Another Victim of Stage Fright

[IceFairy]

..but I'm a few days early. To understand my excuse for my irrational fear.. I'll explain. I'm a 16-year-old singer/songwriter/guitarist.. I'm doing my first real gig (anything beyond school-wide talent shows is foreign territory to me) and I'm getting a little panicky. It's a local outside type deal--obviously, no pay, but I'll gain a little exposure and invaluable experience. The thing is, my gig isn't until tomorrow evening, and my stomach is already in knots. I was first told I'd have 20 minutes (I'm the opening act for the real substance of the show), and suddenly I hear I have 30. So now I have to possibly add a few songs to my former five, stammer on nervously, or go temporarily insane. Nobody can help me there, it's a little late for any magic but thankfully I know my material well enough since I've written it, and I have more than enough possibilities at hand if I can be a little less hypercritical of my work.

Anyhow, my nervousness has made me a little careless with things such as where I've left my guitar around the house. As a result, the inevitable happened; I dropped it yesterday and nearly broke my heart. The only apparent damage is that the tuning needs to be adjusted, but the thing that is worrying me (I'll explain as best as I can--I'm unfamiliar with the technical terms regarding guitar hardware) is that a small metal disc that was covering the tuning head on the low E string fell off and refuses to go home and stay there. It's exposing the, eh, gear?..that winds the string and I'm wondering if this is going to do any real damage to the tuning or if my guitar will fall apart and create its own little wooden fireworks display for my audience :). To make matters worse, I was getting a cup of coffee when I heard a heartstopping crash and curses immediately following. I ran in to check if anyone was hurt, and uhm, since brilliant me got sidetracked instead of putting away my guitar, it was dropped yet again.. and this time the disc definitely refused to stay home.

If anyone can make sense of the above bit of nonsense, could you please let me know how bad my crime is? Oh yeah, before I forget.. the guitar is an Alvarez acoustic--I'm not sure of the model and at the moment I'm too afraid to take it away from its safety zone to check. I could borrow a guitar from any number of people if I absolutely need to, but my guitar is meant for me and fits my voice perfectly.

If you voluntarily made it this far, I applaud you for your patience and thank you in advance for any comments, suggestions, or otherwise.

-Naomi

[Wyll_Watts]

Hey there...

it sounds like the tuners were of the sealed or closed type and the covering has popped off.. this shouldn't be a big problem right away but you will want it fixed so a bunch of gunk and grime doesn't get up into the gears.. Also, look over the guitar well to make sure there is no hidden structural damage.. check for any new curves etc in the top.. also take a peek through the sound hole to make sure the bracing is not obviously comming away from the top.. I'm sure everything is fine though...

About the nerves, well.. that's just a part of the first few gigs.. you can learn to relax over time.. I guess, don't stress too much over the stress :) it's a natural thing at this point.. I believe there are a few articles on here about stage fright as well that could offer inspiration..

Good luck and let us know how it goes..

Wyll

[IceFairy]

Wyll,

First of all--thanks for taking the time to offer a little input. I went near crazy yesterday and got zero sleep last night (not a good idea as far as being rested goes, I know).. I tried to contact several people who might be able to help but I think they thought I was pathetically bored or pulling their leg(s) :).

I don't have the means of getting it repaired before tomorrow.. so is there any adhesive I could use for a temporary fix?

Stage fright.. I've heard "be honest if you're nervous" and "don't let them know you're nervous" all at once, sometimes from the same source, whether they realize it or not. Seeing as nobody can really give me what firsthand experience and mistakes can.. I'm just going to have to try to make this as enjoyable as possible.

Thanks, again, for the help.

-Naomi

[Danster]

Hey Naomi,
First of all, congrats on the gig. Hey I'm 43 and still looking for my first gig! Even though I've never gigged, I'm still gonna offer you some thoughts and advice! :D (I have had plenty of public speaking engagements, and I believe there are many similarities).

The hardest part regarding stage fright and a public performance seems to me to be always the fretting before the performance. Once you get up there, everything's cool.

The people in the audience are on your side. They want you to do well. They are not there to try to pick apart your performance.

When I go see a performance, I'm much less interested in the technical expertise of the performer than I am in their passion. If someone delivers a technically flawless performance of difficult music while displaying a ho-hum attitude, that is not as moving as someone who puts their all their emotions into a simple piece of music.

Try to keep your focus off of yourself while your onstage. Rather, try to connect with the audience through your music.

Lastly, this is not a life or death event. Even if you were to flop, you'll survive. I've seen big name performers make relatively big goofs on stage during songs (e.g., one had to stop a song and start it again; during the middle of a song, after a pause in the guitar playing when the guitar volume was turned all the way down, the guitarist started playing again with no volume!).

Anyhoo, good luck and come back to let us know how it went.
Cheers,
Dan

[EricV]

Hey there...

well... first of all, I think it´s cool that you´ve got that gig, and I wish you the best.
Now, to talk about that stage-fright and fear a bit... ( BTW, guys, there´s another article in the works regarding stuff like that ).

Stage-fright, being nervous, is normal. Everyone has to deal with that in some way. For some it´s just a rush of adrenaline, for others it´s a slight anxiety, and some are scraed out of their wits.
Just like Danster said, once you are up there, and once you played a few chords or a song, that feel will change a bit. Then it is time to ENJOY. Enjoy being up there. It´s your time, and it´s fun. That´s what you wanted to be... to play for the people.
So enjoy that.
I have seen some people who go up on stage, and for some reason the "enjoying it"-part never really kicks in. They look like they can´t wait until the gig is over. Which, to me, seems to be a little bit redundant.
Enjoy it. You´ll be fine. Prepare yourself, and before you go up, think "OK, I have worked towards this for a while, I´m prepared, now let´s have fun"
If you make a mistake... DON´t WORRY ! Everyone does. Some people even consider that quite charming... it makes you human. Don´t get nervous or mad... that´ll be a downward spiral, cuz anger and nervousness kills attention, and you might make even more mistakes.
When I am on stage, and I make a mistake, I tend to look over at the other guys ( or whomever ) and smile like "Dude, did ya hear what I just played ?"
Also remember that many people won´t even notice it.
I wish you the best of luck, I hope you´ll enjoy it, I´m sure the audience will too. Have fun
Warm regards
Eric

[perth]

Originally posted by EricV
Also remember that many people won´t even notice it.


i remember my first gig way back when i used to play bass. about an hour before the show, i setup my amp and started messing around with this cheesy solo i was working on at the time (and made mistake after mistake after mistake). i turned around, and to my near heart attack surprise, that cheesy thing drew a croud of people, and they all enjoyed it despite the mistakes. I dont recall having stage fright ever since that day.

good luck, and congratulations.

[IceFairy]

And I survived. Actually, I quite enjoyed the trip. :) I managed to surprise even myself. Something in me seems to know better than my conscious self, and possess far more control. That something took over, and I managed to loosen up. My throat went dry when I went on stage, my stomach was reeling at the first song, but then I thought "Wait a minute. I'm sixteen years old, and I manage to have the attention of all these people?" I would be stupid not to have fun with THAT! Hehe, so I did. I could maybe talk a bit more next time, but I was not apologetic when I did, even though I kept things simple. At the first song I had a little trouble looking up, but somewhere in the middle I kept my eyes up and found that I could have a little fun people-watching from stage while I performed. I winked at a few of my friends--I couldn't resist! I smiled a lot--couldn't resist doing that either. I screwed up a few times.. started on the wrong chord, started singing the wrong words.. even realized that in my haste I'd forgotten to complete part of the lyrics to a verse and bridge of one of my songs! *laughs* Fortunately, my keep-going-and-ad-lib instinct served me well--the people who know my stuff already had no earthly clue, and even my hardest critics were surprised.

Thanks so much for the help.. my little metallic UFO managed to stay on throughout the whole performance, and only flew off later when I was safely hidden away with a couple of my friends--that made for an interesting story, btw.

I loved it!

-Naomi

[perth]

congratulations and say hello to your new addiction :)

[Wyll_Watts]

congradulations.. hopefully you'll have many more gigs where nothing goes extremely wrong..

have you recorded any of your songs?
I'm a fan of the singer/songwriter just a person and an acoustic style of music..

anyways, glad it went well and hope you stick around Ibreathmusic and enjoy all the rantings and guitar extrapolations..


Wyll

[IceFairy]

perth-

Thank you much *smiles*. I'm definitely craving more, now.

Wyll-

At www.garageband.com/naomisimpson you can find two of my songs. Both are about a year old, and my voice and guitar playing have matured very much since, but I'm still proud of my work :). My favorite is "Dance of the Wit"--Between is slipping into the so-so range of my preferences. Let me know what you think.. any suggestions.. and do you happen to have a cellist I can kidnap for Dance of the Wit? ;)

Thanks for all the help!
-Naomi

[videochile]

naomi,
you have such a beautiful voice!! wow...marry me now!! ;) I listened to dance of the wit. Very melodic. Only one tiny criticism is that Id break up the chords to make it flow a bit more. But definitely has that *wow* factor...