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stage fright

How to Help Your Choir Overcome Stage Fright

April 12, 2019 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

By Molly McLinden

For many choral singers, performing can be very intimidating! Although they may have no problem lifting their voices up in song during rehearsals, the thought of spotlights and a live audience terrifies some singers.

Stage fright is extremely common among both solo and ensemble performers. The good news is there are several tried and true tactics that can help alleviate their fears! Here are some tips on how your choir can overcome stage fright so one and all enjoy each performance to the fullest.

Stretching

This tip is key for both rehearsals AND performance days! Stretching need not be anything fancy at all. It is something so important for the human body to do, yet we don’t do it nearly enough.

Many of your singers are coming to rehearsal or even a performance straight from a very long day at work. Having them do neck and shoulder rolls or full body stretches can help prepare the body for deep breathing and solid singing.

Once the body is more oxygenated, it is more likely to be relaxed! You may want to try some simple Qigong movements. The eight brocades are very easy to learn and don’t require great physical demands. For guidance, you can check out this video of Jessie Tsao. 

Ridiculous Vocal Warm Ups

Another good way to get relaxed and ready is to LAUGH together! Step away from the same boring scales and liven things up a bit. A bored chorus is a chorus that definitely won’t give you their all, and a chorus that takes themselves too seriously will likely stay tense and terrified.

Here are a few classic, silly vocal warm ups that choral groups tend to love and request often:

  • “I love to sing” – Sing this phrase in ascending arpeggios. The vowel in “love” is a common one in most songs, and this warm up reminds them why they’re there in the first place!
  • “Mama made me mash my M&Ms” – This warm up may be more common with the younger choristers, but why should they have all the fun? This phrase can be sung on various patterns. The M consonant is excellent for resonance!
  • Tongue twisters – Presenting a fun challenge to your group is another effective way to ease their nerves.

Meditation

Groups of all kinds can benefit greatly from this one. After a simple meditation, your singers will feel calm yet energized. They will likely be surprised at how much they’re able to give a more focused performance afterward!

For some, even the very word “meditation” is intimidating. People believe meditation is something very involved or something they will “get wrong.” But nothing could be further from the truth.

There isn’t just one correct way to meditate, but try the video above for starters. You can also lead a guided meditation, or perhaps use one of the many podcasts available.

Meditation will work best if you have a lot of room where each singer can find their own “space bubble” to either sit or lie down comfortably. You can choose to have soft music playing in the background, or perhaps you want complete silence.

Massage

A “conga line” massage is a big hit for singers of all ages. Have your singers turn and face the back of the singer next to them to knead all the tension away from their shoulders. Then flip and go the other direction. It’s even better to vocalize while you try this out!

Need more ideas? Check out this helpful video that with more tips and tricks for overcoming stage fright such as deep breathing exercises while backstage, and keeping your eyes on your conductor during a performance.

At the end of the day, it’s imperative that you stress this to your singers: stage fright is actually a good problem to have! It shows that the performer truly cares about the performance they’re about to give. The problem is that when there is too much of it, it can truly inhibit someone.

Find the right balance where your singers are excited but READY! Emphasize the fun and simplicity in these exercises and your singers will be in a good place to deliver an excellent choral performance.

Molly McLinden is with TakeLessons Live, a platform for online singing lessons. Molly is a choir, opera, and classical singing teacher. She’s been an instructor since 2002 and enjoys working with students of all ages and backgrounds.    

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: fear, nerves, performing, stage fright

For Singers: Don’t Relax, Worry

December 10, 2016 by From Our Readers Leave a Comment

“If you’re nervous, that means you care and you want to give your best.” – Adriana Lima

Whether you’ve been singing since Beethoven figured out which end of the pen the ink went on or this is your first performance ever, concert night can (will) bring on the nerves. It’s natural; for months, you’ve been singing in a room with your friends feeling safe and secure and now you’re going to be standing up in front of hundreds of people in a great big room where everything is different. Yikes! Here are some of the things that you are CERTAIN are happening, but I promise, none of them are true (the nervous brain has a whole bag of dirty tricks to play):

– Everyone in the audience is looking directly at YOU.
– Every time you miss a note, even a little, everyone in the audience will hear it.
– Your voice has never sounded worse and you KNOW that if you sing loud it will sound like a mule that just got stung by a bee.
– There can’t possibly be enough oxygen in the room for everyone and you’re NOT getting YOUR SHARE.
– Everybody else looks calm and cool and collected and NOBODY ELSE IS NERVOUS and can’t they see what’s going on?
– You look down at your music and it feels like you’ve never sung that song before. Ever.

You’ll also notice that the lights are too bright, the audience looks fuzzy, your knees are a little rubbery, and there’s a really irritating drop of sweat making an agonizingly slow journey down the middle of your back. If you’re a really skittish person, you may feel like running into a dark corner and curling up into a fetal position; if you’re not, you’re still going to be mad at yourself for being such a wuss.

Well congratulations, you are officially a normal human being. I’ve been singing and directing in front of people for over 40 years and still get a minor case of the willies before every performance. Just like you (and everybody else), my hypothalamus tells my adrenal gland to wake up and get busy. The heart rate and respiration bump up a notch (which doesn’t help matters at all, really) and perceptions sharpen. Everything looks and sounds just a little funky (which also doesn’t help matters at all).

So here’s the good news: you were just handed a magic bullet to make this performance epic. Adrenaline makes you into a super-you and if you direct that superness (is that a word?), your nerves become a tool for good things to happen. So how do you do that?

– Narrow your focus on the conductor. She or he is your guide and you’ll feed on each other’s strength (if you don’t think she/he can see that energy in you, think again). Trust her/him to be that guide.
– Return that focus back to yourself from time to time. Find that calm, educated, well-prepared singer inside you and say hello.
– Control your breath. If nerves have cranked it up, turn it back down. You don’t really need all that extra air. Try taking a slow, deep breath and let it out gently. Relax your shoulders and your neck (you didn’t even notice they were clenched, did you?). Do a quick inventory and relax anything else that is unnecessarily tightened up (hint…your okole). (Note: for the non-Hawaiians out there, the okole is the part of your anatomy you sit on…)
– News flash: adrenaline is really fun. Why do you think people go bungee jumping? I launched myself into the air from 250’ up once with that big ol’ rubber band on my feet and the buzz lasted for three days. You just got a rocket booster, so use it. Direct that energy into focus, use that focus to concentrate on your singing, the quality of the dynamics, all of the nuances that your conductor has been teaching you. Harness that nervous energy. You’ll find it brings power. It will also help to bring on the one big thing:
– SMILE! Nobody knows if your smile is because you’re seconds away from screaming and running in circles or because you’re really happy. You can fool yourself into sliding over into the happy side of the house by showing some teeth.

Finally, some things to remember:

– Yes, you do know your music. Relax. When that first note rolls out of your throat you’ll slide right into that familiar place. That’s why you rehearse.
– Be aware of the people around you. You’ve been together for months, you’re more than a choir. You’re surrounded by friends with the same mission and you’re ALL cranked up a notch. Allow that umbrella of love and support to cover you along with them and sing as one voice.
– Guess what…the audience WANTS you to be awesome. They’re here to be entertained and moved and have given you the gift of their precious time. They’ll never notice a wrong note, they usually don’t know what the right ones are.
– Guess what…the audience is another magic bullet. Their energy is fun, too. Watch their faces as they applaud; smile and acknowledge them. You’ll find yourself feeding off their enjoyment and THAT is really cool.

After the last note fades you’ll feel all that tension slide to the floor, leaving a nice little endorphin buzz and an overall feeling of calm and happiness. You may even find yourself shedding an emotional tear. You’ll be surrounded by friends and family and smiling people you’ve never met, all of them thanking you for the gift you gave them.

The concert experience is where we all truly share in the joy of Music.

__________________________

Briggs Christie is a member and blogger for the Windward Choral Society in Kailua, O’ahu, HI. You can find the original post or more writings by Briggs here.

Filed Under: From Our Readers Tagged With: concert, concert prep, nerves, singers, Singing, stage fright

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