I do believe in doing whatever gets you through the night, but don't confuse it with getting to the heart of the matter. When Fear, when Stage Fright arises, it is because deep inside yourself, you are devoting a large part of your attention on YOURSELF, and not the music. In fact, here is something very interesting to ponder. It can be just as detrimental to your performance to be sitting there performing and be feeling really good about yourself as it is to be feeling bad about yourself. Most of us performers have experienced playing really well, and then sitting there patting ourselves on the back (in our heads), when we should be busy playing. Guess what happens? Bam, there goes that passage! Either it gets messed up, or just suffers from a lack of feeling or involvement, because we were to busy thinking about ourselves, this time in a "positive" sense.
There must be no "self" when you play. There must be only the music.
When we do make that inner error of putting self before music, whether "positive" or "negative", the thing to do is to become aware of what you are doing. Take hold of your attention, and place it on the music, and feel your passion for it (which is what you are supposed to be doing, it's what the people came for).
Fear (which is the result of your inner error) is like an unwelcome visitor who just popped in to see how miserable they can make your life. He stands there and starts saying nasty things to you to see if he can get your goat. Like any bully, if he sees he starts to get a reaction from you, he gets more power, he gets bolder. Pretty soon, he'll have you on your knees. However, if he sees you are ignoring him and playing your guitar instead, he gets all deflated. It's no fun, he hangs around a little bit, gets bored, and leaves.
The way THROUGH stage fright is to stay centered in that passion, to be with it, to lose the sense of DOING the music, and stay with the sense of BEING the music. This is the responsibility of the performer, just as it is the responsibility of the audience member. When this is done, there is no stage fright, because there is no one there to be afraid. When Attention is where it should be, on the music, instead of on the self, you cannot be "self-conscious", you can only be "music conscious". Then, the magic can really take place.
To Be With, or Not to Be With
As in all relationships in life, it comes down to this: to be with, or not to be with. Love, is to be with. Fear, the opposite of Love, is to refuse to be with. When it comes to this matter of playing our instrument for others, Stage Fright is what happens when we refuse to be with. Stage Fright is what happens when we refuse to be with the music, the audience, and ourselves.
Jamie Andreas
(Posted September 01, 2001)
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Date Aug. 23 2006 21:17:50
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Miguel de Maria
Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ
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RE: its quiet in here so il start a ... (in reply to Florian)
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Hi guys, Flo I didn't know you had taken up juggling. Is that what you were doing these last few months!
I'm afraid I don't have too much on this subject besides personal experience. I did get a book by Ricardo Stover on performing live. It's a big subject. I once read that Yo-Yo Ma said you could only do about %75 of your potential on stage. If this is true, it makes me wonder what Paco sounds like practicing!
To start, I'll share that I have sufffered horrible stage fright, to the point that I would fall apart and never even be able to finish a piece if I played it for someone. It wasn't until much later that I realized that I hardly ever finished pieces when practicing by myself, either.
A similiar phenomenon occured when recording myself. Of course I would get stiff, the fingers didn't move freely, and I would make mistakes. Listening back, there were all sorts of problems of interpretation, rhythm. Why didn't I sound that bad when practicing? Later, I realized that I do!
Although I've been gigging pretty steady for a couple years now, I can't say that I've gotten over stage fright, really. If I'm just in the background, then I'm fine, but when I'm on a stage and I'm all by myself, there are still some problems. I will say that it's gotten so much better, simply with experience.
If you find that you get slipped up and lose your place, make sure that when you practice you do a good deal of playing all the way through the piece, no matter what happens. Many of us make the mistake of stopping to correct something and never get through it. Without the experience of going through pieces in their entirety, we'll have problems doing it live.
If you don't like how you sound live, realize that it's because you are listening much more closely--your senses are more acute with adrenaline's "help". So take care to listen closely to yourself when you practice instead of just mindlessly diddling your fingers in the visual patterns that your TAB book said.
I am starting to add singing (non-flamenco) to my gigging repertoire, and I have all the same problems I used to have for guitar. I forget the words all the time! I mess up tricky parts for no particular reason.
I think that experience performing is really the antidote to it all. You have to keep doing it until you can do it. As gradually as you can manage. Start in the background, or in groups, and then do solos if you do them. I could always play fine as the 2nd guitar or in a trio, but once I was by myself, I started choking. You build on each success and you get better at it.
A lot of it is based on scale. I can play at gigs with no problem, but you put 100 people in a theatre and have me play a solo piece in front of them, I'm going to have some problems! In these situations, I would fall back on those pieces that I know best, that I've played for years and years. My trusty old solea---I could play that with Paco watching!
Anyway, my advice is just to keep pushing yourself, but not too hard. I had terrible experiences at CG recitals when just starting out. Go slow, and gradually increase the stress and pressure.
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Arizona Wedding Music Guitar
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Date Aug. 23 2006 21:39:41
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