Estimated reading time 2 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction to "Tips for How to Stay Calm and Cool Before a Concert"
Do you want tips for how to stay calm and cool before a concert? Today’s post contains two tips that’ll help keep your nerves at bay. Read more to learn how it works.
Tip #1 for How to Stay Calm and Cool Before a Concert
Want tips for how to stay calm and cool before a concert? Transform your fear.
Strong emotions get tied to the body’s physical responses:
- Thudding heart
- Cold hands
- Shaking limbs
- Dilated eyes
- Upset stomach
This results from your body’s fight or flight response. Namely, in an emergency your heart beats faster to provide more blood to your muscles. Your hands grow cold because your body draws blood from your limbs in case you get injured. Your eyes dilate so you can see better, etc.
However, when you perform, you won’t be fighting or fleeing for your life. Interpreted the wrong way, these responses get in the way of performing.
Try this: Don’t say, “I feel scared.” Instead, say, “I feel excited!”
This reinterprets your strong physical responses from the emotion of fear to one of excitement. For example, when you climb a high rock wall, you can feel either excited or terrified. If you can tip your feelings over into the excited category, you’ll perform much better.
Tip #2 for How to Stay Calm and Cool Before a Concert
Want tips for how to stay calm and cool before a concert? This tip comes from Barry Green. He suggests you ask yourself what’s the best and worst things that could happen:
“The worst thing that could happen when I was playing the Mahler was that I might have blown the solo. Taking this a little further, perhaps some musicians in the other orchestras might have heard my blunder…
“But would I have lost my job? It’s unlikely, but not impossible. Could I get another job? Probably…
“And what is the best possible outcome? The best thing that could happen in those circumstances was that I would play well and everyone would know it… Why was I so scared, then?” (The Inner Game of Music 84 – 85).
For more on how to use this fear busting strategy:
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- Why Do Pianists Occasionally Play Their Hands at Different Times as They Perform
- What Are the Small “>” Signs Above or Below the Notes?
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© 2023 Geoffrey Keith
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