Reduce Stage Fright
Do your palms sweat, your knees weaken and your arms feel like lead when you stand in front of an audience? Stage fright is something that many people experience, even the most hardened actors from time to time. While stage fright can be a challenge to overcome, the good news is that it is perfectly possible to overcome it. Whether you rely on some of the techniques suggested here, or you go on to develop your own coping mechanisms, you can take control and be your best on stage.
Contents
Steps
Understanding stage fright
- Be aware that stage fright is common for all people. Understand that most of the people in the audience would be scared to death to give a speech too, and are glad that it is you and not them! For the occasional speaker, it is okay to say, "Excuse my nerves, I am not used to this." When people hear that, they root for the guy, not cut him apart (unless they paid big bucks to be there, in which case, you do need to be skilled.)
Preparation is ninety nine percent confidence
- Always be prepared before going onto the stage. Be overwhelmingly, thoroughly, and completely prepared before taking the stage. If you don't know your lines, your speech, your call to action, then you'll stumble mentally and from there, the sweats and weak knees will soon take over. Much of your fear stems from the anxiety that you will make mistakes, or that the audience will know more than you (including knowing that you don't know). There is one sure way to overcome that, and that is by knowing your material inside and out.
- Be prepared to wing it. Okay, you've just being told to know your material thoroughly. Sometimes this just isn't possible, and in such a case, it is very important to focus on the message that needs to get across. For example, it might be an emergency situation and you need to clearly tell people to exit or stay calm. Or, someone might have fallen sick and you need to tell the audience that the speaker isn't available but that you're happy to talk on a topic you do know about, for a much shorter time, or some such compromise. When winging it, remember:
- The audience doesn't know that you don't know things to talk about. By acting confident, you reassure them that you do know.
- Your tone and your stance are very meaningful. If you have great posture and a clear, calm and resonant voice, along with confident body language, much of what you say will seem convincing, even if it isn't. In fact, this is important whether or not you do know your material!
- If the message is important, this can give you a boost of confidence that you may not otherwise have had. If it's to save people's lives, to spread awareness of something you're passionate about or to clarify an important point, you may be able to wing it without stage fright even becoming an issue.
Staying calm
- Be calm. If you are not calm you'll face more difficulties than usual. To cool yourself down, some of the following suggestions may come in handy.
- Meditate. Meditation is all about cooling down. Our stress and tiredness make us unhappy, impatient and frustrated. It can even affect our health. Meditation makes your mind calmer and more focused and is a good remedy for stage fright.
- Think positively. There's no reason to worry about making mistakes. The more you think about messing up, the more likely you are to do it. In order to think positively, you have to change your emotional and mental approach toward yourself, other people and situations.
- Breathe evenly and from your diaphragm. Fear is a bodily reflex and one that you can overcome. When you get afraid, you start to breathe in short, fast breaths. Before you speak, or while you are being introduced, aim to sit quietly and breathe with slow, deep breaths. Continue this as you make your way to the stage and while on stage.
- Listen to music. Listening to music that will pump you up can help get you energized, confident, and in the zone. Conversely, listening to soothing music might be best to calm your nerves down.
Letting out the jitters
- Exercise. Get some exercise beforehand so that you can expend some of that nervous energy in a constructive way. Do some backstage push-ups or jumping jacks.
- Do something silly. You're going to have to leave your inhibitions behind, so you can't worry about looking dumb. The best way to combat this insecurity is to do something that makes you feel silly or embarrassed backstage like making funny faces or dancing around. This can help you get over the feeling and realize that even making a fool of yourself isn't that bad.
- Have a group pow-wow. If you're in a band or performing with a group of people, get together right before the show starts to help everyone get focused and on the same page.
You're on stage!
- Make eye contact. If it's appropriate to your performance, you should make a point to make eye contact with the audience. For musicians and public speakers, eye contact is essential. For athletes and dancers, not so much. Eye contact may seem distracting at first, but the more you do it, the more you'll get used to it.
- If you're in a dark club, try looking at the wall on the far end of the room. This way, you're looking up at the crowd, but you won't get distracted since you can't see any audience member's face from that distance. This only really works if there are people standing in the back, of course.
- Focus on the materials or on others. Shifting your focus from your feelings to others or the materials/job at hand, can help you to overcome stage fright.
- If you are part of a play, try to focus on the other actors with whom you are speaking; or imagine you are talking to someone you are comfortable talking to if you are alone on stage.
- If you are giving a speech, focus more on the speech, than on the audience's response. If they are encouraging or applauding you, you can be bolstered by this but don't get sidetracked or feel needy for applause. You came to do a job, so keep your focus on that aspect.
- Relax even more. You may tense up again when you first get out there. Acknowledge it and let yourself relax again. Loosen up and move around a little. The crowd wants to see you succeed as much as you do, and they want to see that you're enjoying yourself.
- Be conscious of your body language. Avoid nervous body language such as fidgeting and sticking your hands in your pockets. Being more animated will help you loosen up.
- Realize it's no biggie. Never forget that when it comes down to it, it's no big deal! You're there to have fun, and you will do your best. Even if it doesn't turn out to be your finest moment, it's not the end of the world.
Tips
- Vocal warm-ups aren't just for singers; you can stretch out those vocal chords to get ready for speaking, too.
- Make sure you're well rehearsed before your performance. You will only be more nervous if you don't feel completely ready to go. You might even try performing for a couple friends beforehand as a sort of dress rehearsal.
- Just think that in 10 minutes, it will be over, and always praise yourself for being able to do it. Never give yourself grief. Always volunteer at school to go up and read or something, because one day it will pay off.
- Don't stress it!. If you beat yourself up before hand then you will psych yourself out. Just relax. No one is going to tell you that you were awful. Just go for it.
- Remember that nobody is going to go home and start laughing about how you messed up. Pretend like you meant to do that, believe it or not, 'a lot of people mess up. They just pretend like it never happened, and if they remain confident the crowd will never know.
- Look straight to the back of the classroom (if doing a speech) and forget everyone is there. If doing a song, you won't really see the crowd.
- Whether you sing, speak, or play an instrument, you should warm up before you perform. This will ensure you are comfortable and at 100% from the first note of the show (or the first word of your speech).
- Focus on getting through the first five minutes. That is where the problem lies. Rarely do you see someone who seems fearful all the way through his or her presentation, do you? No, they settle in and get comfortable after a while.
- Stare at a friend or family member. If this doesn't work for you, get a group of friends backstage and get all your sillies out. Or, you can do what you are about to do in front of them. This can help because you're going to be acting in front of friends and many other people.
- Stretching beforehand will help keep you lose, especially if you're playing an instrument.
- Drink warm water or a cup of tea before it because loosens up your vocal chords.
- If you were chosen for a solo then don't worry. You were chosen because they thought that you were the best out of the others.
- Don't look at one person the whole time, make eye contact with everyone. Or just stare at something non living. Forget about people or their judgments, this is about you.
- Always remember to speak LOUDLY and clearly.
Warnings
- No gum. It can make your mouth watery and you will choke on your words.
- Repeat the speech over and over in your head, so you won't forget it.
- Don't chow down on any greasy fast food beforehand. It might upset your stomach even without the anxiety of having to go on stage.
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