Enjoying Your Recital Performance Even When You Feel Nervous

Photo Credit: Vlad Butsky

In two days it will be time for our Spring Recitals! Yay! I love hosting recitals for our students. It’s such a great way for our families to come together over a shared love of music. On Saturday over 130 of our students will perform in four recital time slots spaced throughout the day. Our students have been practicing hard to prepare. I can’t wait to hear all of the awesome performances. 🙂

In order to perform it’s vital to know your piece inside and out. However, another part of performing has nothing to do with knowing the actual piece….. the “nervous factor”. When you put yourself out there to perform in front of a large crowd, you are bound to be nervous. You may worry that you might make a mistake. You might be nervous that friends and family are going to hear you perform. You may worry that the weird feelings in your body might throw you off, etc. Whatever you specifically worry about, I can assure you that feeling nervous is completely normal. Even though I’ve been performing for over two decades now, and have done it time and time again, I still get nervous every time. It never goes away.

So if you’re going to be nervous no matter what, then the key is to let the nerves work for you rather than against you. It is possible to enjoy your recital performance even though you feel nervous. The following are my tips to help you do so:

#1: Realize the nerves are normal

As I already mentioned, human beings have the tendency to get nervous in performance settings. You don’t have to worry about what’s wrong with you, as there is nothing wrong with you. Acknowledge that you feel nervous and that it’s affecting your physical state at the moment. The weird feelings will be over soon. Also, know that they may give you that extra bit of adrenaline to make your performance even more special than normal, and that’s a great thing!

#2: Stay present and engaged

When you do a performance of any kind, it’s imperative that you stay engaged on what you are doing when you are doing it. If your mind wanders and thinks of other things (your nervous energy, what you’re going to do after the recital, what your friends and family will think of your performance, etc.), you will be taken out of the moment and what you are currently doing. This makes it so much more likely that you’ll make a mistake. If you stay completely focused and present, it’s much less likely that things will go awry. And if things don’t go awry, you’ll feel much happier. Force yourself to stay focused.

#3: Own it!

Have confidence in yourself and own it that you know your piece. Believe in yourself. If you feel happy, calm, and confident, you are much more likely to enjoy your performance than if you enter in with a lot of fear and unnecessary anxiety. It really is amazing to share your talents with others. Enjoy it!

#4: Celebrate

Think of just how far you’ve come in the time since you began learning your recital piece. Chances are the piece was much more difficult than the other pieces you were working on previously. It takes so much hard work and motivation to learn a challenging piece. When the recital rolls around, you did it! Celebrate yourself and your hard work. I always suggest that parents do something special for their kids after they complete each recital. Performing is a feat that deserves great celebration.

Thanks so much for reading today’s post! Now I want to hear from you. What additional tips do you have to help with the “nervous factor”? Leave a comment below. Share this with your friends, “like us” on Facebook, and subscribe to the newsletter.

Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see many of you very soon!

Sincerely,

Cassie