8 ways to overcome stage fright:
1.Relax body:
- Hum to steady your voice
- Eat a banana because it will lower the nauseous feeling in your stomach
- Chew gum to distract you from what you are nervous about
- Stretch to release all the tension in your body
2. Meditation
- Mediate the morning of the performance or an hour or two before
3. Avoid Caffeine
- Drink your usual amount
- Drinking more caffeine than normal can cause jitters
4. Exercise
- For at least 30 minutes
- Releases tension throughout the body
5. Laugh
- As much as possible
- Laughing will cause relaxation
- Laughing will distract you from nervousness
6. Image favorite person in the audience
- Instead of imagining the audience in their underwear which I have never done because it is slightly weird; imagine every person being your favorite person.
- Your favorite person always listen to you, encourage you, and be proud of you.
7. Drink Citrus Juice
- a half hour before your performance
- it lowers blood pressure and eases anxiety
8. Know what you are doing
- Know the songs you are performing by heart so even if stage fright gets the best of you, you will not forget the song.
How to cover- up stage fright during performance:
Once you have identified what you do when you are experience stage fright you can prepare and prevent it from happening.
1. Breathing: If you start to hyperventilate or hypoventilate take slow, deep breaths.
IT WILL RELAX YOU!
2. Throat Tightens: Ask singing teacher for some vocal techniques.
- You want to build confidence in your vocal technique to prevent off key vocals when you are nervous.
- You want to train, train, and train. You want to train your breathing and your voice.
- You want to practice! Practice makes perfect, right? Get out and perform more often. The more you perform the more comfortable you become performing in front of people.
- It is important to keep your voice clean, clear, and open when you are experiencing stage fright.
3. Legs/Hands Shake:
- Prevent rapid shaking or tapping and try to tap your foot or hand to the beat of the song you are about to perform.
- Walk around the stage to distract yourself from the nerves you are experiencing such as shaking.
How performers feel at the end of their performance:
All the nerves you had at the beginning of the performance are gone and you feel:
- Relieved, adrenaline, passionate, hysterical, satisfied, relaxed, eager, and accomplished.
Resource: “How to Overcome Stage Fright.” WikiHow, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.