The Stage Edginess

Stage fear is a very normal incident for many musicians and live performers. This fear generally indicates the nervousness before or during a live performance. There are many things that can go wrong on the stage while you are inexperienced but it's best to relax about that and practicing more on rehearsals before every gig. The more comfortable you are with your job the better you will be on stage. Its important to sound as a professional artist when you are on the stage. An artist should have an energetic and appealing body language when he is on the stage in front of crowd; because the crowd must have been energetic to watch the show otherwise they wouldn't have come to watch the artist. Its important to feed off the crowd your energy as well through the performance. Always move around the stage don't just Stick to one place. You can also have self tips from your fellow artist who will be performing on your venue. When you are on performance mode on the stage, be cognizant of who is in the crowd and try to know your audience.

Suppose the club on which you are going 
to play is packed, the crowd is on hype,

A day before your sound check was also good. You are on stage and the crowd is screaming your name. But you feel like something is wrong there, though everything is ok. When musicians get nervous before actual performance different things can happen. Physically things can be like dry mouth, butterflies in stomach, speed of heart rate, palm sweating etc.. Mentally things can be like plenty of thoughts are racing to your mind. Your attention to the things to be perceived by you turns to become a threatening issue for you. Instead of focusing on that you became more extraneous, more negatively thoughtful towards that. While emotionally we feel scared about our show and we think like we shouldn't be playing this stage. We should do something else. Just think if you are not here to perform then why you come here? The thing is you will not find a good answer to this question because you already decided in your subconscious mind that you want to get off this stage but you are not 100% sure and the anxiety plays a vital role here. Different kinds of anxiety need to be dealt differently. Its not possible to cure instantly them but it depends upon the performer how much strong mentally he/she is towards his/her passion.

Mistakes are a part of life but it shouldn't be repeated on row. Right..... Don't think too much into it. My mean to say is that don't utilize your brain on nervy things like What if i made a mistake on stage? What if the crowd didn't like my set?. The more you think about these issues, the low capacity you will have for real stage performance.. If you are not 100% sure what to do on the stage then you will never be big on the stage. So be focused on one thing at a time, something which you can control and which is present. If you are about to arrive at the venue then think only about the list of choices you will be doing there. Do more rehearsals. The more you do more you will be comfortable within yourself.

Rehearsal means running a rough performance quite similar to actual scene like as you would do in front of audience without any interruption. Going through mock performances many times before a show can also be helpful. Also recording audio making live of your production and sharing some of your videos along with it can also go a long way. Once you view your performances recurringly you will be able to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses on stage. Do a mock run-up of funny things whatever you would do from audience view and record a video of it. So that you become aware of everything that can happen on stage during the show. Don’t be artificial; be natural while doing all these things. It will help to reduce your uncertainty.

Mental rehearsing can lower your anxiety because it makes you comfortable with the performance in an intimate way and most importantly it is biased on your own terms. Having the real equipments in the hand while practicing on live mode, you should be able to visualize everything in your mind. It’s better to watch videos of your fellow artists show before doing it and make sure you follow your strategy; not theirs. Prepare your own strategy on your own decency, Otherwise you will feel uncomfortable in your task.

Forget all the anxieties and have a good sleep before your Gig day. Eat healthy, do meditation, get engaged with your side interests on a day or 2 days before your show. You need to be mentally ok before the day of your show. Be normal and make a final rehearsal before going to the show. Don't be in competition on anything on that day. If you are a solo performer then arrive the stage at half an hour before and be curious enough to meet and greet people out there. If you are on a lineup for a festival then you have to arrive more early i.e. be watchful to at least one artist who will be performing before you. The least you can expect from that is a boost to your psychology and the highest you can expect is one stand applause for your gig.