At the point of a performance all you should be doing is enjoying yourself, focussing on the text and watching the MD. All the rehearsals are done and you should trust your voice and body to do what is needed. Now is not the time to be worrying about technique and things said during rehearsal and things you think you might need to work on. You should have marked in where you will breathe and always remember to SPLAT to help you relax and get a good breath for the next phrase. Do not ignore your breath marks.
It is hard to all of a sudden let go of all the coaching points and just focus on the performance. This will come with practice the more you perform.
Performance anxiety is a very real thing for some and the only way to overcome it is to make sure you are well prepared. Also remember the audience are there to have a good time and want you to do well. Connect with them and they don’t care too much about a few mistakes. You need to realise this and just enjoy yourself – all your hard work has brought you to this.
If there are still sections in a song you find hard then just don’t sing them, do however mime the text. If you are a little unsure also try and stand in front of somebody whom you consider to be confident with a strong voice. This will help you and give you confidence. Sound travels forward and although you might feel safer on the back row you won’t hear much as all the sound is in front of you. I don’t suggest you stand on the front row either but somewhere in the middle. Also avoid standing on the end or right next to the men, standing on the end will not immerse you in the sound and standing right next to the men could distract you.
Aim to hold your music at a height which allows you to keep your head up, eyes being able to just glance up and down to the MD and to your music. Nobody wants to see the top of your head and it is disconcerting for the MD if he can’t connect with you in order to guide you.
Smile – smiling makes you look happy and engaged in the process as well as brightening and lightening your sound. If the song is a sad song still smile but make it an internal smile.
When you have finished singing a song wait till the MD indicates the song is actually over before turning your music to the next song. Do not fidget, do not talk to anybody and always keep looking forwards.
After the performance you can think about what you did well as an individual and as a group and what could have been done better and what you can do to help improve things.
Exercise
At the next performance opportunity take stock of how you feel about the performance before, during and after it.
Decide what you did well and what you could do better and what you have to do in order to make it better.
This mindfulness will help you improve and as you improve so does the whole choir.
