Comments on: How to Manage Stage Fright: Not Just For Musicians

By: You Are Your Own Worst Enemy, But That’s a Good Thing — Happenchance

You Are Your Own Worst Enemy, But That’s a Good Thing — Happenchance — Fri, 27 May 2011 18:59:41 +0000

[...] We hide in the shadows, terrified that we or our work will be criticized, ridiculed, mocked, or (shudder) completely ignored. If we do get our stuff out there, we water it down to conform to some imaginary norm. The result: we produce either nothing, or something so watered-down and PG that it’s as inconsequential as an Icee in an avalanche. Learn how to manage stage fright. [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 17:16:00 +0000

Hey Ells, I’m glad you liked the article. Every musician or performer, if they care about their craft at all, experiences some kind of stage fright. It’s just part of the game. Some people manage it better than others.

As for going easy on yourself, I just saw an article in the NY Times about this very topic.

Thanks for reading (and for the link!)

By: Ells’s Helpful Guides to Music Things, Part 2: Confidence On Stage | Ells' Blog

Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:29:39 +0000

[...] How to Manage Stage Fright: Not Just For Musicians from HappenChance – confidence tips to apply to all sorts of situations [...]

By: GarethB

GarethB — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:54:40 +0000

Some useful tips here. Absolutely agree with:

1. Having a “pen” name to separate yourself from the performer you want to be. This can free you up mentally/emotionally and help you shake the chains of stage fright

2. Faking confidence (’til you make it). The very act of pretending to behave the way you want to feel (confident), will in time make you feel confident.

3. Imagining succes. Not only will this “programme” you to succeed but having “seen” success ahead of time performers will be more relaxed about the event when it comes around. Only proviso here would be to to start the imaginings well ahead of the event. Otherwise you can get too uptight when you think about it.

4. Prepare well. I would also recommend preparing for what you’ll do if things do go wrong and having some “off the cuff” remarks you can fall back on in case you “dry up”

By: Margaret Polk

Margaret Polk — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:48:55 +0000

Hi! As I read this article, Seth, I thought how it applies to almost any professional career path a person chooses. As a classroom teacher, I always considered my classroom my stage. Even though I could visually see the “feedback” during the academic year, I knew the real end result would not be realized until years later…just as you stated. Keep writing & I’ll keep reading!

By: Tweets that mention How to Manage Stage Fright: Not Just For Musicians | Happenchance -- Topsy.com

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:08:13 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by inger eriksen, sethmbaker. sethmbaker said: New Article from Happenchance! How to Manage Stage Fright [Not Just for Musicians]. http://bit.ly/6NMpbe [...]