Latest Posts  •  April 9, 2018

Photo by Redd Angelo on Unsplash

To go on stage and rock out is something, many musicians dream of. But there’s one thing holding them back: stage fright.

Stress, anxiety and general discomfort – for some students, just coming to music lessons unprepared is enough to cause these feelings.

Luckily, at Modern Music School we make sure our students don’t end up in any uncomfortable situations, to begin with. We’re committed to creating opportunities, in which they can perform with joy, confidence and ease.

And that’s remarkably easy – even when it comes to playing in front of an audience.

We developed a simple 3-step system to overcome stage fright. From student concert, the first band rehearsal, to music lessons, this system will help you shift your focus from fear to excitement (and you can easily apply it no matter where you are or what you do.)

3 simple steps to overcome stage fright

Step 1 – Why do I want this?

Why do I want to play in this band? Play this song? Play this concert?

The most important thing is to reconnect to why we are doing something – to consistently reconnect with our motivation. What do I love about this song? Why do I enjoy playing drums, guitar, bass …? What’s great about my band?
There’s always a reason why we do something and when it’s about music, to find this reason is usually quite simple. Playing music is great fun. Being on stage with your friends feels amazing. Why do I want to do it? Because it’s cool! As soon as you shift your focus to the positive, everything else will fade into the background, and you move from fear to excitement.

Step 2 – How do I manage my feelings?

How do I get into a positive flow? At Modern Music School, we give our trainers a toolkit full techniques – breathing, embodiment and other techniques, which, by the way, top athletes use as well when preparing for a big day. With a little practice, these will become second nature and help you not only on stage but in any situation where your best performance matters.

Step 3 – What can I do?

The third step is to assess and implement your strengths realistically. Of course, you can’t magically perform on stage something that you haven’t mastered yet. Our students know that learning a song comes first, followed by practicing it and then rehearsing. Only when they’ve got these three steps down, can they step on stage and give a killer performance.

At this point, I would like to add that many music schools treat this topic very differently. Believing that “challenges make kids stronger,” many music schools (and regular school programs as well) force their students to present before having mastered the subject adequately – with often adverse effects on their psychology.

Apart from the fact that nobody likes to feel uncomfortable, this will downright condition students to feel discomfort in front of groups.

The coaches at the Modern Music School are specially trained to recognize and support this interplay of focused attention, emotions, motivation, flow and happiness. They know exactly how to help their students.

And thus, they foster confidence, creativity and expressivity – extremely helpful skills, both on stage and in life.